In 1983 The Isley Brothers released “Between the Sheets” it was an immediate hit and eventually went platinum (their first platinum album in the 80s … as they were a giant success in the 70s), the song also not only was the sole reason behind the conception of tons of 80s/90s babies but in the in a little more than a decade later it became one of the most sampled songs in Hip Hop History
(Save for James Brown Samples, Honey Drippers, etc.)
I recently listened to one of my playlists and heard a couple of these songs back to back and it dawned on me how much the ‘Sheets music was used, so I decided to do a personal top 6 … couldn’t narrow it down to 5 lol so here we go …
6. The Questions – Audio Two (1988)
The Questions by Audio Two was one of my favorite songs from “What more can I say?” and the first song I ever heard use the sample, basically it was Milk D spazzing out, but while he was doing so he dropped some pretty dope jewels about drugs, people jocking his style, jealousy, and … looking for his girl and needing milk lol
The Between the Sheets beat sample is pretty evident
5. Funkdafied – Da Brat (1994)
Jermaine Dupri brought us Shawntae Harris in 1994 and basically gave us a female Snoop Dogg, he laced the Between the sheet sample and wrote the entire song … to this day it’s been the most successful single by Da Brat meaning JD doesn’t get enough props
The gimmick kinda wore off because the style was old and she didn’t evolve but there’s no denying that the song rocked when it first came out … the video cameos and everything made it a modern classic
4. Bonita Applebum (Hootie mix) –
A Tribe Called Quest (1993)
This is actually the 3rd version/remix of the original song dropped in 1990, it’s slept on and surprisingly unheard by more people that you would think, this is back when Hip Hop groups or emcees would do remixes and you’d get new beats AND new lyrics … and that’s what happened here, it was a completely new vibe from the first song .. and the looping of the Isley’s on the hook was dope as well.
3. Nika – Lil’ Vicious (1994)
Lil Vicious came out with Doug E Fresh with “freaks” and caught everyone’s attention for doing dancehall at the age of 14, the assist by Doug made us care, what got my attention was his first single from “Destination Brooklyn” Nika … it was the first time I had heard Dancehall over Between the sheets, the hook was infectious and even if you didn’t understand 60% of the words it rocked
2. The Most Beautifullest thing in this world –
Keith Murray (1994)
It’s clear that 1993-1994 The Isleys got a ton of money from emcees, this is my personal favorite song which used the sample, coming off of “Hostile” from Erick Sermon’s No Pressure Album, Keith Murray had my attention but you didn’t know he was coming with an album
… this was back when people would do features and then disappear; and there was no internet or social media telling you something was coming so when the video came out it was amazingly dope. The Green Eyed Bandit laced the sample and flipped it better than anyone one else on this list
1. Big Poppa – The Notorious B.I.G (1994)
Again, 1994 strikes again, technically released in ’95 The Big Poppa Single earned Biggie a Grammy nomination, the title was a call back to the first time I had ever heard BIG in the remix of “Dolly my baby” by Supercat. When I first heard this song I knew it would be a hit (I mean it used the sample), there were other remixes Jermaine Dupri made one ironically which was pretty dope.
Overall if you’re going to do a list of the most successful or memorable Hip Hop songs that used the sample, you HAVE to have this at number one regardless of your preference…
Honorable Mentions
Breaker 1-9 – Common (1992)
Comin’ On Strong – Tupac (2006)
Ignorant Shit – Jay-Z (2007)
What say you?
