It had to be big with a title like that… From a fairly anonymous album of 1975, Disc-O-Tech, created by a crew of Motown backroom brains, including Frank Wilson, Gloria Jones, and Hal Davis, “Scratchin”’s name was practically an invitation for hip-hop to leap aboard. But don’t forget the original – it’s a total thriller. This amazing tune has been re-assembled at least 300 times in hip-hop, from Eric B & Rakim’s “Let The Rhythm Hit ’Em” to Public Enemy’s “Raise The Roof,” and all points between. The first Commodores sound was badass funk, and none badder than “The Assembly Line,” a highly ambitious and intelligent song from their 1974 debut album, Machine Gun, that looks at life and society and, well, everything. Hey, Commodores? Well, we know they did “Brick House,” right and “Machine Gun.” But ain’t they basically ’bout ballads like “Three Times A Lady”? Well, no. Best Motown Samples: 20 Essential Tracks For Crate-Diggers Commodores: The Assembly Line

Listen to the best Motown songs on Apple Music and Spotify, and scroll down for our best Motown samples. Think we’ve missed some of your favorites? Let us know in the comments section, below. Plus, it dropped a little retro soul on your modern R&B joint, too.Īs hip-hop matured, some of its greatest exponents gave Motown beats fresh life in a new era. Most of this stuff didn’t sound like Motown in the sense of “Dancing In The Street” or “Tears Of A Clown,” but it was 100 percent Motown and perfect to bust a rhyme over.

There was also the sultry groove of Diana Ross’ “Love Hangover.” And Marvin Gaye’s beats got sampled as the hip-hop pioneers recalled that their parents’ generation also had something vital to say over a funky jam. One Motown break, “The Assembly Line,” was one of hip-hop’s foundation stones. Motown really did deliver the goods when it came to breaks, and true hip-hoppers always keep their ears open for a great beat, wherever it comes from. Hold it, hold it, listen – as Dennis Edwards demanded on The Temptations’ “I Can’t Get Next To You.” Common consent was wrong. But Motown samples? Motown was soulful, sure, but common consent supposedly had it that the Detroit mega-label was not funky in the usual hip-hop sense.īut hold it, everybody. Hey, they even used reggae as a breaks source. Which meant using James Brown loops, mostly, and obscure stuff like The Honeydrippers’ “Impeach The President” and The Mohawks’ “The Champ.” Then hip-hop absorbed P-Funk in the late 80s, thanks to De La Soul and Digital Underground, and jazz through Gang Starrand A Tribe Called Quest boy, did that 60s-70s Blue Note catalogue get rinsed. Once hip-hop got established in the first half of the 80s, everyone knew what it was about, right? A collage of funky beats and scratches with rhymes laid on them.

Old school sample beats