Nov 292007
From: Paul’s Boutique [Capitol Records, 1989]
Alphonse Mouzon: Funky Snakefoot
From: Funky Snakefoot [Blue Note, 1974]
Harvey Scales: Dancing Room Only
From: Hotfoot: A Funque Dizco Opera [Casablanca, 1979]
Ronnie Laws: Tell Me Something Good
From: Pressure Sensitive [Blue Note 1975]
Paul Humphrey: Super Mellow
From: The Drum Session [Inner City, 1979]
Alan Moorhouse: Soul Skimmer
From: The Big Beat Vol.2 [KPM, 1970]
Rose Royce: 6 O’Clock DJ, Born to Love You and Yo Yo
From: Car Wash soundtrack [RCA, 1976]
Funky 4+1: That’s the Joint
From: That’s the Joint- 12 ” single [Sugar Hill, 1980]
James Brown featuring Afrika Bambaataa- Unity Part 6
From: Unity-single [Tommy Boy, 1984]
Afrika Bambaataa and the Jazzy Five- Jazzy Sensation
From: Jazzy Sensation- 12 “single [Tommy Boy, 1981]
The Sugarhill Gang- 8th Wonder
From: 8th Wonder [Sugar Hill, 1981]
I posted the first installment of the Anatomy of a Sample series in August, so you can read about that here. Today I am exploring the samples that the Dust Brother’s used on Beastie Boys “Shake Your Rump” from Pauls Boutique. When Paul’s Boutique was first released it was slept on by most of the hip-hop heads because it was nothing like Licensed to Ill. The Dust Brothers were true visionaries in the sampling game circa 1989, but they were undoubtedly influenced by the chaotic sample-heavy production of the Bomb Squad on Public Enemy’s landmark recording It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back. I’m not 100% sure about this, but it’s rumored that Paul’s Boutique contains more samples than any other hip-hop record in history. “Shake Your Rump” contains thirteen samples alone, so I can only imagine that the entire record is tipping the scales at over one-hundred samples.
The Dust Brothers artfully juxtaposed rare jazz drum breaks with old-school hip-hop and funky soul to craft the sample masterpiece “Shake Your Rump”. I will now take you on a journey through the various samples from “Shake Your Rump”. Fasten your seatbelts cause it’s going to be a bumpy ride!
During the opening seconds of “Shake Your Rump” the listener is assaulted with a spastic drum break taken from the first couple seconds of Alphonse Mouzon’s fantastic funk-inflected jazz tune called “Funky Snakefoot”. This immediately segues into another drum break taken from the five second mark of Harvey Scales disco classic “Dancing Room Only”. However, It seems that they removed the instruments in the foreground and slowed down the beat for the sample. After this, a chicken-scratch guitar taken from the opening seconds of Ronnie Laws cover of” Tell Me Something Good” is sped up to match the upbeat tempo of the track. Then, at about the twenty-six second mark, the conga drum beat from the opening seconds of Paul Humphrey’s jazzy “Super Mellow” is used to spice up the track. Next, the first couple seconds of Alan Moorhouse’s rippin’ drum beat from “Soul Skimmer” is sampled at the 37 second mark of the track. Finally, the Funky 4 Plus 1’s “That’s the Joint” is sampled at the 39 second point of the track and it segues right into mutated scratching over a deep bassline that is taken from Rose Royce’s instrumental track “6 O’Clock DJ”.
This goes on for about 15 seconds and then the bassline from the beginning of Rose Royce’s funk-tastic “Yo-Yo” slightly slows down the tempo before the “Funky Snakefoot” chicken scratch guitar makes another appearance. Then, the drum breaks from the beginning of the track are reincorporated into the mix and at the 1:33 mark, a vocal sample is taken from the 1:40 mark of James Brown and Afrika Bambaataa’ Unity Part 6 (This is the part where Bambaata says “Shake Your Rump-Ah”). Next, at the 2:07 mark the Dust Brothers fuse the opening bars of Rose Royce’s “Born to Love You” with background ambience and electronic handclaps taken from the 5:04 point of Afrika Bambaataa’s “Jazzy Sensation”. After this, a short vocal sample is taken from the 1:53 point of Sugarhill Gang’s “8th Wonder” where they proclain “Hoo Hah Got Them All in Check”. Finally, the Dust Brothers close out the track deftly by reintroducing Afrika Bambaataa’s “Jazzy Sensation” sample and integrating it with the drum beats from Paul Humphrey’s “Super Mellow”. There are probably a couple samples that I have missed, so let me know if you spot them. This concludes the anatomy of a sample for Beastie Boys “Shake Your Rump”. I hope you have enjoyed the ride.
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that is kool
Paul's Boutique is an absolute classic; the Dust Brothers are truly inspirational throughout.
They didn't have to clear the samples. And I think that made all the difference.
That said, it's still a work of genius. Although do I wonder if they've had to make retroactive payments on any of the samples.
For the record, It Takes A Nation of Millions.. came out the year before Paul's Boutique.
Also, the vast majority of the Licensed to Ill audience were not actually "hip-hop heads". Not saying this to bash them but this was an MTV audience.. most of them had never been exposed to hip-hop before Beasties and Run DMC (Rock Box and Walk this Way).
Thanks for the heads up Rafi. I must have gotten my facts mixed up as to which album was released first. I have to disagree with you about the real hip-hop headz not diggin the Beastie's cuz I was definitely diggin License to Ill and I was a hip-hop fanatic who listened to all kinds of old-school hip-hop. What hip-hop fan can deny such great songs like Paul Revere and Hold It Now Hit It.
