They would play funk like, Natural High by Bloodstone, Kool and
the Gang and James Brown. It was funky and these were local bands!
Seeing that reinforced my whole notion that I want to do this.
The records I listened to then, like Isaac Hayes' Hot Buttered
Soul, had a profound impact on me. So years later it wasn't unusual
for me to hear these records being sampled and to know what they
were. I noticed a lot of producers were just buying the music
and sampling it. They didn't know the background and the history
and they didn't even care to know. That's what bugged me about
the whole sampling thing. There were some cats, like Pete Rock,
who I respect and I knew he was into the music, into the history
of the group and all that. But the majority of other cats were
just buying it because there was a break on there and then they
would discard the record and I'm saying, " the entire album
is great!" Back then the music had an impact and a purpose.
It just doesn't age, you can listen to it now and it's still relevant.
That's why people sample from this era. Right now with music,
you cant really discern an artist on the radio because everything
sounds the same.
The thing that I do love about sampling is that it opened the
world to rediscovering this music. These albums are being reissued
and not just because of the breaks but because these albums are
great. When Headless Horsemen of The Apocalypse came out, Richard
Nixon actually called Atlantic Records and told them he didn't
want that record to be released and now it has become popular
among producers and music lovers. Sampling has sparked a rediscovery
of these artists. I admire what those guys [Kon and Amir] are
doing by collecting the original records and mixing them to make
people aware. So on that tip it's cool.
When I was young I would get a broom and I would give kitchen
implements to my brothers and sisters and we would pretend that
we were a band. I would put on some Mandrill and we would play
to it.
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