Isaac Hayes - ‘Joy’
taken from Joy (Stax, 1973)

Isaac Hayes is just one of a myriad of artists who I want to know inside out but am in reality still grappling with the very basics of their contributions to music history. In this case, I guess the issue lies in the fact that the man has simply made so much music over such a long period of time that it’s difficult to know where to start (guide me readers). Having bought …To Be Continued and Hot Buttered Soul in recent months I’ve been keen to dip my toe further into Hayes’s veritable ocean of recordings and as such recently acquired his album of 1973, Joy.

The song that gives the album its name is clearly the standout composition from the LP, although both ‘I Love You That’s All’ and ‘The Feeling Keeps Coming’ have seen some heavy rotation as well (although the first of these two cuts does ask you to endure over two minutes of Hayes and a ladyfriend engaging in drunken foreplay before the song even begins).

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‘Joy’ is the most heavily sampled of the songs on the album, featuring a tight opening drum break as sampled by Large Pro Eric B. on ‘Keep The Beat’ as well as numerous other familiar grooves that crop up throughout the track’s towering sixteen minutes.

The moments to savour can be found in the extended instrumental sections of the song where Hayes’s skill as an arranger is really allowed to shine forth. The opening two minutes are beautifully constructed with various elements gradually built into the mix over the aforementioned drum track on the way to the first verse, and it doesn’t stop there: wait for the guitar lick that joins the fun after the initial chorus for a dose of pure musical genius. Of course there’s more than an ounce of self-indulgence here, but this is Isaac Hayes for gawd’s sake: what do you expect?!

If you make it all the way through the track you’ll have done well, but even if you bail out early you’ll do so smiling from cheek to cheek. Allow yourself a little indulgence and give the post-weekend blues the shake off: you know you want to…

Black Moon - ‘Buck ‘Em Down (Remix)’
taken from Diggin’ In Dah Vaults (Nervous, 1996)

Donald Byrd - ‘Wind Parade’
taken from Places And Spaces (Blue Note, 1976)

Lafayette Afro Rock Band - ‘Hihache’
taken from Soul Makossa (Musidisc , 1973)

Although I’ve got a load of ideas floating about for beat deconstructions at the moment, two key factors have brought about today’s drop. First and foremost, it looks like Spring may have finally arrived in good old Blighty following the snow (!) over the Easter weekend, so my listening habits are once again returning to those songs that complement the season. Secondly, Donald Byrd’s fantastic Places And Spaces landed on my doormat earlier in the week. The upshot? Black Moon’s seminal remix of an already great song ‘Buck ‘Em Down’ gets served the deconstruction treatment. God bless the sunshine!

Byrd’s aforementioned LP was initially released on Blue Note in 1976, a veritable sample spotter’s dream with essentially every track on the album having been mined by the hip hop set at one time or another. ‘Wind Parade’ is no exception, the basis of the remix of the track currently under the microscope as well as a host of other jams that you’re likely to be familiar with (the other most notable use for me can be found on Organized Konfusion’s fantastic ‘Stray Bullet’). Two key sections to look out for here, the first beginning at the 0.24 mark with the four bars that form the main groove and then at 3.17 for the break that finds its way into the chorus of Da Beatminerz produced remix. Although there’s some filter work at play here to add depth and variation, this is essentially a straight loop, a production aesthetic that finds its way into many of the landmark Beatminerz-helmed cuts of the era including ‘Who Got Da Props?’ and the bangin’ ‘I Got Cha Opin’ remix.

The drums are sourced from Lafayette Afro Rock Band’s ubiquitous ‘Hihache’, a song that can be found on their second LP entitled Soul Makossa, officially released in the States under the moniker Movin’ & Groovin’. It’s no surprise that the break has been used widely as the beautifully clean pattern that can be found at the very beginning of the track is basically tailor made for chopping and rearranging. The rest of the song is equally delightful, a hard groove that features blazing horns and a tight guitar solo that won’t fail to put put a little shuffle in your step: be warned. Production-wise, it’s interesting to note that the drums take on a more aggressive quality at the 0.30 mark of the Black Moon cut, a subtle touch that gives the song extra punch as the listener is propelled towards the first verse.

