Legendary jazz drummer Idris Muhammad passed away one year ago today and although his output has been (and continues to be) massively influential on sample based music, his name is one that remains less familiar to the casual fan. His music has been sampled by the likes of The Beastie Boys, Notorious BIG, 2Pac, Nas, Mary J Blige, and even Drake among many others. If you add to that list the artists who have sampled music released by others on which Idris played (Bob James’ ‘Nautilus’ (sampled over 230 times) and Lou Donaldson’s ‘Ode to Billie Joe’ (sampled over 130 times) to name just two prominent examples), you’d be forgiven for thinking it might be easier to write a list of artists who haven’t sampled his work in some form. In recent months his music has been a talking point again thanks to a large sample of his popular Disco-Jazz side ‘Could Heaven Ever Be Like This’ appearing Jamie XX‘s ‘Loud Places‘.
Of sampling Idris commented in an interview for Wax Poetics “It [the music] don’t really belong to me man; I’m only the creator. If you take something I create, and you do something with it, then someone else will take it and move it to another stage. And this is what happened with hip-hop. This is in my aura. I’m doing stuff for people to put out there so people can grab it. The Gift the Creator has given me, I can’t be selfish with it.”
Below we compile a list of Idris Muhammad’s Top 10 most sampled tracks and a further 10 of those to have sampled his work. Listen & enjoy!:
Idris Muhammad’s Top 10 Most Sampled Tracks:
1. Could Heaven Ever Be Like This
2. Crab Apple
3. Loran’s Dance
4. Say What
5. Piece of Mind
6. Power of Soul
7. The Saddest Thing
8. Turn This Mutha Out
9. Bread
10. I Believe In You
Idris Muhammad, Sampled
1. Jamie XX – Loud Places
2. Drake – Comeback Season
3. Notorious BIG feat Too Short – Big Booty Hoes
4. Grand Puba feat Mary J Blige – Check It Out
5. Beastie Boys – To All The Girls
6. EPMD – Crossover
7. Kool G Rap – For Da Brothaz
8. Moodymann – Amerika
9. Pooh-Man – Funky As I Wanna Be
10. Roni Size & DJ Die – Music Box
