It’s Sunday my friends. And I’m back to ‘catch wreck’ (acquire props or obtain recognition) with y’all by indulging in some samples and taking it back to hip-hop’s “Golden Era” – the ’90s.

 

The song I’ve chosen for this week’s sample comes from a man with a trumpet in his hand who has definitely had his music flipped countless times by countless hip-hop artists – Donald Byrd.

 

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D_CoWmoGgqY&w=420&h=315]

 

Donald Byrd – Wind Parade

 

This song comes off of Byrd’s 1975 album Places and Spaces, released on Blue Note Records, as all of Byrd’s fantastic work was from the late ’50s to the mid-’70s. As with a majority of Byrd’s work, “Wind Parade” is equally jazzy and soulful, with a little bit of a funk twist. Places and Spaces will definitely take you places and will take your jazz collection to another level. I also highly recommend Byrd’s albums Stepping Into Tomorrow, Street Lady, and Black Byrd, as they are all smooth and soulful listens.

 

Now, to the hip-hop song that sampled this Byrd jam. It comes straight from a group that, with some other groups in the ’90s, formed what has sometimes been referred to as hip-hop’s military: The Boot Camp Clik.

 

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zQl6qaA6Cp8&w=420&h=315]

 

Black Moon – Buck ‘Em Down

 

One of the key groups of the Boot Camp Clik (Smif-N-Wessun, Heltah Skeltah, Buckshot of Black Moon, and the Originoo Gunn Clappaz), and the group that first burst onto the scene and paved the way for a torrent of classic albums from their affiliates, was Black Moon. Their first album, Enta da Stage, on which “Buck ‘Em Down” appears, is seen by some (myself included) as the epitome of the 90s Hip-Hop sound, with rugged, muted, and ominous jazz sampling and a strict adherence to classic break beats and ill lyricism that give the album that basement feel ‘real heads recognize’ (the production team of Da Beatminerz knew damn well how to produce an ill track).

 

Enta da Stage is a classic album front to back and it’s damn hard to pick one track that is better than the next. You should definitely add it to your collection and while you’re at it, check out the bonus sample section and pick up some of the other Boot Camp Clik classics – Duck Down!

 

Bonus Sample:

Here are some more samples from two of the other groups that are a part of the Boot Camp Clik: Smif-N-Wessun and Heltah Skeltah

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s-adoM4p9p0&w=420&h=315]

Barbara & Ernie – Somebody to Love

 

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qHUuTiAeRJU&w=420&h=315]

Smif-N-Wessun – Wrektime

(It’s always a tie when I try to decide whether I like Smif-N-Wessun’s Dah Shinin’ or Black Moon’s Enta da Stage better. Either way, ‘I am what I am and I do what I do – puff mad lye, catch wreck with my crew’).

 

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H0zRtVHx5qs&w=420&h=315]

Johnny Pate & Orchestra – Look of Love

 

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rWNvs9LSncY&w=420&h=315]

Heltah Skeltah – Letha Brainz Blo

(In my opinion, they are probably the hardest and most lyrical of all of the Boot Camp Click. Ruck (aka Sean P) and Rock are one the dopest duos to ever grip the mic and their first album Nocturnal gets heavy rotation on my iPod. It’s that grimy, murky, underwater sound. If you get it, cool. If not, play the album until you do).

So that about wraps it up. To all my ‘real heads,’ have a good week and all — catch you right back here next Sunday. One.