Almost every great hip-hop song has been built on a sample. “Gold Digger” is basically Kanye talking about mini-vans over Ray Charles’ “I Got a Woman”; “My Name is” interpolates a riff from a funk song recorded in 1975; hell, even Drake’s “Pound Cake” is a sample of Ellie Goulding, but I guess most people don’t want to talk about that one. Not every song uses a sample, but you can bet a stack of Lootpack vinyls and a case of Henessy that a high-percentage of rap has other music at its foundation. It’s part of rap culture to borrow and build – even down to lyrics, with specific lines – “Fuck them other niggas, cuz I’m down for my niggas”, for example, which features on songs by C-Murder, Kendrick, Snoop Dogg, and Kanye – referenced time and time again.
With the idea that rap exists in a referential-vacuum, someone has created the ultimate rap song built on what feels like a record breaking amount of samples. Created by Eclectic Method, the Meta Hip Hop features bars from…. (deep breath): Biggie Smalls, Snoop Dogg, Slick Rick, Beastie Boys, Wu-Tang, Missy, JAY Z, Sugarhill Gang, Dead Prez, DMX, Drake, Mos Def, and like, a truckload of others. It’s quite an impressive feat – mostly because, despite including almost every great rap song ever, the bars flow continiously and in time. Could this be the GOAT of all time remix track? Forgetting about the time r/hiphopheads recorded a 120 verse version of “1 Train”, probably.
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Comment below if you can name every track from the 123 featured here. First person to get them all right can have a Noisey tote bag full of records and a signed photo of Ryan Bassil.
