Dee Jay

• 01Funky DrummerJames Brownso they would crank up the speed on the stuff they liked, like the breakdown from James Brown’s “Funky Drummer,” an old song that, as James and Frank were learning, was a vital building block of the genre they loved.
• 02Rock the BellsLL Cool JOn the rapper LL Cool J’s 1985 single “Rock the Bells,” Rubin used a nineteen-second excerpt from a record by the Washington, DC, group Trouble Funk, running the music from a turntable right into the mixing board and onto the multitrack tape.
• 03Licensed to IllBeastie BoysThe next year, on the first album by Beastie Boys, 1986’s Licensed to Ill, Rubin went further
• 04Rhymin’ & Stealin’Beastie Boysthe opening track, the aptly named “Rhymin’ & Stealin’,” fused breaks and sounds from the records of rock gods like Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, and AC/DC
• 05Time to Get IllBeastie Boysthe closing track, “Time to Get Ill,” was composed of pieces of no fewer than fourteen songs, from artists like Barry White to Creedence Clearwater Revival, to themes from the TV shows Green Acres and Mister Ed.
• 06Whatcha See Is Whatcha GetThe DramaticsHoward, known as “Wee Gee,” had been the lead singer of the Detroit group the Dramatics, his raspy tenor knifing through their 1971 hit “Whatcha See Is Whatcha Get” or smoothing out for “In the Rain.”
• 07Inner City BluesMarvin GayeJames rhymed over the “Funky Drummer” break, superimposed with a loop of “Inner City Blues” by Marvin Gaye:
• 08The Flip Wilson ShowFlip Wilson, David FrostHe looped the first few seconds of the theme to The Flip Wilson Show, the 1970s TV series, so that the announcer’s voice kept repeating the words “The Flip!” every two measures.
• 09Do Fries Go with That ShakeGeorge ClintonHe hired him to play keyboards at recording sessions, and Fiddler got to hear himself on the radio when Clinton’s single “Do Fries Go with That Shake” hit playlists across the country in 1986.
• 10Sing a Simple SongSly and the Family StoneAmp recognized one of the drum breaks, from Sly and the Family Stone’s “Sing a Simple Song.”
• 11Drop the DrumSlum VillageOne of the first songs they recorded at Amp’s, “Drop the Drum,” revealed their influences and obsessions: the jazz samples, frenetic tempos, and vocal inflections found on the albums of New York hip-hop artists like Leaders of the New School and A Tribe Called Quest.
• 12Magic MarkerSlum VillageStill, James and T3 continued their work with songs like “Magic Marker.”
• 13A Piece of the ActionMavis StaplesThe Yancey family had over the years accumulated a sizable library of movies, and A Piece of the Action, the third installment of a trilogy of Sidney Poitier–Bill Cosby caper films from the 1970s, was a beloved favorite.