Symphonic sampling: A Tribe Called Quest’s ‘Midnight Marauders’ and Wu-Tang Clan’s ‘Enter the Wu-Tang’
On the 30th anniversary of two classic hip-hop albums, theGrio examines how A Tribe Called Quest’s "Midnight Marauders" and Wu-Tang Clan’s "Enter the Wu-Tang" helped validate sample-based music.
One of the biggest lies told in Black music history is that sampling is easy. Far too many critics have pushed the rhetoric that it takes little skill to take a piece of recorded music and loop it to make a new song or interpolations, repurposing a pre-written melody.
This is not the case. For generations, several genres have sampled or interpolated, from progressive rock groups like Yes to post-punk pioneers like Malcolm McLaren. Rap albums, including N.W.A.’s “Straight Outta Compton” and Public Enemy‘s “It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back” proved that sampled-based music could achieve a symphonic range and sophistication.
On Nov. 9, 1993, A Tribe Called Quest and the Wu-Tang Clan offered examples of that tradition in its highest form: “Midnight Marauders” and “Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers).” Thirty years ago, these groups took sampling to new heights and used scarcely conceived before music, inspiring generations of rappers and producers after them.
Composers from various eras are praised in the annals of history for crafting sweeping suites, including Antonio Vivaldi’s “Four Seasons” and Igor Stravinsky’s “The Rite of Spring,” that vividly inspire images of nature and adventure from their ears to their minds’ eye.
These narrative symphonies created by composers like Vivaldi and Stravinsky from the Baroque and Neoclassical periods were enhanced by Black American composers and artists of the late 20th century. Duke Ellington’s “Anatomy of a Murder” and Max Roach’s “Freedom Now Suite,” were new, contemporary suites made digestible for Black American audiences, all the way to Marvin Gaye’s “What’s Going On” and Curtis Mayfield’s “Superfly.”
What these heralded Black artists did with their respective suites was express the turmoil of the Black American struggle and the nation’s iniquity musically, making strife sound poignant and infectious. Since its creation, hip-hop music has turned the inequities of the Black man and woman into something to celebrate, thanks to the visionary ways they translate said injustices with beats and rhymes.
ATCQ and Wu-Tang captured the distinctive vantage points of their respective corners of New York City. The music and lyrics of “Midnight Marauders” reflected the day-to-day possibilities that befall you in the city that never sleeps, exemplified by songs like ATCQ’s “8 Million Stories” and Wu-Tang’s “C.R.E.A.M.” and “Can It Be All So Simple.”
Each group also described New York as a fiercely competitive crucible where MCs battled for lyrical supremacy via ATCQ’s “God Lives Through” and Wu-Tang’s “Protect Ya Neck.” Although each rapper expertly used their pens to paint pictures, the producer can build an audio canvas for them to display their words immaculately.
Both groups benefited from having self-contained producers. ATCQ’s members Q-Tip and Ali Shaheed Muhammad handled the group’s production, while RZA took care of Wu-Tang’s music. Like other great hip-hop producers, such as DJ Premier and Pete Rock, they understood the nuances of chord progression. Q-Tip, Ali, and RZA know you can put one sample next to another and expect it to work.
On “Award Tour,” the track’s main melody derives from a Fender Rhodes sample of Weldon Irvine’s “We Gettin’ Down.” Q-Tip then places the opening guitar riff of Charles Earland’s “Lowdown” over it for a harmonic component. Understanding that the riff doesn’t fit with Irvine’s keyboard, Q-Tip and Ali manipulated the tempo and key to make it work.
Halfway through the verse section, Irvine’s sample is replaced with vibraphone from Milt Jackson’s “Olinga,” it’s an exquisite transition. These decisions indicate men who are not just beat makers but also intuitive musicians and arrangers.
RZA demonstrated a similar acumen on the “36 Chambers” track, “Shame on a N*gga.” Most of the track is based on a sample of Syl Johnson’s “Different Stokes.” Two separate piano parts from Thelonious Monk’s “Black and Tan Fantasy” are used as transition points in the song, once as Ol’ Dirty Bastard makes way for Raekwon and the other as ODB returns from the chorus.
When listening to either “Midnight Marauders” or “36 Chambers,” it’s more than clear that each album engages in aural world-building. Like the composers mentioned above before them, Q-Tip, Ali, and RZA strategically established an environment to have the listener participate in complete immersion.
The “Mauraders'” travel guide, voiced by former Jive Records secretary Laurel Dann, let the listener know that they weren’t listening to a record; they were going on a journey, a journey that traversed the past, present, and future simultaneously.
The motivic use of kung fu clips to intro nearly every song on “36 Chambers” let fans know the gritty, dangerous environment of the Wu’s warring housing projects in Staten Island was equally as menacing and mysterious as a bygone era where warriors settled their disputes with violence, only using round-house kicks and swords over closed fisted punches and TEC-9 machine guns.
On the day that celebrates the 30th anniversary of two of the most impactful releases and release dates in hip-hop history, it’s essential to point out that sampling is as much an art form as composition. There are only 12 notes. Everybody steals, or borrows, or pays homage to, etc. And yet, many Black artists, particularly in hip-hop, carry the stigma of stealing.
Lord Tariq and Peter Gunz used Steely Dan’s “Black Cow” for their hit “Deja Vu (Uptown Baby),” the rock duo gave the rap duo 100% writing and publishing credit, according to Rolling Stone. However, when Steely Dan lifted the significant piano melody from Horace Silver’s “Song for My Father” for “Rikki Don’t Lose That Number,” the liner notes did not mention Silver’s name.
Similar to “Four Seasons,” “Freedom Now Suite,” or “What’s Going On,” albums like “Midnight Marauders” and “36 Chambers” ultimately stand the test of time because they tell the truth, not only about their times and surroundings but also about the tools at their disposal. Vivaldi and Stravinsky had access to full orchestras but needed recording equipment. Roach and Gaye leaned heavily on vocalization, the recording studio, and polyrhythms to tell their tells.
Q-Tip, Ali, and RZA had little to go with besides a studio, turntables, MPC and ASR drum machines, and samples. Yet, they still managed to make their music soar high beyond the reaches of New York City and the passage of time.
Matthew Allen is an entertainment writer of music and culture for theGrio. He is an award-winning music journalist, TV producer and director based in Brooklyn, NY. He’s interviewed the likes of Quincy Jones, Jill Scott, Smokey Robinson and more for publications such as Ebony, Jet, The Root, Village Voice, Wax Poetics, Revive Music, Okayplayer, and Soulhead. His video work can be seen on PBS/All Arts, Brooklyn Free Speech TV and BRIC TV.
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