V.A. This Is The Breaks

“This Is The Breaks” is a 12-track look at the history of the break − and they’re all great jazz, funk and soul records. We have not only included tracks that were sampled back in the first golden age of sampling, but also tracks that have been utilised by some of today’s biggest names.

The curtains open with Millie Jackson’s version of ‘If Loving You Is Wrong I Don’t Want To Be Right’ originally a hit for Luther Ingram in 1972. This version recorded in Muscle Shoals and produced by Brad Shapiro was the opening track of Jackson’s “Caught Up” LP released in 1974. The use of a beat with sweeping strings as a sample, usually at a slow to medium tempo, as pioneered by the Wu-Tang Clan, seems to be especially in vogue at the moment. ‘If Loving You Is Wrong I Don’t Want To Be Right’ has been used over 50 times over the last few decades and was sampled in 2023 by NLE Choppa on ‘Pistol Paccin’’. A similar sound is culled from Debbie Taylor’s 1969 track ‘Let’s Prove Them Wrong’ which was sampled in 2021 by JID on his cut ‘2007’. It was also used in 2023 on ‘Release Me’ by Nasty C.

f this suggests that sampling can be fashion-led, another example is Little Ann’s ‘Deep Shadows’. Ann was a Detroit singer who released only one single − 1968’s Going Down A One-Way Street (The Wrong Way) produced by Dave Hamilton for Ric-Tic Records − but left a handful of soul masterpieces in the vault. While two of those − ‘What Should I Do?’ and ‘Who You Trying To Fool?’ − are up-tempo northern soul dancers, the downtempo ‘Deep Shadows’ is atmospheric, with a plodding beat, memorable vibes and piano parts. Finally released in 1998, it has since been sampled dozens of times by artists like Grand Puba on ‘Think Of U’ (2016), Loyle Carner on ‘You Don’t Know’ (2019), and more recently in 2024 by Your Old Droog’s on ‘dbz’, featuring Madlib, Denzel Curry and Wu-Tang Clan’s Method Man.

One of hip-hop’s greatest producers is DJ Premier of Gang Starr, whose beat picking is exemplary and the way he uses those beats raises him above almost all his peers. Take his deployment of Joe Simon’s ‘Drowning In The Sea Of Love’, which he edited and manipulated to form the hook of Gang Starr’s 1997 single ‘You Know My Steez’. He was also the first producer to sample Billy Garner’s Detroit street funk cut ‘I Got Some’ which went on to be sampled time and time again. From the same Motor City studio − Dave Hamilton’s − came Chico & Buddy’s ‘Can You Dig It?’ which was one of several samples on House of Pain’s 1992 hit ‘Jump Around’.

Classic golden age samples are present in Lowell Fulsom’s ‘Tramp’, which has been sampled over 50 times including by the Wu-Tang Clan and Epmd, and the Fatback Band’s ‘Gotta Learn How To Dance’ which was used by Kool G Rap and DJ Polo on the tough rap of ‘Streets Of New York’ in 1990. For dance music fans it was also the sound of Groove Armada’s ‘My Friend’ in 2001. Another UK dance hit sample is Bernard ‘Pretty’ Purdie’s ‘Heavy Soul Slinger’ which was used by the Prodigy on their 1995 hit ‘Poison’ and by Massive Attack on their 1998 track ‘Mezzanine’. Lonnie Liston Smith’s beautiful ‘Summer Nights’ has been sampled mainly in dance music by artists such as Moody Man and the Swedish House Mafia. New Orleans singer Tami Lynn’s version of the Doors ‘Light My Fire’ was sampled by musician, producer and DJ Howie B on ‘Sore Brown Eyes’ (1997) and also by the Dilated Peoples on ‘Triple Optics’ (1998). Gil Scott-Heron’s harrowing tale of drug addiction, ‘Home Is Where The Hatred Is’, from his 1971 LP “Pieces Of A Man” was sampled on the Kanye West and Common collaboration ‘My Way Home’ from West’s “Late Registration” album released in 2005.

Whilst the music on “This Is The Breaks” has been sampled to construct brilliant new songs the originals have stood the test of time. In fact, someone, somewhere in the world is probably slipping some of this music into a new song right now.

So, drop the needle and challenge your friends to play a guessing game of who used what sample and when.