Throw these elements together and you get what must be one of the greatest summer hip hop jams ever committed to wax, and Buckshot knows it: notice his assertion at the beginning of the track that the ‘weather is looking mad fine and everything’s looking smooth’. I couldn’t have said it any better myself…

Afrika Bambaataa & The Soulsonic Force - ‘Planet Rock’
taken from Planet Rock (Tommy Boy, 1986)

Jeff Chang - Can’t Stop Won’t Stop - A History of the Hip-Hop Generation (St. Martin’s Press, 2005)

Given that Jeff Chang’s Can’t Stop Won’t Stop was first published in 2005, this review will probably be three years late for an audience that I would expect have probably devoured it twice over already. However, having never read it myself and spent as much time as possible over the Bank Holiday weekend pouring over every word, it feels fitting to hip you in the direction of a piece of literature that goes down as absolutely essential for anybody who is interested in both the musical history of the genre and the social, historical and political contexts that gave birth to it: I’m guessing that’s you.

Chang’s achievement here is nothing short of awe-inspiring. Tracing the roots of the culture back to the turbulent Jamaica of the late ’60s, he proceeds to look in depth at the organisation of gangs and the policy-making that created them in New York City during the ’70s before taking the reader on a whirlwind tour that covers the very first block parties hosted by Kool Herc all the way through to hip hop’s assimilation into the mainstream during the mid-’90s and beyond. Although there are moments that focus very heavily on certain key albums (the first couple of Public Enemy LPs, NWA’s debut and Ice Cube’s Amerikkka’s Most Wanted and Death Certificate receiving pretty much their own chapters), Can’t Stop Won’t Stop is as much a look at the social conditions that defined the aesthetics of the music and the ongoing issues of race and gender that are so intertwined within it and contemporary America in wider terms as it is a chronology of key works that have defined the genre.

This may sound a little heavy, and although in places the writing is relatively dense, there is a broad enough range of content to keep things on the lighter side. Excerpts from interviews with Bambaataa, Jazzy Jay, Kool Herc and other early pioneers go deeper than in any other publication I’ve ever read, and when Chang does focus on the music he does so with an eloquence and intelligence that is wonderfully enlightening and entertaining. There’s also a hefty dose of discussion on graffiti, b-boying and the way in which the four elements came to exist under the same cultural umbrella as well as a look at the development of hip hop journalism and how it documented, analysed and helped to shape the culture: basically, it’s all in here.

To my mind, Can’t Stop Won’t Stop is the most comprehensive history of hip hop that exists, a definitive account of the ins and outs of a genre that has gone from neighbourhood pastime to global phenomenon in no less than 30 years. If for whatever reason you haven’t gotten around to reading Chang’s masterpiece yet then I cannot recommend strongly enough that you get yourself a copy immediately: this is basically any self-discerning rap nerd’s wildest wet dream manifested in words and paper. Buy it. Right now.

Kool & The Gang - ‘You Don’t Have To Change’
taken from Light Of Worlds (De-Lite, 1974)

About a month or two ago I copped Kool & The Gang’s seventh studio album Light Of Worlds, albeit with the sole intention of getting my hands on a high quality version of the undoubtedly brilliant and heavily sampled ‘Summer Madness’.

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To my delight I stumbled upon ‘You Don’t Have To Change’, which is both a fantastic song in its own right and the basis for one of the standout beats from NY’s Finest, ‘We Roll’. Granted, the track isn’t exactly soul in the more traditional sense of the word, but ‘Slice Of Soul’ was never conceived to be constrained by petty genre definitions: deal with it.

The song details the plight of a man who like a “zombie in the night” has been awakened by love only to be struck down by the realisation that his object of affection harbours concerns over her own worth within the relationship. Alton Taylor’s lead vocals are beautifully delivered over a soulful groove that runs through several different sections, all contained within a pleasingly compact two and half minutes or so that proves when done right, there ain’t nothing wrong with a dose of brevity.

Inevitably, I particularly like the section that begins at the 1.43 mark as the track gathers a sense of pace with the introduction of a more prominent drum track, but as a whole this is a perfectly crafted number that has had a smile plastered across my face all week: here’s hoping it has the same effect on you.

As a brief aside from the music, I’m off to enjoy the delights on London town over the Easter weekend. Have fun, I’ll catch you on the other side.

Although I have little doubt that the majority of people reading this post will have a similar appreciation of the wonders of Show’s production style as I do, it strikes me as a gross oversight that he is rarely mentioned in the inevitable and never-ending G.O.A.T. conversations that relentlessly crop up amongst the online hip hop community. For me Show’s back catalogue is not only one of the strongest in the game, but it also demonstrates an ear for samples and breaks that is both devastatingly effective and truly unique. Need proof? Look no further than the following deconstructions that attempt to argue that the Bronx bomber should without doubt be considered a part of the elite group that are more widely acknowledged as the best to ever do it behind the boards.

