SAMPLED is a recurring column that examines the skeletal production of a contemporary Rap/R&B/Hip-Hop or Pop song. From what song did the loop, sample, or chopped up vocal providing the backbone for a new interpretation originate? SAMPLED looks at the original song with some historical context, and then presents the contemporary production that utilizes a sample from the original. For better or worse, this is the process by which a huge portion of contemporary pop music is assembled.

This week, the sample in question comes from Super Beagle’s “Dust A Sound Boy,” a Jamaican dancehall anthem from 1986 that utilizes Winston Riley’s legendary Stalag Riddim:

For SAMPLED this week, we need only focus on the intro of this Super Beagle track, since it’s only the vocal intro that is utilized. Using Winston Riley’s iconic Stalag Riddim, “Dust A Sound Boy” is a traditional dancehall anthem, featuring the MC prowess of Fuzzy Jones. Fuzzy Jones was a luminary of the sound clash scene, and his iconic patois was immortalized on many of the genre’s biggest breaks and beats before his death in 2005. I managed to find a transcription for the lyrics of the intro, for those of us having trouble understanding Fuzzy’s thick Jamaican patois: “Well, it is a weeping and a moaning and a gnashing of teeth in the dancehall—and who no have teeth gwine run pon them gums. Caw when time it comes to my sound, which is the champion sound, the bugle has blown so many times, and it still have one more time left, caw the amount of stripe weh deh pon our shoulder. Nah bother sound test we, and them can’t test we. Come Super Beagle and your girl!”

Fuzzy Jones’ vocal intro from “Dust A Sound Boy” was recently sampled by Kanye West, on the recent G.O.O.D. Fridays release “Mercy,” which features Big Sean, Pusha T, and 2 Chainz:

Kanye West has a knack for spotting primo vocal samples lately (“Otis,” “Why I Love You”) and Fuzzy Jones’ “Dust A Sound Boy” intro makes for a weird, whiny, and wailing loop that showcases the best rappers G.O.O.D. Music currently has to offer. Yeezy chops the first bit of Fuzzy’s intro, pitches it up, and loops and stutters the sample to give the track a very Mr. Bangladesh-inspired feel. Kanye lets the sample play out in its entirety half-way through the track, giving Fuzzy Jones some much deserved mainstream attention.

Some view sampling as a symptom of a lack of creativity, and that’s exactly why it is a polarizing topic in terms of contemporary pop music. Critics liken it to Hollywood’s nasty habit of repurposing old franchises and old ideas, updating and remaking anything that was once profitable. On the flip side, many argue that sampling is an art form not to be discredited. On a weekly-ish basis, SAMPLED aims to take it on a case-by-case basis, and examine the dividing practice of using samples in the creation of music.