Past 2 The Present #6: Gang Starr “Hard to Earn” (1994)
I am very happy to post another entry from our old series Samplers in our new reprised name, Past 2 The Present. For anyone who has not seen this series, we break down our favorite hip hop albums with the specific intention of showing the tracks sampled to create the musical back drops to some of hip hops most famous and innovative mc’s.
We continue with our series “Past 2 The Present” with the 1994 release from Gang Starr “Hard to Earn”. This was one of my favorite tapes to listen to during this period of hip-hop, DJ Premier is easily one of the most respected and seasoned producers for the hip hop movement, his selection in samples supports this reality…
From Wikipedia: DJ Premier’s style of production epitomizes the New York sound of his earlier peers. He is known for sampling jazz, funk, and soul artists, as well as sampling an artist’s past work when creating a new track for that same artist. In addition, his encyclopedic memory of hip-hop lyrics allows him to distinctively speak with his hands by scratching in lyrics from several different songs to construct new phrases. Premier’s non-Gang Starr collaborations are known for his oft-imitated combinations of short vocal samples, often from multiple artists, to create a chorus. For example, in the chorus of Mos Def’s “Mathematics,” Premier cuts the following in quick succession:
- “The Mighty Mos Def” (from Mos Def’s “Body Rock”),
- “It’s simple mathematics” (from Fat Joe’s “John Blaze”),
- “Check it out” (Lady of Rage from Snoop Dogg’s “For All My Niggaz & Bitches”),
- “I revolve around science” (from Ghostface Killah’s verse on Raekwon’s “Criminology”),
- “What are we talking about here” (from the movie Ghostbusters Said by William Atherton’s Character),
- “Do your math” (from Erykah Badu’s “On & On”), and
- “One, two, three, four” (from James Brown’s “Funky Drummer”)
Note, however, that Premier has experimented extensively with atonal samples that are not confined to soul, jazz, and funk. For example, he sampled chopped up seminal electro-acoustic music from the 1960s on the track “Mental Stamina” by Jeru the Damaja.
