Sample Battle: Nas Vs. Rick Ross
AUDIO By MZ on September 3, 2009 at 12:24 pm
First off, props to Robbie for unleashing a slew of songs that fell to the sample clearance gods.
Nas’ Hip-Hop Is Dead will be remembered for several things. It was his debut on the iconic Def Jam label, it contained the historic collaboration with long-time foil Jay-Z & it got Hip-Hop artists from all corners debating the health of Hip-Hop as an art form. On a lesser scale, it’ll be remembered for it’s peculiar closing with the A Cappella song “Hope.”
Given Nas’ less than stellar production choices, many assumed that Nas wanted the power of his words to be heard without the distraction of a backdrop. It could even be argued that Nas was so high listening to the playback of the verse, that he thought he was rapping over a beat. But lo and behold, the sample couldn’t be cleared for the Friends Of Distinction’s cover of The Beatles “And I Love Her.”
No clue why it wasn’t cleared, but boy does it enhance the song. It adds to the melancholy nature of his lyrics and makes for a more fitting closing to the album.
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Download — Nas – “Hope” (Original)
Perhaps it was a timing issue, because Def Jam managed to get the sample cleared for Rick Ross’ “Maybach Music.” Not like there’s much competition, but this was always my favorite song by Bawse Rawse. The backdrop exuded a sense of understated sophistication, that regardless of what you were riding in, for just short of four minutes you were in a Maybach.
After hearing Nas’ use of the sample, this almost sounds over-produced now. Still a good song, although its the audio equivalent of new money. It seemed like Ross was trying too hard to show off his new-found wealth. I can’t blame him though. Lord knows I wouldn’t mind being in that predicament.
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Download — Rick Ross Feat. Jay-Z – “Maybach Music”
Posted in AUDIO, GENERAL, MUSIC — Tags: Def Jam, Friends Of Distinction, Nas, Rick Ross
19 Comments
Is that Ross’s steez (using samples other people used before him)? “Magnificent” uses the same beat/sample as one of P’s tracks on HHINC…
clAssic!
@ young_
yes Ross did it but also Luda’s War Wit God, Jeezy’s Bury Me A G, Eminem’s Crack A Bottle, …(samples already used by Get Large Prod, for Ali Vegas and some other underground rappers) and Rae did it a lot around ten tracks from OB4CL2 (see Unkut.com new article)! But it is what it is, the sample is cornerstone of our culture ! That’s Hip-Hop ! and it’s legal too..lol so
But Rick Ross did it … so it must be bad …
How many rappers do you think know what producers are actually sampling?
Even though I love Maybach Music, my vote goes to Nas.
dj day made a beat using the same sample before both these songs
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cLTowV0BIkw&feature=PlayList&p=86F3162572C45A0E&playnext=1&playnext_from=PL&index=35
I like maybach music beat the best but this is definitely better than nas’ instrumental
http://www.thefader.com/2009/07/24/ghetto-palms-63-nas-damian-marley-weapon-riddim-ethiopia-soul/
I’m liking the Nas and Damian Marley snippet here … but they are two of my favorite artists in their genres so I may be biased. Anybody got any thoughts on this?
Can someone please re-up the link on the Nas joint?
fixed
It seemed like Ross was trying too hard to show off
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what? ross try to hard? man he always keeps it 100% real/street/true
lol
LOL
it’s a conspiracy, def jam couldn’t get the sample cleared for Nas for a reason…. they sabotaged Nas before he spit a bar on a Def Jam release.
@Young
There’s nothing wrong with using the same sample, in fact i enjoy getting to hear two different producers flip the same sample in different ways.
@MZ
Damn, they did go completely different routes. Nas’ is far more understated, but I think I like what was added in the Ross version a bit more. It completely changes the tone of the track.
As a producer, you can never blame a rapper. Gotta blame the producer.
Nas and Ross used the same sample another time too. Nas’ “Find Ya Wealth” and Rick Ross “Magnificent” used the same joint.
Thanks for this post, i’d never heard the original “Hope”. Love it.
this woulda been a good addition to that album.Great sample, but I still prefer what Justice League did on Ross’s beat by a mile. The fact they replayed it makes it real nice sonically, everything sits well in the mix – but they didn’t lose the vibe of the sample.
Those dudes are good.
“Stuffed shells… thanks to crack, I crack crabs and lobsters…”
“I bulletproofed my Maybach, got a killer’s intuition holding on that Mac 11 Machiavelli premonition”
Damn Ross goes hard, I will give him that.
Can someone please re-up.
This sounds so DOPE.