Sampling is at the heart of hip-hop. Taking a piece of an existing record and turning it into something new is how boom bap was born. WhoSampled has put together an infographic that looks at 30 years of sampling, from 1982 to 2012, and explores what they call the DNA of modern music.
The Godfather of Samples
No surprise at the top: James Brown. According to WhoSampled, 1,976 different tracks have sampled the Godfather of Soul. Funky Drummer alone is one of the most used breaks of all time, and Funky President and The Payback are not far behind.
The Amen Break
The most sampled drum loop ever comes from a band most people have never heard of. The Winstons released Amen, Brother as a B-side in 1969, and its six-second drum solo has been sampled 663 times. It has shaped hip-hop, drum and bass, jungle and countless other genres.
Dr. Dre and the Classic Breaks
The infographic also breaks down the sample sources of Dr. Dre, the producer behind the West Coast
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