2013 made for another exciting year in sampling with some huge artists and albums digging deep for obscure sources and of course recycling some classics. As this list reflects, Kanye West and his G.O.O.D. Music affiliates had another incredible year but the same can be said for Jay Z, Eminem, Drake, J.Cole, Pusha T and (more recently) Beyoncé all of whom released high impact LPs this year. Odd Future’s breakout star Tyler, the Creator and wonder-kid Earl Sweatshirt both came through with heavy hitting, sample-ridden albums and new players Future and DJ Mustard rocked the clubs with their melodic blend of trapped out beats and auto-tuned hooks. The Hip-Hop community briefly came to a halt when Big Sean dropped an album offcut, ‘Control‘ featuring a monstrous verse from Kendrick Lamar firing shots at his contemporaries prompting countless responses. Popularity was not limited to those at the more commercial end of the spectrum with long players from the likes of Danny Brown, Action Bronson, Alchemist and many others proving popular on the site. In dance music, Daft Punk, famed for their sample led productions, created waves releasing an album containing only one sample but continuing to reference bygone eras, in particular with their retro hit Get Lucky.
Check out our Top 10 ‘hottest’ samples of the year – the most viewed samples on WhoSampled relating to records released in 2013:
10) J.Cole feat Kendrick Lamar’s Forbidden Fruit sample of Ronnie Foster’s Mystic Brew
First up we’ve got J. Cole, who’s album Born Sinner was one of the most anticipated releases of the year. Released the same day as Kanye’s Yeezus, the LP didn’t entirely deliver on expectations but did produce strong sales in spite of competition. Featuring Kendrick Lamar, the track ‘Forbidden Fruit’ lifts its central loop from Ronnie Foster‘s ‘Mystic Brew’, a track that will forever hold an association with A Tribe Called Quest‘s all time classic 1993 album Midnight Marauders. For more details, check out our sample review of the full LP from earlier in the year.
A$AP Rocky brings together an epic contemporary guest-list for a rare 2013 posse cut with rolling verses from Kendrick, Joey Bada$$, Yelawolf, Danny Brown, Action Bronson, Big K.R.I.T. and RZA-esque production handled by Hit-Boy. Rocky’s long awaited debut LP LONG.LIVE.A$AP dropped way back in January and ‘1Train‘ was the main talking point during the run up.
8) Drake feat Jay Z’s Pound Cake sample of Ellie Goulding’s Don’t Say a Word
Drake clearly deserved a spot in the end of year lists with his album Nothing Was The Same continuing his meteoric rise to the top. Boi-1da and the excellent Noah “40” Shebib chop an excerpt of Ellie Goulding’s Burial-esque wails from ‘Don’t Say A Word’ and combine it with a catchy little interpolation of Wu-Tang’s “C.R.E.A.M” (sung by an uncredited Timbaland) to create a super-catchy and stripped down beat. Have a look through our sample review of the full album in collaboration with HYPETRAK for more info.
7) Kanye West’s Blood on the Leaves sample of Nina Simone’s Strange Fruit
Kanye makes his first appearance in the list at number 7 with his incredible sample of Nina Simone‘s ‘Strange Fruit‘ in ‘Blood on the Leaves’. Co-producers here are new G.O.O.D. Music signee Hudson Mohawke and Lunice (who together release material as TNGHT) and the sound of the track’s harsh conclusion is a slight reworking of the duo’s first track ‘R U Ready’. Adding to the track’s rowdy crescendo is a lyrical interpolation lifted from C-Murder‘s ‘Down For My Niggaz’, an unexpected contrast to the track’s opening but then harsh contrast was a recurring theme throughout Yeezus of course, as other entries in this list for tracks from LP show.
