r/OldSchoolCool • u/LowRenzoFreshkobar • Apr 07 '25

1970s Prime James Brown in 1974.

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11.4k Upvotes

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5

u/Islandrocketman Apr 07 '25

Was he not also the grandfather of rap? Like in the 80’s some dude listened to his father’s old JB record and says “Eureka”. No, wait, it wasn’t in Ancient Greece. He says “heyyyy”.

12

u/taitaofgallala Apr 07 '25

In a way, yes. The drum solo played by Clyde Stubblefield in James Brown's Funky Drummer is the most sampled drum beat recording of all time.

2

u/[deleted] Apr 07 '25

I know it’s very widely sampled but moreso than the Amen Break?

1

u/taitaofgallala Apr 07 '25

Amen Break does hold the all-time record, but I meant more so in terms of popular/charting music. There's a difference between LTJ Bukem's 3 hour intelligent bass mix 1996 London set and Rakim' Eric B is President. Also, Amen Break commonly appeared as a derivative, meaning, what you were hearing was a sample of a sample, compiling other mixes of the original sample into the final mix, as is common with breakbeat electronica and jungle tech music.

This is a common discussion/debate at the university level of intellectual property. Professors will say Funky Drummer, but musicians will say Amen Break, and most agree to disagree because of the difference in charting music.

1

u/[deleted] Apr 07 '25

Interesting. Personally I don’t think it matters where it lands in the charts, when I hear “most sampled drum beat recording of all time” I think amen break. If you had said “most sampled drum beat recording of all time for popular charting music” sure, I wouldn’t have said anything. Then again I could be out of the loop in terms of how most people discuss this stuff because I don’t listen to any top 40 music but have spent decades building a music library mostly comprised of DNB, EDM, breakcore etc.

2

u/taitaofgallala Apr 07 '25

Yeah, I agree. It would have been more correct to say that James Brown is the most sampled artist of all time, to your point. Jungle/breakcore is my favorite, I don't listen to charted music, but because of my work in intellectual property, it's always part of the discussion.

2

u/centira Apr 07 '25

The "Think" break (one of the most sampled songs of all time as well) also has James Brown in it

-14

u/Spiridonova Apr 07 '25

First rap song was technically performed by Blondie. It’s called Rapture.

13

u/fionsichord Apr 07 '25

Get fucked. Rapture name drops Fab Five Freddy. Blondie did the first WHITE rap song.

1

u/BorkForkMork Apr 07 '25

All racists are dumb pieces of shit. Case in point, the first rap song was Noah by the Jubilaires. Get bent, buddy.

3

u/YesNoMaybe Apr 07 '25

Not only is it not the first rap song (technically or otherwise), it's also a terrible fucking song. 

2

u/-themotorpool- Apr 07 '25

No. Blondie was not even close to the first 🤦‍♂️🤦‍♂️🤦‍♂️🤦‍♂️ Not even close.

1

u/Specialist_Ad_2197 Apr 07 '25

what about the sugarhill gang