On ‘Get Down,’ a deep cut off Dipset’s “More Than Music Vol. 1,” Cam’ron unforgettably reflects upon the expendability of R&B singers in light of the melodic talents of top five dead-or-alive weed carrier Freekey Zeekey: “F**k you R&B n*****, Zeke sing all the hooks.” Until recently, hip-hop had distanced itself from everything R&B, with the exception of its females. In the last year, however, the sultry tones of 90’s R&B have slowly begun seeping into the sound of hip-hop. Sampling hasn’t focused this heavily on a single genre since the mid-2000’s, when Kanye West brought chipmunk soul to the mainstream, but it seems that after a lengthy sample-free trap fixation, hip-hop is inching back towards its roots, slowly melding with the very music it spat in the face of throughout the 90s and early 2000s. Some would argue that this growing trend is in large part thanks to Drake, whose sound has most architected the intersection of the two genres; his impending Aaliyah project could be the watershed moment of R&B’s full break-in to the hip-hop mainstream. To celebrate the impending R&B invasion, here are five of the dopest underplayed R&B samples in hip-hop:
5 — Lex Luger Produces
Drake’s ‘Cameras,’ produced by Virginia trap wunderkind Lex Luger (and seemingly aided by a few moody 40’s VSTs), samples Jon B’s 90’s classic ‘They Don’t Know.’
4 — Rashad Produces
Stalley’s ‘She Hates the Bass,’ produced by Rashad, comes off the pair’s fantastic “Lincoln Way Nights” project. Rashad masterfully weaves Herb Alpert’s ‘Making Love in the Rain’ atop a woozing can you feel the bass?line.
3 — B. Jay Produces
Mac Miller’s ‘Good Evening’ comes off his 2010 breakout “KIDS” mixtape. Produced by somewhat-lamely monikered and unknown “B. Jay,” this was one of the standouts that made all those white KIDS jump. Mr. Jay samples a slow-burning Lloyd feature on Drake’s ‘Night Off.’
2 — Tommy Black Produces
Kendrick Lamar’s ‘Blow My High (Members Only)’ is perhaps the cleverest use of an R&B sample I’ve ever heard, such that producer Tommy Black’s drop of Aaliyah’s ‘Four Page Letter’ near the end of the song causes Kendrick to chuckle.
1 — 40 Produces
A$AP Rocky’s incredibly addictive 40-produced mainstream breakout, ‘Fuckin’ Problem,’ samples Aaliyah’s ‘Come Over.’ Aaliyah was a “bad bitch,” so it all makes sense.
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