Main Source: Just Hangin’ Out
From: Breaking Atoms [Capitol, 1991]
Gwen McCrae: 90% of Me Is You
From: Rockin’ Chair [Cat, 1975]
Sister Nancy: Bam Bam
From: One, Two [Techniques, 1982]
Skull Snaps: I Turn My Back On Love
From: Skull Snaps [GSF, 1973]
Ike and Tina Turner: Bold Soul Sister
From: Hunter [Blue Thumb, 1969]
Mike Bloomfield/Al Kooper/Steven Stills: Season of the Witch
From: Super Session [Columbia, 1968]
While the blistering sun is warming the asphalt in Portland today, I thought I would take the opportunity to bless your ears with a sample breakdown from Main Source’s Breaking Atoms.
This record first dropped in the summer of 1991, right about the time when real hip-hop was being replaced by braggadocio and bling. The rhyming and production skills on this record are practically unparalleled in the history of hip-hop, with the dense, layered production enhancing the creative rhymes of Producer/MC Large Professor. Main Source went on to make one last attempt at stardom with the ill-fated Fuck What You Think in 1994, but Breaking Atoms is the one that sticks in my mind as a true classic.
The opening drum break is skillfully lifted from the 1:44 mark of Skull Snaps’ gritty “I Turn My Back on Love”. Shortly after this intro break, the main groove of the track is spliced from the seven second mark of Gwen McCrae’s soulful “90 % of Me Is You.” While the groove is flowing, the laid-back horns taken from the three second mark of Sister Nancy’s “Bam Bam” create a relaxing vibe that is perfect for summer evenings. At around the 1:21 mark of “Just Hangin Out”, a playful vocal part from the thirty-nine second mark of “Bam Bam” acts as a bridge from the main groove. Ike and Tina Turner’s “Bold Soul Sister” and Mike Bloomfield’s “Season of the Witch were also sampled on this track, but I can’t for the life of me figure out which parts of these songs were sampled. If any of you crate-diggers and vinyl enthusiasts have any thoughts about where these samples came from, please enlighten me.
This concludes the Anatomy of a Sample for Main Source’s “Just Hangin Out”. I hope you guys have enjoyed this episode, and I would love to hear about the summer joints you were bumpin’ in 1991.
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Uhhhhh, I'm not sure it's Gwen McRae in there at all.
The vocal sample, 'hang out, and hustle' comes from Sweet Charles Sherrell's 'Hang Out and Hustle' (produced by J.B.), and I believe that is also the bass line you are hearing in there too, is from the same song.
I listened to that Sweet Charles Sherrell song that you mentioned, and it sounds like the vocal sample of "hang out" was definitely lifted from Sweet Charles. Thanks for pointing that out.
However, there's no doubt in my mind that the bassline and strings of the main groove were taken from the seven second mark of Gwen McCrae's "90% of Me Is You."
Give both tracks another listen, and I'm sure you'll agree.
Best, Kevin
Love this album always have and will. But wondering if anyone could oblige me with the sample of "Hellavision" where the guitar breaks in at 0:47, I know RJD2 sampled it also. Much Love
Kevin: I could be wrong but I think the version of "90% of Me Is You" that LP is using here is not Gwen McCrae's original but rather, Vanessa Kendrick's cover. The cover version, instrumentally, follows McCrae's very closely but it doesn't bring in any vocals until further into the song, leaving the strings open (just as they sound on the Main Source cut). In contrast, on McCrae's original, she sings, "what can I do" halfway into the strings. LP, of course, was a master of filtering and may simply have filtered the vocals completely out but it would have been easier to just use Kendrick's version.
Peep: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JWj0rq8cLOY
The Ike sample is in the 12" remix. I don't think it's used in the album version at all.
Oh yeah. I think the Bloomfield pieces are the twangy guitar lick from the very start of the tune (appears over the first snare of Extra P's loop) and the funny little bass swell that the bass player comes in with (appears at the end of the Extra P loop).
Pete Rock used the same twangy guitar (and coincidentally a Sister Nancy loop) in the chorus to 'The Basement' from his first album. If you check that out you can hear the common sample.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L1FDZIX0q5k
Also, there's some sneaky dialogue from (I think) the Sweetback soundtrack in the chorus to 'Just Hanging Out'. It's a deceptively simple sounding track but that's because everything blends together so seamlessly. Large Professor was a master at that.