The backbone of hip-hop production is the sample. Sure, over the years some producers may have abused sampling, but that doesn't diminish the technique's value in rap's currency. Producers skim various genres, plucking the perfect vocals or riffs to weave into a beat's fabric. If we didn't have samples, we'd be left with a bunch of bass lines...and that would get old really quickly.
So to honor the art of sampling, we've compiled a list of 20 samples in hip-hop that helped reinvent the wheel, which a focus on vocal samples from white female singers. Whether the original song lyrics were used to substantiate the new song's message or they just made a rap beat sound cool, these are the standouts. Salutes all around to the original artists being sampled, but just as much credit is due to the rappers and producers who revisit their work.
These are the The 20 Best White Girl Vocal Samples in Rap History.
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20. Kid Cudi f/ Kanye West & Common "Make Her Say" (2009)
Album: Man on the Moon: The End of Day
Producer: Kanye West
Lady Gaga's "Poker Face" is a pretty cinematic track, typical of the pop princess' intense style. Somehow Kid Cudi managed to pull Gaga's "Oh-ah-oh's" off the track and add them to "Make Her Say" in a way that made her sound light-hearted. Sure, they were using her vocal samples to substantiate the sound a girl makes with her best oh-face, but it worked.
Sample: Lady Gaga "Poker Face" (2008)
19. Game f/ Kendrick Lamar "The City" (2011)
Album: The R.E.D. Album
Producer: Cool & Dre
Cool & Dre pulled Fire Inc.'s line "see any angels in the city" to craft a beat for Game's song about the City of Angels. "Tonight Is What It Means To Be Young" was all about youthful angst and the tradition was carried on in Game's album cut. From Game overemphasizing that he bleeds for L.A. to Kendrick blacking out in his extended verse, the vibrating sample only added to the madness.
Sample: Fire Inc. "Tonight Is What It Means to Be Young" (1984)
The Rap Song
18. Jay-Z & Kanye West "Murder to Excellence" (2011)
Album: Watch The Throne
Producer: Swizz Beatz, S1
The identical twin sisters who comprise The Indiggo Twins probably had no idea that one day they'd land on a track by Jay-Z and Kanye West. But they did. Leave it to Swizz Beatz to find the tribal pop track and sample the opening "La La La" for "Murder to Excellence." With Swizz's reworking of the line, the sample becomes haunting as The Throne discuss the rise in murder rates coupled with black on black crime.
Sample: The Indiggo Twins "La La La" (2009)
17. Eminem "Crazy in Love" (2004)
Album: Encore
Producer: Eminem
Obviously, Eminem would turn a "Crazy" sample into a song about being a lovestruck lunatic. While Heart's single "Crazy On You" was more about being overly passionate, Slim Shady took it to the next level saying he was going insane over a girl. Heart went crazy enough to write something this emo; Em went crazy enough to become a stalker. See the distinction?
Heart "Crazy on You" (1976)
16. Big K.R.I.T. "Hometown Hero" (2010)
Album: K.R.I.T. Wuz Here
Producer: Big K.R.I.T.
Around the same time as Adele's ascent to soul-pop superstardom, Big K.R.I.T. grabbed a sample from her first UK single, 2007's "Hometown Glory" for his own ode to his stomping grounds. Once Adele got her feet wet in the U.S. pond, the track was re-released. The timing and sentiment were equally apropos on K.R.I.T.'s part. Rap's rising star was remixing pop's rising star detailing how he puts on for Mississippi. Real heroes don't forget where they came from.
Sample: Adele "Hometown Glory" (2007)
15. Drake f/ Lykke Li "Little Bit" (2009)
Album: So Far Gone
Producer: Lykke Li, Björn Yttling
On Drake's third mixtape, So Far Gone, he garnered much attention for filling the project with a few overt non-rap samples. He called them "remixes," with one of them being a reworking of Lykke Li's "Little Bit." Truth be told, the track is more Lykke Li's (it was obviously hers to begin with), but Drake took the opportunity to flex his singing chops and harmonize with Lykke throughout the track. Hip-hop's sing-songy rapper succeeded at proving he could do both rather effortlessly.
