Golden Age Thursday Samples: David Axelrod’s “The Divine Image” (1969) Becomes Experimental Inspiration for Kool G Rap (1995), Earl Sweatshirt (2013), & Quasimo... (opens in new tab)

Innovation cannot happen without experimentation, and that is one of the vital veins that pumps blood to the heart of the art of sampling. Without the first Hip-hop DJs taking the sonic leap between a popular funk record and gritty, looped drum breaks, the genre would’ve never happened. Even though those swinging, dirty drums have evolved into a trope in the genre, they are the same reason the genre could become formulaic to begin with. Throughout music history, the most memorable faces and c...