digging

BeatSession 10|18|11

The dollar bin: it’s sort of like a big pile of broken dreams in a way. Here, hidden between too many Johnny Mathis records and the four Fifth Dimension records you already have, are some amazing artists that had dreams of fame, greatness, and all its accolades. But for whatever reason — perhaps poor promotion — they find themselves stuffed into this milk crate along with other unwanted records the store owner considers to be worth $1.00. You grab a stool and begin digging through the stack. You prefer to flip the records away from you to avoid that smelly draft of dust in your face. You stumble upon an album cover that catches your eye, but there’s no record player in the store to preview it. So, you have to resort to alternative ways of valuing this record. You check the back cover:

Year: 1975
Label: 20th Century Records
Personnel: Bass, Congas, Guitar, Strings, Horns, Flutes

Now, the arrangement: You carefully remove the vinyl from its sleeve and hold it at an angle to see its grooves. You know that changes in the grooves within a particular track indicate a break — maybe the vocals or drums drop out, or maybe it’s a drum break. This one has lots of grooves. You can almost hear the track already in your head… You add it to your stash.

At the register, you place your selection on the counter along with a crisp one dollar bill. He looks at you suspiciously as if you know something he doesn’t about this record. You smirk because you do. This record, that he values at only $1.00, contains the song that is about to be sampled, chopped, filtered, and flipped. But first, there’s a bunch of friends you need to email it to

I present to you…

The Original Sample:
Sexy Ways by Hodges, James & Smith

peace, @illa0804/@generationill

Featured Beats and Producers:

SEXYFLEXY JOINT by Mr. Klimatic (Toledo, OH)

Night Crawlers by thadizzie1 (San Francisco, CA)

Sean Price – Onion Head (Knotty Dread Onion Head remix) by Sev Seveer (Chicago, IL)

Cashing IN Getting OUT by Blackph03nix (London, England)

Anger vs. Soul by Dr. No (Richmond, VA)

We’re So Sexy by Bruce Juice (Orlando, FL)

The Best in Me by Sideways (Portland, OR)

Chronicles by Gee (Toronto, Canada)

Voyage to Paradise by NeV (Augusta, GA)

The Crazy Ex by Mr. Kwazi (Ontario, Canada)

Dreamy by SPNZ (Makati City, Philippines)

Occupy (insert city here) by Tictac Productions (Toronto, Canada)

Kill Zone by 25/8 (Miami, FL)

Vacay by Chrizo (Las Piñas, Philippines)

Broken Sunset by illa (Miami, FL)

$1.00 Beat by PMBeatz (Washington, DC)

Another Song Which Uses This Sample:

Last 2 Feat. Freeway & Beanie Sigel by Young Chris (Prod. by 9th Wonder)

BeatSession 05|09|10 *Cinco De Mayo Session*

In honor of Cinco De Mayo this past week, we sampled the Mexican singer Marco Antonio Muñiz and his song from 1983, “Por Amor”. In case you didn’t know, Cinco De Mayo commemorates the Mexican army’s unlikely victory over French forces at the Battle of Puebla on May 5, 1862.

I found a video of a live performance of Mr. Muñiz singing this week’s sample. The quality of the video is almost as bad as the arrangement of the music in the video. And i’m not sure who the guy singing w/ Mr. Muñiz is… but the dude made me laugh.

Original Sample:

Por Amor by Marco Antonio Muñiz

Featured Beats and Producers:

The Arrival By PMbeatz (Washington DC)

Cinco’s Goof Liquid and Beef Slings by Sideways (Orlando, FL)

Ninetwo5ive and Puebla’s Revenge by illa (Miami, FL)

Another Song Which Uses This Sample:

Three by Prodigy (Produced by Alchemist)