Ah, sampling…also known as crate digging. As I mentioned in my entry Sampling and Summer Madness, sampling is one of my absolute favorite things about music. This is thanks in large part to my tendency to read album cover liner notes as a kid. For some reason, seeing “this song contains a sample of…” in the liner notes really fascinated me. I also mentioned in that entry that sampling seemed to have reached a fever pitch in the ’90s. There were so many wonderful songs that sampled songs from the ’70s in particular, for instance. Right off hand, Janet Jackson’s “That’s The Way Love Goes”, the first single from 1993’s janet., comes to mind; it sampled James Brown’s “Papa Don’t Take No Mess”, which came out in 1974. This “70s in the 90s” trend is a whole other entry in itself though; there are far too many examples to include here. (Seriously. “The ’70s in the 90s” is actually the name of the upcoming entry on that topic. Haha.)
This entry will be focusing on notable samples in songs from more recent years, including this year. The featured image of Usher and Ella Mai should have been a hint for you on at least one of the songs that I’ll be covering. At any rate, if you have read any of my previous entries, you know how this goes. If not, you’re about to find out: I will be highlighting a few of my favorite songs from more recent years that feature samples, as well as the song(s) they sampled. For the sake of keeping this post from getting too lengthy, I will only post a handful.
“Don’t Waste My Time” by Usher featuring Ella Mai has been one of my favorite songs for most of this year. I first heard back in late winter on Sirius XM’s Heart & Soul station. I initially thought it was Hi-Five’s “I Like The Way” because of the intro. On that note, the song samples the following two songs…
This is where the intro to “Don’t Waste My Time” comes from. Listen to the very beginning!
“Don’t Waste My Time” samples a portion of the melody played by the strings throughout this song, which just happens to be one of my absolute favorite Jacksons songs. Listen to both and you will hear it. When I finally “heard” it, it made sense to me that I loved “Don’t Waste My Time” so much.
Loved this song instantly, mainly on the strength of the sample, which can be clearly heard at the beginning. The sample is from the following Raphael Saadiq song:
This song, “Ask Of You”, was on the soundtrack to the movie Higher Learning, and always reminds me of it.
I fell in love with this song from the very first time I heard it. It samples a song by Beyonce that I have always loved, “Me, Myself & I”, so perfectly. Beyonce’s vocals and ad libs are the first thing you hear on “24/7”, and Ella Mai’s voice blends with hers so well. Not to mention, the beat and meaning behind this song. It brings back good memories of me wearing it out in late 2018-half of 2019.
Anyone who knows me knows that I have never been the biggest Beyonce fan. I’m actually one of her biggest critics, lol…but whew…this song right here?! I have loved it since 2003. My favorite line is I know that I will never disappoint myself… I think Meek and Ella did it justice.
Bass line and melody for the win! Loved this song immediately and wore it out back in 2018, thanks in large part to the sample of the following song:
Keni Burke’s “Risin’ To The Top” has been getting sampled since the ’80s, the same decade it came out in. It is definitely one of the most sampled songs in R&B and hip-hop, and one of my favorite mellow songs of all time to vibe out to.
Love this song a lot! It samples not one, but two classic 80s R&B/funk classics:
Classic joint that has been sampled umpteen times by some of everybody from Biggie to Tamar Braxton. “U 2 Luv” samples the beat well.
Another classic that needs no explanation. Still one of the most innovative songs ever recorded, over 30 years later. “U 2 Luv” samples the chorus of this one.
So…I still ended up posting more songs than planned. Oh, well! You get the point. The “newer” songs sample the older song or songs that follow each. Enjoy and happy crate digging!
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