Foundational Flows
How 3 Founders of Hip Hop Shaped Modern Music: A look at the number of times Afrika Bambaataa, Grandmaster Flash, and Kurtis Blow have been sampled
So many techniques and styles have risen with hip hop over the past 40 years, with one being more controversial than most: sampling. Is it stealing? Is it a way to pay homage to legendary as well as niche artists from another era? Most conversations around sampling focus on the impact that the technique has on the producers and artists that are flipping old tracks and turning them into new ones. What about the hip hop legends that have been sampled?
Listen to the original tracks by the founding fathers of Hip-Hop followed by some of the best examples of artists sampling them.
If we go back to the birth of hip hop, we can see that sampling has always been a foundational technique in the production of the music. With Afrika Bambaataa sampling Kraftwerk on his breakthrough song “Planet Rock,” Grandmaster Flash sampling The Whole Darn Family on the popular “Superrappin’”, and Kurtis Blow famously sampling Chic’s “Good Times” on the first certified gold rap song “The Breaks,” it is evident that sampling was built into the genre from the very beginning. Starting as an underground movement meant to provide a voice for marginalized youth in the South Bronx, hip hop has taken many forms over the last 40 years from the early days of battle rap and gangsta rap all the way to trap, pop rap, and the emo/mumble rap that currently run the charts.
Through all of the phases, sub-genres, and crossovers, there is an immense respect for the grassroots origins that started it all. Almost 40 years later, the impact of Bambaataa, Flash, and Blow has been anything but forgotten. These three artists have been sampled a mind-boggling 2,200+ times (Whosampled.com) and have been incorporated in some of the biggest hits of the past few decades.
Click on the image to go to the dashboard! Data from WhoSampled.com
It is clear that these artists were most frequently sampled from 1987 to 1999, around 5-10 years after their breakthrough hits had been released. Although all three artists continued releasing music into the mid to late 2000s, their legacies were sealed with their releases in the early 1980s. Although they released a combined 1143 songs (Allmusic.com), the founders of hip hop find 76% of their samples coming from only 8 songs, all released at the beginning of their careers.
Planet Rock (1982) - Afrika Bambaataa: Sampled 392 times
AJ Scratch (1982) - Kurtis Blow: Sampled 334 times
The Message (1982) - Grandmaster Flash: Sampled 271 times
Christmas Rappin’ (1982) - Kurtis Blow: Sampled 186 times
Tough (1985) - Kurtis Blow: Sampled 165 times
The Breaks (1982) - Kurtis Blow: Sampled 120 times
Looking for the Perfect Beat (1983) - Afrika Bambaataa: Sampled 118 times
Do the Do (1982) - Kurtis Blow: Sampled 110 times
Even though only 53 songs of the 1143 have ever been sampled (approximately 4.6%), it is clear that only a few hits are needed to cement a legacy and Afrika Bambaataa, Grandmaster Flash, and Kurtis Blow have all gone down as hip hop originators and legends in their own right. From being used by Black Star to Madonna to Calvin Harris and Kid Rock, these records not only founded hip hop, but have actively shaped the musical landscape of the last few decades.
Click on the image to go to the dashboard! Data from WhoSampled.com
It is clear to see that these early records have run the gamut and proved that from the beginning, hip hop had the momentum to be a global phenomenon. It only grew because as time progressed, rappers and artists built on the foundation that Afrika Bambaataa, Grandmaster Flash, and Kurtis Blow laid.
By including the sonic flexibility, raw creativity, re-imagination of traditional musical structure, and often narrative lyricism, Bambaataa, Flash, and Blow paved the way for hip hop to provide an outlet for anyone who needed one. As time passed and the music spread, artists that came after them recognized this and used some of their sounds as hip hop sprawled into a diverse collection of sub-cultures and sub-genres, eventually transforming the way music sounded globally.