Sample Cleared Conscience

http://www.themegatrondon2.com/2007/09/13/cradle-to-the-grave-vol-3/

"You know …I didn’t know Mr. Byrd, or ever meet him. However I felt a little bit of a connection with him. It turns out that he was having a very hard time financially around 2001, and he and his wife were about to lose their house. As fate would have it, before the bill collectors could take the house away, the royalties from "U Don’t Know" (which sampled his record "I’m Not To Blame") allowed him to handle his financial issues and save his home.

I remember being heated beyond words when I found out that whoever owned the publishing for "I’m Not To Blame" was taking a super-high percentage of the record. When I found this {o: the above} out, it was yet another example of God working in those mysterious ways. Had he not recieved that money, who knows what would have happened, and obviously none of us would have even known about his plight. I rested a little easier that night, knowing that something I did was able to directly benefit one of our heroes during a time of need.

I’ve got a similar story about another record I did.. but I’ll save that for another time.

R.I.P."

Taken from the incredible Just Blaze blog "The Megatron Don" (click to hear the sampled original, Just 'n Jay's song and the fully formed remix with M.O.P.!), which is also the home of the above bit of Photoshop magic. Nice one!

I was sitting in the "100% Design" event in London recently and they were playing some of the classic James Brown and Bobby Byrd songs and it really hit me that we lost these two legends so close in time to each other. I've heard Chuck D (or was it Hank Shocklee) say that one of the reasons that they pulled Flavor Flav into Public Enemy was to get the vocal Barritone vs. Tenor effect of Bobby Byrd and James Brown. Once again, Hip-Hop owes a great debt to these two men. Rest in Peace, Mr. Brown and Mr. Byrd.

o:{all over the place!}