Post Punk Hip Hop Samples (Part 2)

Here's the sequel to my first post on sampling, and it gives me a chance to repost a track featured in the earliest days of this blog.  We don't share much rap music here -- not because we don't enjoy it, but (speaking for myself) I feel less knowledgeable about it compared to other genres.  However, when punk and post punk records are being sampled by hip hop DJ's and producers, I can speak to that.  

Punk and hip hop are close siblings in age.  Hip hop was born in 1973; punk rock came 2 or 3 years after that (depending on who you consider as "first").  The first rap records were released in 1979.  Post punk and hip hop quickly cross-pollinated in NYC. Liquid Liquid's "Cavern" was the basis for Grandmaster Flash's "White Lines", and ESG's "UFO" was heavily sampled. (Both tracks were released on 99 Records.)  Afrika Bambaataa utilized the synths of Kraftwerk and Gary Numan.  A hugely popular record to sample was "Change The Beat", a 1982 track produced by Bill Laswell and Michael Beinhorn of Material. Even Malcolm McLaren got into hip hop culture.

Anyway, here are the results of another dig through the digital crates at WhoSampled.com.  Searching the names of punk and new wave artists produced some surprising results.  For example, would you have guessed that one of the most sampled songs of The Police is "Voices Inside My Head"?  But it makes sense when you listen to the song from the perspective of a producer or DJ looking for a funky rhythm or bassline.  You want a deep cut that not everyone can identify immediately.  With that in mind, it's easier to imagine Madlib and Dilla checking out Throbbing Gristle, or Ice-T's producer and DJ Afrika Islam sampling 23 Skidoo and Tuxedomoon.