Sample: Lykke Li "Little Bit" (2007)
14. Lil B "I'm God" (2009)
Album: I'm God
Producer: Clams Casino
Imogen Heap has the unusual talent of sounding like she's being filtered through a synthesizer (even at times when she's not). Having that abstractness to one's vocals is the perfect backdrop for a producer to sample on a hip-hop track. Clams Casino, rap's newest producer for digging obscure electro samples, grabbed the former Frou Frou lead singer's solo cut "Just For Now" to sample on Lil B's arrogant track. It helped set the tone for Based God's sometimes-style of melding electronically infused production with haughty lyrics.
Sample: Imogen Heap "Just For Now" (2004)
13. Kanye West "Glory" (2007)
Album: Graduation
Producer: Kanye West
A cheeky patriotic sample was the perfect addition to Kanye's "Glory." While the original song by Laura Nyro was about anti-war musings, 'Ye utilized snippets to reinforce his rise to fame. That wasn't exactly Nyro's message, but Kanye plays by his own rules.
Sample: Laura Nyro "Save the Country" (1969)
12. Kendrick Lamar f/ Dr. Dre "The Recipe" (2012)
Album: good kid, m.A.A.d city
Producer: Scoop DeVille
Twin Sister was begging to be sampled with an opening line like, "Smoking weed with you 'cause you taught me to" on "Meet the Frownies." Of course, Kendrick Lamar took advantage of that line to cook up "The Recipe" with mentor Dr. Dre. Who wouldn't though? Note to obscure artists: Put weed in your lyrics and a rapper is bound to find you.
Sample: Twin Sister "Meet the Frownies" (2010)
11. Lil Wayne "Something You Forgot" (2007)
Album: Tha Carter III Sessions
Producer: N/A
Heart's dramatic call to action about love was ironically used the same way for Lil Wayne's track. It's not everyday we see a tender Weezy, but Heart opened up that side of him for "Something You Forgot." All it took was an '80s power ballad to showcase Wayne's diversity. Well played, Heart.
Heart "What About Love" (1985)
10. Kid Cudi f/ Cage "Maniac" (2010)
Album: Man on the Moon II: The Legend of Mr. Rager
Producer: Anthony Kilhoffer, Mike Dean, Marcè Reazon
St. Vincent's Annie Clark has a pleasantly creepy voice that could add a "weird" flare to any sensible track. Pair Clark's vocals with the mad scientist known as Cudi and the result is "Maniac." Cudi used a sample from St. Vincent's "The Strangers," added Cage to the mix, and the result is mass hysteria. A year later, Cudi used this track as the framework for a short film with the same name directed by Shia LeBeouf. The flick appropriately dropped on Halloween that year.
Sample: St. Vincent. "The Strangers" (2009)
9. Jay-Z f/ Beanie Sigel, Memphis Bleek & Freeway "1-900 Hustler" (2000)
Album: The Dynasty: Roc La Familia
Producer: Bink!
Hear that screech in "1-900-Hustler"? Well, that's Genya Ravan's cameo on Ten Wheel Drive's "Ain't Gonna Happen." The trifecta of Jay, Bleek, and Free were hugged by Bink's production, complete with Genya's "HEY!" in the sample. Way to make a little cacaphony fit into a rap beat.
Sample: Ten Wheel Drive f/ Genya Ravan "Ain't Gonna Happen" (1969)
8. Young Buck "Bang Bang" (2004)
Album: Straight Outta Cashville
Producer: Needlz
Nancy Sinatra laid the groundwork for all haunting female vocalists everywhere when she covered Cher's "Bang Bang" back in the '60s. The track re-gained steam (especially in hip-hop) once the film Kill Bill came out. It was only a matter of time before an artist would take advantage of the song. A few did, but Young Buck's was the best. He took the "bang bang" literally and turned it into a gun-toting street single.
