Ayo… before I start, shoutout to Combat Jack, Jia, NerdAtTheCool Table, and Boardroom Gangster for the props they’ve given DanjLovesThe90s on their own blogs and Twitters over the past week. ‘Preciate it, y’all!
Aight, SO in case you’ve just joined us… last month, I posted an entry called “The ’90s Loved The ’80s”, and also “The ’90s Loved Michael Jackson”. This month, here’s more examples of ’90s hip-hop that sampled music from the previous decade. I’m admittedly a sucker for that laid-back mellow R&B shit from the ’80s, and number of artists must’ve felt the same way. Even the most hardcore artists smoothed it out a lil’ bit once or twice, usually with decent results. Here’s a few of those, and as always, click ‘em if you want ‘em.
Eric B. & Rakim “What’s On Your Mind” (1991) sampled Midnight Star “Curious” (1985): Even during a time when rappers were catching heat for makin’ that “punk smooth shit”, Rakim was able to drop one that got love. Here, ’80s funk group Midnight Star gets their ‘85 hit reworked six years after the fact. Meanwhile, “the R” spits game at his girl, as she gets comfortable and watches the Huxtables. Also notable for being one the last few EB&R singles before they went their seperate ways a year later.
Tragedy “Grand Groove” (1993) sampled Patrice Rushen “Remind Me” (1982): Queens, NY’s Tragedy, transitioning out of his “Intelligent Hoodlum” phase but not yet in his “Khadafi” stage, lifts a classic from the early ’80s queen of beads-n-braids. This wasn’t the first or last time “Remind Me” would be sampled (i.e. Mary J., Faith Evans, Junior MAFIA, Chubb Rock, etc.) but one of the most effective. Patrice prob’ly didn’t think “Rememberin’ the days of my youth/Bust my first nut on the project roof” were ideal lyrics for her music, but Trag did it justice with the dedication to all his peoples that passed away.
Heavy D & The Boyz “Got Me Waiting” (1994) sampled Luther Vandross “Don’t You Know That” (1981): The late, great Luther (the original “Overweight Lover”, usually depending on the year) has had a few of his biggest hits turned into hits again. In this case, it happened with the production of Pete Rock and hip-hop’s Overweight Lover, Heavy D. Not usually the hardest of the hard, Hev was coming off of an album (Blue Funk) that had more of a street edge, but less hits than he was used to. So, he went back to what he did best and immediately scored another hit with “Got Me Waiting”.
Kool G Rap feat. Nas “Fast Life” (1995) sampled Surface “Happy” (1987): One of my personal favorites from ‘87, brought back by two of my all-time favorite MC’s for the nine-five. G Rap and Esco drop gems on ‘em to the tune of a hit by Surface, a group that had a nice string of hits during the late ’80s and early ’90s. I’m sure Nas meant “REserved spaces at the horse races” instead of “PREserved”, but this one is otherwise hard to argue with. Beautiful, baby.
It didn’t just happen on the hip-hop side of things, though. In the R&B world, producers were going back to the ’80s for classic hip-hop tracks. Next month, I’ll be covering some of those… but in the meantime, have fun with these.
-D!
Posted by Danj! 
