Had my iTunes library on random over the weekend when up came “Today,” by Jefferson Airplane. (MP3 here.) That piercing jazz-guitar lick a few secs in? It sure seemed familiar, so I went hip-hopping around my hip-hop collection and came across…”Similak Child” by Black Sheep, which samples it. (And ends up with a better song than the Airplane’s, which would only be enjoyable surrounded by a thick cloud of pot and patchouli.)
Anyway, further googling found someone called The Rap Nerd who had noticed the same song’s appearance, both in the Black Sheep track and a Pete Rock classic.
I also found what has to be the coolest radio show in all of Winnipeg: Born in the Breaks, where a DJ plays classic hip-hop and the original songs those hip-hop samples were taken from. They did a whole show on that Black Sheep album (a little-appreciated early ’90s classic), for instance. They seem to be into exactly the hip-hop I am. A whole show tracing Booker T. & the MGs samples! Multiple hours playing songs that use the drum break from a single Al Green song! I’m in hip-hop love! If only they had audio archives.
(And, for the record, this is two posts about small Canadian radio programs in less than a week. My canadaphilia is burning bright these days.)