Long Island Wildin

De La Soul completely threw me for a loop when they included this on Buhloone Mindstate. I loved that track then still love it now. Takagi Kan sounds like Popeye at the beginning.



they sampled a small section of this and slowed it down.

Is it in?

Jimmy Bo Horne yall.





also used by Jungle Brothers and Force of Nature.

Drums, drums, drums, drums

After all these years, I still love drums. Thick, heavy, loud, ass shaking drums. Hip hop was all about the break beats, the part of the song that was just drums. Then there was some electronica genre in the 90s called Breakbeat (which threw me for a loop b/c it had nothing to do with actual break beats... are you confused yet?) Here are some gems. Some are at the beginning of the track, others are more towards the middle.



play at 1:29

Anatomy of a Song:

This is a hip hop classic from a bygone era. JVC Force out of Long Island, New York released the single "Strong Island" in 1987 using 3 essential elements, which I will list the youtube tracks to. To anyone who was into hip hop during the so-called golden era, this is one of the most essential tracks, but to the casual fan, this song may have fallen under the radar.

I've always loved that song and when I heard the original sample sources, it just demonstrated how simple-yet-effective hip hop was at taking something classic and reconstructing it in a new and exciting way.

JVC Force "Strong Island"


Freda Payne "Unhooked Generation"


Freda Payne "The Easiest Way To Fall"