the song and the sample

de la soul come from the era of sampling. by their own admission "sampling will never die for de la soul. there are too many unknown records, too many obscure records ... whether it be a be a jazz record or a sound effects record". they were one of the first acts to really go to town with the samples, with their first album '3 feet high and rising'. the fourth track 'cool breeze on the rocks' is entirely made up of samples with the word rock in the lyrics. and parenthetically, they were sued for the use of a particular sample, that in part led to the tighter regulation of sampling

anyway, de la soul have never been shy of bringing together dispirit elements of music into a hip hop format. this is perhaps nowhere better exemplified than on the title track to their 2004 album 'the grind date'. i remember when this song first came on the radio it just got me so pumped. the reason for this was it brought one of my favourite rap groups (de la soul) together for the first time with a favourite band from another sphere of music, '70s progressive rock, (yes)


>>>de la soul


>>>yes

i'd really got into yes through my dad's record collection, and knew the sampled song pretty well. it's called 'ritual: nous sommes du soleil' and forms the final part of the epic concept album 'tales from topographic oceans' based on a set of hindu scriptures. each track is a 20 minute piece comprising the entire side of a vinyl record. it's as awesome as it sounds



the mere fact that they managed to bring in this sample and make it work as a new track is amazing. de la soul, making something obscure and a bit geeky into a vital minor radio hit

so, here's the track (live, which does mean a bit of a loss in sound quality)



and, for your pleasure, the first part (less than half) of the sampled epic (also live)



do you have any other perfect song/sample combinations, where two of your favourite artists came together?

king tim