It goes without saying that the Beastie's received a lot of MTV airplay. As a result, they gained the knucklehead frat boys attention as well. However, they quickly gained the respect and admiration of true hip-hop fans after the release of Paul's Boutique.
Jack: I obviously agree with your comment about this being a classic album. What are the Dust Brothers doing now?
Eric: I often wonder myself how much money they would have had to pay to clear all the samples. I guess we'll never know, but we'll always have the tunes to remind us what it takes to create a hip-hop masterpiece.
Peace, Kevin
"I have to disagree with you about the real hip-hop headz not diggin the Beastie's cuz I was definitely diggin License to Ill and I was a hip-hop fanatic who listened to all kinds of old-school hip-hop."
Saying most of the album's fans were not hip-hop heads is not the same as saying none of its fans were hip-hop heads. In the book the Black Swan they write about this common human mistake. We hear a fact and our brain assumes we can also make truth by switching the terms around. So for instance we hear 99% of terrorists are Moslems and our brain then falsely equating the 2 things might assume the majority of Moslems are terrorists. But the numbers are a whole different story. It might be more like .001% of Moslems. If that makes sense…. The scale of beasties audience was huge at that time in comparison to people who were "hip-hop heads". That doesnt mean people who loved hip-hop rejected beasties (though some did of course).
"However, they quickly gained the respect and admiration of true hip-hop fans after the release of Paul's Boutique."
I'd think so. But that's kind of the opposite idea of your sentence in the original post. I'd say the album also created some real hip-hop heads from the larger other group as well because it did sound so fresh and different. And because it really encouraged digging into sources (sampling old school artists, original funk/rock sources and contemporaries like krs and big daddy kane) a la this post.
in defense of rafi's hypothesis, beastie boys def. introduced me to hip hop.
and funk.
and disco.
and a lot of genres that i never listened to before.
i was undoubtedly the mtv audience. when i was 14, mtv was all i knew as i grew up in a REAL small central cali town. thank god for the internet, i haven't needed mtv since way back then.
Great stuff. Don't miss the 33 1/3 book that is all about this LP. The British series doesn't cover many hip hop titles yet but Paul's Boutique is one of them. I love the quote from one of the Dust Brothers that the reason they started doing tracks was "to earn enough money so that they would not have to leave the house". This sample break down makes a great add on to the book for me. Thanks, Kevin.
Way to break down this track – crazy amount of samples, you don't hear too many producers ripping tracks this hard nowadays. Way to find all the originals for this!
GOD DAMN IT, I love this blog.
Get me a late pass on this one…
Great stuff Kevin, you know I dig on a good dose of sample anatomy. 'Shake You Rump' was always my favourite track on Paul's Boutique, so it's great to be schooled on all the samples.
Peace,
Dan
The B-Side, "33% God", is basically an instrumental remix of this track with a few extra samples (maybe six more?) thrown into the mix. It's crazy.
Yes Yes – Paul's Boutique is a classic and I have always loved shake your rump.
Fantastic post.
Peace,
Suspect
great post… peeling the layers of the onion.
I remember when this dropped and how stunning it was, holding me enraptured being blown away in headphones.
I never knew all the cuts, but to this day still enjoy discovering the originals as they reveal themselves to me…
Amazing that the Dust Brothers were just KSPC college radio DJs in Claremont at the time…
What a story, I gotta get that book…
Awsome website = http://paulsboutique.info/index.php
After the chorus phrase "Shake Your Rump-a" there is a drum break with synth. The first two runthroughs, right before the rap starts again, the concluding drum fill is from "Good Time Bad Times" by Led Zepplin.
the disco call is from Foxy's "Get Off"
'Scratch' heard under "the most packinest", "your belief, chief" and at the end – "Could you be Loved" by Bob Marley
Excellent analysis. One of my favorite songs on one of my favorite albums. I never thought to do a sample breakdown like that. Well done.
A few corrections and whatnot:
That chicken scratch guitar at the beginning of Rump isn't from Ronnie Laws' "Tell Me Something Good." Laws comes in with "I'm Mike D and I'm back from the dead" (1:02). The chicken scratch guitar is from "Daddy Rich," the 4th (known) Rose Royce/Car Wash sample on this song alone.
The scratching attributed to Bob Marley is correctly attributed here to Afrika Bambaataa's "Jazzy Sensation." Like Kevin says, go to 5:04 and it's obvious.
I'm not sure about the Zep sample. I think I hear it at :39 of "Good Times Bad Times," but I'm not convinced.
I've heard this album a thousand times, but for the first time I heard a cat meow at :37, kinda hiding amidst the "It's the joint!" sample. It may not be a cat, but whatever it is, I've never heard it before tonight. What an album. Almost 20 years later and it's still surprising me.
That is definitely a Ronnie Laws sample there.
The drum roll that you attribute to Alan Moorhouse at 0:37 is I think taken from the Funky 4 Plus 1's "That's the Joint" itself, from right before they say "It's the Joint". And I think the sound of a cat meowing during that drum roll is simply an artifact of the fact that they've slowed the drum roll sample down. On the original Funky 4 Plus 1 track there is a high pitched background vocal that, if slowed down slightly, would probably end up sounding like a cat meowing.
Thanks for this awesome post.