Arguably the first hip-hop song to ever reach the top 40 of the Billboard Hot 100, the song opened the floodgates by proving to record labels that rap was commercially viable. "When it came out ...
One of the greatest Hip Hop songs of all time heavily sampled Mtume ... “Empire State Of Mind” became JAY-Z's first Billboard Hot 100 No. 1 of his career as a lead artist.
Want to hear 15 more songs sampled in well-known pop and hip-hop tracks? David Renard compiled this great list for The Times a few years back. As he puts it, “the best samples collapse music’s ...