I like that song, but isn’t that?

Okay, I admit it, although I’m an R&B Historian, I was into Rap music. I mean, back in the days when I had a “Jheri Curl” (I didn’t think it look so bad! ) But like all music, Rap music evolved as well. I recently heard the song from Rap group Above The Law called “Untouchable” in the year of 1990, and it was one of my favorites. For some reason, I was trying to figure out where I heard the beat. Somehow, I thought it was from a television series. I was way off. The song was sampled from Jackie Wilson’s album called “Light My Fire” in the year of 1968. 

So, my “Chicken Noodles” (that means my brain) started working. What other songs were sampled that I knew of, or more importantly you didn’t know? So, I went off on a tangent to find three major classic rap songs. And I was shocked.

Ill start with a song from Isaac Hayes in June of 1974 called “Hung Up On My Baby”, which didn’t do well on the R&B charts. But 27 years later, a Rap Group from Houston, Texas called the Geto Boys sampled this song for their record called, “Mind is Playing Tricks On Me”. The result for them? Their first and only top 10 song on the R&B charts, reaching number one on the Rap Charts, became a gold single, and reached the Rock ‘n Roll Hall of Fame. Rolling Stone ranked it the 5th biggest Rap song of all time.

 The Biggest song in Tupac’s career was the single “How Do You Want It”, that entered the R&B charts in June 1996. Not only did the single reach number one on the R&B charts, but it crossed over to reach number one on the pop charts in July for two weeks, ironically a couple of months before he passed away. But the song was sampled from the album from Quincy Jones called “Body Heat”, an album that reached number one on the R&B charts, number six on the pop charts, and became a gold selling album as well. It also included Leon Ware, and the iconic Minnie Riperton.

The song “21 Questions” by 50 Cent was the second number one single for the rapper in the year of 2003. It was number one on the R&B charts for seven weeks,  reached number one on the Rap charts, and spent a total of four weeks crossing over to the all-important pop charts. It was sampled, however, by a song from Barry White in the year of 1978 called “It’s Only Love Doing Its Thing”. From the album called Barry White the man. It was Whites sixth number one album, and third platinum album as well.

So, some of the most iconic rap songs actually come from some of the most iconic R&B artists. And that says a lot about not just Rap music, or R&B music, but American music.

Have a question for me? Send it my website, www.R&BHistorian.com