Another entry for Yeezy, and not for the first time he is sampling melodramatic religious themes (see Jesus Walk’s sample of The ARC Choir’s ‘Walk With Me’ for a prior example). Produced in part by Daft Punk, ‘On Sight’ opens with an abrasive acid pulse which cuts, some would say clumsily, to an unadulterated (but apparently replayed) sample of the line “He’ll Give Us What We Really Need” lifted from ‘Sermon’ before chopping back to the track’s glitchy acidic conclusion. The fact that the sample is preceded by the line “let me show how much I give a f***” tells you something of Kanye’s mind set throughout this long player and the awkward juxtaposition that the sample creates hints unsubtly at the theme of contradiction and contrast on the LP.
5) J.Cole feat. Miguel’s Power Trip sample of Hubert Laws’ No More
Riffing off a prominent flute sample from Hubert Laws‘ early 1970s CTI material, ‘No More’ from the Morning Star album, the track fuses the mid ’90s practice of sampling ’70s jazz fusion with the trademark sonics of 2013 production – crunchy pitched down drums and a grinding synth bass. It’s Miguel’s chorus hook that really makes the track though, bringing the multiple layers into a coherent whole.
4) Daft Punk and DJ Falcon’s Contact sample of The Sherbs’ We Ride Tonight
Back in May Daft Punk revealed the sample source for new track ‘Contact‘ before releasing the track itself, they also revealed that it was the only sample on the entire album, a shock for many fans expecting another typical sample-heavy Daft Punk release. ‘We Ride Tonight‘ by Australian 80s rockers The Sherbs was the only hint fans had as to the album’s content whilst promo material slowly dripped out in a series of excellently presented talking heads videos from the albums collaborators.
3) Justin Timberlake feat. Jay Z’s Suit & Tie sample of Sly, Slick and Wicked’s Sho’ Nuff / Jay Z’s Show You How
Justin and Jay Z team up with Timbaland for what turned out to be one of the biggest records of the year as JT exploded from a 6 year hiatus way back in January. Starting with a chopped ‘n screwed style beat, the track quickly switches up tempo with sampled horn blasts from Sho’ Nuff and Jay Z’s replays his lyric “I’ll show you how to do this son!” from The Blueprint 2.
2) Kanye West feat. Frank Ocean’s New Slaves sample of Omega’s Gyöngyhajú Lány
There was no pre-album single for Yeezus but this was the track the world was allowed to hear before the album’s official release. As a track dealing with complex issues including slavery, commercialism, prison for profit and black male sexual stereotypes, with no hook or even or a discernible drum track, it’s an unconventional choice but then that’s the point of course. The sample usage here is much in the same style as ‘On Sight’, a large unaltered chunk of Omega‘s late 1960s psych outing is planted a little uncomfortably at the end of the track, again revisiting the theme of contrast.
1) Kanye West’s Bound 2 sample of Ponderosa Twins Plus One’s Bound / Brenda Lee’s Sweet Nothin’s / Wee’s Aeroplane (Reprise)
Back at the top spot for the second year running (Mercy topped our list in 2012), Mr. West dominated the WhoSampled.com front page ever since he posted a short 14 second clip on his site in June. Built almost entirely from samples, the last track on Yeezus is arguably the most accessible of the bunch but the raw contrasting sample switches still sound alien in today’s slick, shimmering pop climate. Primarily focused around an unadulterated sample of Ponderosa Twins Plus One‘s 1971 soul ballad ‘Bound’ Kanye uses deliberately clunky cut-aways to the “Uh-huh honey” of Brenda Lee‘s ‘Sweet Nothin’s’ to shake things up. Listeners put off by the disjointedness and the lack of contemporary rhythm can find solace in the lush melody line from Wee‘s ‘Aeroplane (Reprise)’ which is reinterpreted by The Gap Band‘s Charlie Wilson and embellished in the live performances. The track saw a second wave of interest when Kanye and Nick Knight premiered the jaw-droppingly strange video that saw Kanye and Kim getting friendly on a motorbike against a selection of clumsily greenscreened backdrops… which was swiftly very nearly upstaged by James Franco and Seth Rogan’s spoof version which possibly deserves its own place at the top of an end of year list elsewhere.