Ear For A Groove - ‘Sally Got a One Track Mind (Showbiz Remix)’

Diamond D - ‘Sally Got A One Track Mind’ (Showbiz Remix)
taken from ‘Sally Got A One Track Mind’ 12” (Chemistry, 1992)

Jack Bruce - ‘Born To Be Blue’
taken from Things We Like (Polydor, 1970)

Given that ‘Sally…’ in its original incarnation is one of the standouts from Diamond D’s rightfully celebrated solo debut Stunts, Blunts & Hip Hop, Show’s achievement in producing a remix that gives the track a different twist whilst keeping the slammin’ vibe that made Diamond D’s version so successful is nothing short of sensational. Backed by a forceful drum track of relentlessly pounding kicks and multiple snare hits, the secret to Show’s success here is in the pairing up of the brutal percussion with a decidedly mellow loop, a characteristic juxtaposition that permeates many of his finest beats.

The loop is sourced from Jack Bruce’s Things We Like, a record that has been spliced up and rearranged on multiple occasions by the genre’s more discerning diggers. Most widely known for his role in legendary ’60s outfit Cream, the album was his chance to break away from the group and pursue his lifelong interests in jazz in greater depth. Interestingly, the whole LP took its inspiration from songs that Bruce himself had written when he was as young as twelve, and it features performances by John McLaughlin and a host of other musicians who took part in the emerging jazz fusion boom of the early ’70s. I actually find the record itself a little hard to take, my untrained ears unable to pick apart the subtleties of what can fairly be described as an experimental piece of work. Having said this, ‘Born To Be Blue’ is one of the most cohesive songs to be found on the album for a non-jazz specialist (read: me), and it is here that Show, amongst many others, finds his inspiration.

The moment to look out for drops at the 1.19 mark, a seemingly innocuous couple of seconds from the song that is masterfully plucked by the hands of Show and placed into the ‘Sally…’ remix. It’s really his ear for a groove that impresses me most here, with the majority of other producers focusing on the opening sax solo or more obvious two bar loops such as the section jacked by Da Beatminerz for the Smif-N-Wessun banger ‘Bucktown’ that appears just before the three minute mark. I’m not sure where Show sourced the screeching horns that are added into the chorus sections of the remix, but when combined with this sample from Bruce’s original composition and the slammin’ drum track the result is undoubtedly one of his finest moments ever committed to wax.

Flippin’ Styles - ‘Next Level’

Show & A.G. - ‘Next Level’
taken from Goodfellas (Payday/ffrr, 1995)

Wes Montgomery - ‘Angel’
taken from A Day In The Life (A&M, 1967)

Although I imagine most people favour Premier’s remix of this cut from the sophomore drop by Show & A.G. Goodfellas, this particular hip hop geek gravitates towards the original as the better of the two versions. Featuring a more uptempo and sumptuous quality than the highly revered remix, Show’s production work on the cut is brilliantly executed and stands as a prime example of his deft ability to rearrange sample material into his grimy yet melodic aesthetic with seamless ingenuity.

The guitar sample used in the original version of ‘Next Level’ can be found on Wes Montgomery’s track ‘Angel’ from his 1967 album A Day In The Life, recorded towards the tail-end of his career. I imagine it’s a record that would have appalled purists at the time given its blatant attempt to crossover to a more commercial market, but there are enough enjoyable moments to warrant picking it up if you are interested in the smoother side of jazz from the era (although the covers of ‘Eleanor Rigby’ and ‘When a Man Loves A Woman’ are perhaps best avoided).

Show actually jacks two separate sections from ‘Angel’ in putting together ‘Next Level’, taking both the two bars that end in a flurry of strings found at the very beginning of the song for the verse sections and the gradually descending chords that introduce the first verse for the choruses. The tempo is slowed down somewhat from the Montgomery original and it seems as though there must have been some subtle chopping involved to get the sample to sit right over the drum track. Whereas his use of Bruce’s ‘Born To Be Blue’ demonstrates Show’s ability to choose samples that would have passed the less discerning producer by, the way in which he flips the Montgomery break provides us with another perspective on his technique, displaying his proficiency at incorporating elements into his work that are not immediately and easily transferable into a hip hop context.