I found this tape in The Thing thrift store in Greenpoint, Brooklyn more than a year ago. It's an incredible compilation of clips from old records (or "breaks") most of which have been used in famous hip hop songs. To listen to the tape is to take a trip back through a number of tracks you will recognize. I searched the Internet for any detail I could find, but no luck. So I figured it was a prime example of a tape for this blog.
And Finesse, or whoever did this, is an INCREDIBLE vinyl scratcher/mixer! What a mix.
Side 1 starts off with an example of how the breaks can be used in a great hip hop classic with Gang Star - Blowing up the Spot. The tape then includes clips from these incredible tracks (but these are just the ones I liked):
SIDE 1
Lyn Colins - Put It On the Line
Seals & Crofts - Sweet Green Fields (famously used by Busta Rhymes)
Linda Clifford - Never Gonna Stop (what a groove)
Looks Like Rain - Main Ingredient
Quincy Jones - Summer in the City (what an original sound - can't believe we have gone from this to Taylor Swift)
Leon Haywood - I Want a Do Something Freaky to You (famously used by Snoop Dogg/Dr. Dre)
Even Jacqes Brel - Vieillir!
Brenda Russell - A Little Bit of Love (but more fun sped up in the mix)
Sylvester - Was it Something I Said
Labi Siffre - I Got The . . . (another track sped up to great effect)
SIDE 2
Eddie Harris - Lovely is Today
Dione Warwick - The Windows or the World (at 5:55)
Incredible sample from Al Green - Free at Last (Live)
Isaac Hayes - A few more Kisses to Go (again sped up better)
Listen or download both sides of the tape below.
Finesse - The Breaks tape side 1.
Finesse - The Breaks tape side 2.
As I have started doing, I took a sample of this tape and made a new track. I was especially obsessed with the Dione Warwick sample that was sped up on side 2 but ended up using the sample at 12:35 on Side 2 but have not been able to identify it. I spent about a year working on it. In the meantime I have been having a lot of contact with Alex Gloor from In Flagranti who I have known for a long time. We featured a mix of his in my last blog post and some super rare tracks.
Last month Interview magazine did an article about Alex and the Smylonylon tapes and discussed this blog too and the role it played in the history of the tapes.
I sent Alex a copy of the track I had been working on with the sample from this tape and he decided to put it out on their record label Codek and also do a remix!! So head over to the bandcamp page to buy the track and their remix in high quality and you can sample an mp3 of the track and their remix below.
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