" K-Def Drops Jewels "

Ego Trip caught up with the New Jersey beatsmith K-Def for a in-depth analysis of his top 10 sample flips.......

FRESH IS THE WORD...

2. Public Enemy – “Public Enemy No. 1″ (Def Jam, 1987)
Producer: The Bomb Squad

Sample Source: Fred Wesley & the JB’s – “Blow Your Head” (People, 1974)

K-Def: I knew James Brown stuff pretty good. The original record of “Blow Your Head” was fast as hell and it had bongos and all this other shit in it. And when I first heard “Public Enemy No. 1″ I heard the 12-inch instrumental without Chuck D rhyming on it, and I thought, that shit didn’t sound like [what I remembered "Blow Your Head" sounded like]. It sounded like they chopped up [Melvin Bliss' breakbeat classic] “Substitution,” and did their own pattern. It was a phenomenal [production to do] with that technology back then. To his day I don’t believe there’s too many people who could [re-create] that record. It was just incredible [what they did with the sample]. The swing of the drums and the way the [synth] noise just stayed there. I know looping was just starting then. At the time, sampling was a lot of 4-track taping and re-dubbing and making stuff extend. But to hear something where you couldn’t [tell] where the sample was placed it was [so seamless], I just thought that was incredibly hooked up. It was simple, but very effective.

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