In The Beginning... Earth Rot Samples

David Axelrod - The Warning Talk (Part I), The Warning Talk (Part II) & The Sign (Part II)
taken from Earth Rot (Capital, 1970)
FDB Earth Rot Compilation

Man, this figurative crate digging is addictive. Since being put onto The Breaks I've devoted an inordinate amount of time over the last few days to getting my fingers dusty (unfortunately this is because my keyboard is filthy rather than by thumbing through old records: not quite as exciting). Given that the only other Axelrod album I own is 1970's 'Earth Rot' I thought that this would be a logical progression in my sample sources series given that it has provided inspiration for several major artists in the hip hop game. As I said before, there are many places on the internet which will tell you a lot more about this release than I could ever hope to, so make sure you check the links at the bottom of Monday's post if you're keen to learn me. On a personal level, I don't get as much out of this album as I do with 'Songs Of Innocence' and 'Songs Of Experience' largely due to the ethereal nature of the vocals, but it does have its moments and is surprisingly ahead of its time in terms of message as the album's focus is on man's impact on the natural world around us. Al Gore eat your heart out...

Whereas 'Holy Thursday' is a single track that has been used relatively widely, no single song on 'Earth Rot' has been sampled anywhere near as much. Instead, there are three key compositions here that beat-diggers have latched onto and so the following compilation contains these as well as the songs that have incorporated them into fresh musical entities. Here's the tracklist:

1. David Axelrod - The Warning Talk (Part I)
2. Diamond D - MC Iz My Ambition
3. The X-Ecutioners - Word Play
4. DJ Krush feat. DJ Shadow - Duality
5. David Axelrod - The Warning Talk (Part II)
6. Mos Def - Hip Hop
7. David Axelrod - The Sign (Part II)
8. Quasimoto - The Unseen
9. Common - Resurrection (Large Professor Mix)

By far the most sophisticated track of those that have used Axelrod's work on this compilation is 'The Unseen' which sees Madlib chop up a section of 'The Sign (Part II)' and flip it in a highly creative manner. The remainder of the selections essentially take a loop and slap some drums underneath bar Krush's 'Duality' which only takes the 'in the beginning' line from 'The Warning Talk (Part I)' to mark the transition between his and Shadow's sections of the song. All in, the quality of the tracks on this compilation acts as a testament to Axelrod's importance in the crazy world of hip hop sampling and beat-making... respect due.

Although there are more Axelrod works that have been mined by producers I'm going to leave this little series here but will be continuing to hit you with some classic breaks and the songs that they have inspired in the near future: stay tuned.

Blue Scholars - Back Home Video

The Scholars have received their fair share of props on the blog circuit since their debut leaked onto the net a few weeks ago. I still feel a little unconvinced by their 'Bayani' LP, but I have a suspicion it may be a grower for me so I'm keeping it in rotation for the moment. They've just released their first video for the track 'Back Home', and although I'm not particularly keen on this particular cut it's clear from the quality of the video that these guys are going to get pushed pretty hard by Rawkus and I believe that 'Bayani' is probably going to be one of those albums that sneaks its way into more than a few blogger's end of year lists. Unbelievably we're already at the halfway point for 2007: where is my life going!



Right, I've got a date with some sample geekery, I'll catch you when I resurface in a few days: take it easy.