Diggin'
By : Overseer
This is something from my old solo site igangsta.com that I did over several months back in the middle of 2001. The content on these pages used to live at http://diggin.igangsta.com and used to be laid out quite differently.



I always intended that the next 3 album's in the list would be Del Tha Funkee Homosapiens I Wish My Brother George Was Here, Warren G's Regulate.. G-Funk Era and Above The Law's Livin Like Hustlers (I actually had this list hidden in the source of the old site). I never got around to do them. I later mused over the idea of having everything set up in a nice database, so that things could also be browsed from multiple perspectives like from that of the sampled artists as well as seeing which releases were favourites of the samplers themselves.

Enjoy... Overseer (Jan 2004)

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I won't even try to call myself a crate digger because I'm not, but I am interested in elements of it.

True digging is the art of finding deleted, rare, limited edition, obscure or just plain weird records. It is done by producers who want to sample a long ago forgotten break and use it in a new way, by DJs who want something to spice up their set or by crazed beat collectors. They'll trace appearances of particular artists through their careers collecting every single appearance. They'll keep their most prized beats, breaks and sources a closely guarded secret.

Lots of stuff is being reissued so the Turntablists don't wreck the originals, (even 45s are now being re-issued) and collections of classics like the 'Ultimate Breaks and Beats' are now available to cater to the masses.

The focus of my interest at the moment lies in who has sampled what, and how those things have been used. I think it is fuelled by that curious impulse you get when you hear a sample, but have no idea where it is from.

I'm checking things like liner notes, lyrical references to source material and sometimes song titles. The Sample FAQ was an invaluable resource.

I read somewhere that some Hip-hop historians have seriously suggested that we adopt a calendar based around Dre's debut, measuring years prior to '93 in terms of B.C. (Before Chronic), and '93 and beyond as A.D. (After Dre).

As that album is famous for sampling p-funk it is there that I began, and followed through with the oft overlooked Above The Law album Black Mafia Life, and finally with Snoop's classic debut, Doggystyle.

Real-audio snippets are available for some sampled tracks.
 

To access the information for each release click its cover.