pete rock

The Whispers – What More Can a Girl Ask For | BeatSession 04|10|12

The Original Sample:

What More Can a Girl Ask For by The Whispers

I credit my dad with being my first music influence growing up. One day — I couldn’t have been more than 11 or 12 yrs old — he told me to get dressed and said that I was starting piano lessons. A year later, the pianist in his band called in sick and he asked me to fill in for a gig.  I became a permanent fixture in my father’s band, but I’ll save that story for another post. Fast forward to college. My dad heard that I started performing up in Gainesville and that I was part of some band or music group. I think he was excited to hear that I was getting back into music. It probably reminded him of when we used to perform. To be honest, I was hesitant to tell him details of what I was doing musically. For one, my dad is super conservative (and he’s an ex-seminarian) and I was certain that he bought into the negative connotations and stereotypes that people sometimes associate with hip hop. Secondly, I wasn’t really sure he’d understand what I did — specifically beat making. But recently that changed.

My dad has two passions that he does on the side: gardening and carpentry. But he hardly buys seeds for gardening and almost never buys wood for carpentry. But somehow my parents’ house is lush with a variety of plants, a majority of which were taken “pruned” from city parks, parking lots, friends’ houses, or neighbors. He keeps a pair of pruning sheers in the back of his van. In their back yard, he’s been working on a project for the past six months: a gazebo. The pieces of wood that make up the gazebo are — you guessed it — unwanted scraps from the neighbors or from people on Craigslist trying to get rid of an old bookshelf or baby’s crib. Last week, I told my dad that he does the exact same thing that we (meaning WBS) do each week.  At first, he was skeptical that there was any parallel. But when I explained, it’s like a switch was turned on. He understood. He understood the art of taking pieces of old, discarded scraps and reassembling it to make something new… something beautiful.

This week’s sample comes from The Whispers’ 1974 album, Bingo.

Quick Update:

► BPM [Beats Per Minute] – This weekend (4/14/12), a few WBS affiliates (Chrizo, Bojam, and B-Roc) will be hosting Manila’s first ever beat making workshops. Check out this 30 sec. promo for more info.

peace, @illa0804 /@generationill

On to the next…

Featured Beats and Producers:

An Ending by Blackph03nix (London, England)

DONTGO JOINT by Mr. Klimatic (Toledo, OH)

ClanDestined by Kritikul (Miami, FL)

Ask For by Twitchbeats (Hollis, NY)

Good Busy (Know Where You Are) by Sideways (Portland, OR)

Tell Me by Hi-Rock (Toronto, Canada)

A Different Beat by thadizzie1 (San Francisco, CA)

Another Song Which Uses This Sample:

Live and Learn by Cormega (Prod by Pete Rock)

BeatSession 11|15|11 (Heavy D Tribute)

The Original Sample:

Today (feat. the California Dreamers) by Tom Scott

First press play. In 1992, Pete Rock and CL Smooth sampled Tom Scott’s cover of “Today” by Jefferson Airplane on their hip hop classic, They Reminisce Over You (T.R.O.Y.), a tribute to their close friend Troy Dixon (aka Trouble T Roy of Heavy D and the Boyz). Although it did not initially get commercial success when it was released, it is considered by many to be one of the greatest hip hop songs ever made.

Pete Rock said he was in tears when making the T.R.O.Y. beat. And twenty years later, we’re once again reminiscing over somebody close to Pete Rock: his older cousin, Dwight Arrington Myers. We know him as Heavy D, leader of Heavy D and the Boyz. This sample seems appropriate as our way to pay tribute to the hip hop legend. Heavy D and the Boyz went on to release six albums from 1987-1994 all of which had commercial success. The group gained even more fame through various music projects (e.g. In Living Color theme song, feature on Michael Jackson’s “Jam” and Janet Jackson’s “Alright”). Heavy D added three more solo albums to his discography, but in between those solo-releases, he managed to find time to pursue acting by performing off-Broadway and was featured on various television shows.

In the Mid-90s, Heavy D became the first rapper to run a major record label as president of Uptown Records and later became Sr. VP of Universal Music. He is also credited with furthering Mary J. Blige’s career and giving an internship to a young Sean Combs.

Heavy D’s passing at just 44 yrs old is a surprise to most. In a phone interview with Paul Rosenburg, Pete Rock says he just saw him two weeks ago. And we all just saw his live performance on the 2011 BET Awards Show less than a month ago. It was his first performance in 15 years, but you couldn’t tell:

RIP Heavy D. Here’s to a peaceful journey.

Quick Updates/Links:
► MIND FUZZ ORCHESTRA – New Beat/Album by RobotOxford (formerly known as Freshvilla/TekTheIntern)
► 9th Wonder Picked the Sample, Who Flipped It Best? – Vote for RobotOxford’s beat submission called “Heat”

peace, @illa0804/@generationill

Featured Beats and Producers:

HeavyHearts (tribute) by Dr. No (Richmond, VA)

OWL JOINT (THE HEAVY EDITION) by Mr. Klimatic (Toledo, OH)

Heav in Heaven by Hi-Rock (Toronto, Canada)

Tribute (In Memory of The Legendary Heavy D) by Mr. Kwazi (Ontario, Canada)

Everybody, Shake yo Body by Chrizo (Las Piñas, Philippines)

Signals by Gee (Toronto, Canada)

Sacred Cow by Blackph03nix (London, England)

Curious Interlude (hidden track: All of my Dreams Come True) by Sideways (Portland, OR)

State of Remembrance by NeV (Augusta, GA)

Heavy D Tribute by O.N.E. (Gainesville, FL)

When My Dreams Come True (feat. Zig Zag and Young Manik) by DJ Magic Of Beast Coast (Ft. Lauderdale, FL)

I Hip Hop (For Heavy D) by RobotOxford (Orlando, FL)

Head Bobs by SPNZ (Makati City, Philippines)

Another Song Which Uses This Sample

They Reminisce Over You by Pete Rock & C. L. Smooth