The Late Singer’s Biggest Rap Records – VIBE.com

(Photo by Raymond Boyd/Getty Images)

With the death of Bobby Caldwell, music mourned the death of the iconic singer-songwriter. His influence on hip hop will be felt forever thanks to his records of classics by his MC’s literally the best.

Caldwell’s most popular hits, “what you don’t do for love,” It was famously sampled by Tupac Shakur on the artist’s posthumous release in 1997. RU still down, The vocals were recorded in 1994, two years before the icon’s untimely death.

Production duo Soulshock and Karlin spoke You Know I Got Soul After Puck’s death, it was revealed that his mother, Afeni Shakur, had approached the pair, who had previously worked together on “I Get Around” artists and a cappella vocals.

“After he was shot in Las Vegas, his mother, Afeni Shakur, called me and said, ‘I have some records to finish, so I’ll only let people who know him do the work.’ She came up with these two giant security guards and I didn’t have ProTools yet so I used tape and every time I put the tape on and transferred it to the machine and it worked In, security was like, “Where is this going?” It was a cappella, and Afeni was like, ‘Start working, I won’t leave.

After knocking out “I Wonder If Heaven Got A Ghetto,” producers set to work on Caldwell’s sampled classics.

“We went to ‘Do For Love’ and fell in love with A Tribe Called Quest,” he explained of his desire to reach for soul samples. “We used something similar to that and it worked.”

Another recent icon, The Notorious BIG, found themselves spitting on a sample of Caldwell’s “My Flame” from their 1997 Clark Kent-produced single “Sky’s The Limit.” I was. life after death.

During a Q&A with BET, DJ talked about his love for the record even before Big even officially claimed it as his own.

“When he heard ‘Sky’s The Limit,’ I thought, ‘I can’t get this track because it’s for Akinyele.’ Is required. I said, “Not for Junior Mafia!” He said, “No, it’s for my album.”

Believe it or not, the smooth groove was passed down to both Jay-Z and LL Cool J before Biggie made it the inspirational anthem it is today.

“Every time we talked about that song he was singing the chorus. Then he got 112, but he was singing the chorus the day he heard it.”

Thanks to the late producer J Dilla, Chicago’s Common were also blessed with a Caldwell sample on 2000’s ‘The Light’. This is a sample of the crooner’s 1980 track “Open Your Eyes.”

Music enthusiast Questlove recently revealed that he had suggested to Soulquarian’s brother Common that the track be removed because “Dilla” wasn’t good enough.

“I wasn’t offended by it, but when I was a sophomore at ‘Dilla U’ at the time, I understood all of Dilla and knew that none of his trademark traits were rhythmically there. I didn’t think…where are the drunk drums? Weird patch….Quik was one of his favorite producers so he made the regular G Funk Joan , which sounds “normal”…but I’m so glad I was wrong about this.

“I just got word that Brother Bobby liked it as much as he did in 2001.”

While these are the three biggest records to sample a soul icon, Caldwell’s work has been recorded by countless hip-hop and R&B artists, including Kool G Rap, Master P, Aaliyah, Kendrick Lamar, Little Brother, The Game, Madlib, and more. You can find it in the artist’s discography. , Robert Glasper, etc.

Rest in peace to music legend Brother Bobby Caldwell.