Sample: Nancy Sinatra "Bang Bang" (1967)
7. ScHoolboy Q f/ A$AP Rocky "Hands On The Wheel" (2012)
Album: Habits & Contradictions
Producer: Best Kept Secret
Folk siren Lissie covered Kid Cudi's "Pursuit Of Happiness" during a show and added her own badass bridge: "Hands on the wheel? Uh uh, fuck that." The slick addition reached the ears of Black Hippy's own ScHoolboy Q who enlisted A$AP Rocky for "Hands On the Wheel" off the critically acclaimed Habits & Contradictions. ScHoolboy Q leaned on Lissie's bridge as the sample for his hook. The lyrics transformed from being about liberation to being about reckless behavior. Well played, Q.
Sample: Lissie "Pursuit of Happiness" (2010)
6. Nikki D. "Daddy's Little Girl" (1991)
Album: Daddy's Little Girl
Producer: Sidney Reynolds
Suzanne Vega penned a classic track while sitting on a stool at the very diner that the Seinfeld gang would congregate at weekly. Using her own "doot-do-doot-doot-doot-do-doot-doot" vocals as the framework for the beat (and the hook), Vega made a song that still stands the test of time (peep her viral performance of "Tom's Diner" with the Roots on Late Night With Jimmy Fallon). Ten years after it was released, though, Nikki D would use the infamous "doot-doots" for her own track. Nikki wasn't the first, and certainly not the last to use it.
Sample: Nikki D. "Daddy's Little Girl" (1991)
5. Kanye West "Last Call" (2004)
Album: The College Dropout
Producer: Kanye West
Kanye arguably perfected the art of the sped up sample. On "Last Call," he took Bette Midler's "Mr. Rockefeller" and made it fit within the Roc's landscape. How appropriate, given the historical Roc-A-Fella label was loosely based on the New York City tycoon's family name.
Sample: Bette Midler "Mr. Rockefeller" (1976)
4. Lil Wayne "I Feel Like Dying" (2007)
Album: The Drought Is Over 2
Producer: Rebel Rock Productions
Karma's "Once" is a poignant enough track, with the lead singer musing about her own demise once she's out of smack. But add Lil Wayne into the mix and the song turns even more twisted. Trading powder for syrup is interchangeable at that point, and given Wayne's substance abuse, the sample is very telling. It made for one of the most powerful and celebrated songs in Weezy's catalog.
Sample: Karma "Once" (2008)
3. Grandmaster Flash and The Furious Five "The Adventures of Grandmaster Flash on the Wheels of Steel" (1981)
Album: The Message
Producer: Sylvia Robinson
Whoever says hip-hop isn't built on immediate sampling can use this song as a prime example. While many rap purists argue against calling Debbie Harry a rapper, she was in fact rapping on her foray into upbeat street singing on "Rapture." The exact same year the song dropped, Grandmaster Flash used it for his own adventure. Clearly sampling never had a statute of limitations.
Sample: Blondie "Rapture" (1981)
2. Eminem "Stan" (2000)
Album: Marshall Mathers LP
Producer: The 45 King, Eminem
The success of Dido's "Thank You" happened almost in reverse thanks to Eminem. While the folky pixie dropped a song about grattitude in love, Em pulled the sample for a track about a stalker. He said "thank you" to Dido, though, by putting her in the video for "Stan," thereby pushing her career to career heights.
Sample: Dido "Thank You" (1999)
1. Jay-Z "Hard Knock Life (Ghetto Anthem)" (1998)
Album: Vol. 2... Hard Knock Life
Producer: The 45 King
A bunch of chanting orphans in the musical film Annie brought Jay-Z his most memorable hook. The 45 King grabbed the kids' chorus about mopping floors in an orphanage and retooled it for Jay-Z's ode to hood life. It's one of the greatest of juxtapositions in rap to date. Only Hov.