SAMPLED is a 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? We look at the original song with some historical context, and then review the modern-day production that samples the original. For better or worse, this is the process by which a huge portion of contemporary pop music is assembled. On a weekly basis, SAMPLED aims to approach it case-by-case, and examine the dividing practice of using samples in the creation of music.

This week, the sample in question comes from Britney Spears’ 2004 song “Toxic,” from her fourth album In The Zone:

Pitchfork, NME, and Rolling Stone have all included “Toxic” on their lists of the best songs of the decade (2000-2009), and Britney Spears considers it the best song she’s ever recorded. This is all for good reason. The electro-pop banger was produced by Swedish duo Bloodshy & Avant, and its skewed beats, jittering synths, genre-defying surf guitar, and effected vocals presented a decided shift in what was appropriate for Top 40 radio in the mid 2000s. The song performed well on the charts, peaking at #9 on the Billboard Hot 100, and reaching #1 in five countries, including Canada. “Toxic” preceded the personal strugges (see: the K-Fed era) that would beleaguer Spears for the next few years, and as great as we thought “Til The World Ends” was, it’s hard not to percieve “Toxic” as Spears’ creative peak.

“Toxic” by Britney Spears was recently sampled on Childish Gambino’s song of the same name, taken from his new mixtape Royalty:

Childish Gambino pulled out all the stops when recruiting guests for Royalty (including Beck, Ghostface Killah — he even got Tina Fey), and “Toxic” is host to an appearance by much-hyped Detroit rapper Danny Brown. The two rappers trade verses over a drugged-out re-work of Spears’ “Toxic,” produced by Danny Brown’s touring DJ Skywlkr. Skywlkr chops and loops sections of the high pitched Bollywood strings featured prominently in Brit’s “Toxic,” and uses the pre-chorus (“Too high, can’t come down”) as Gambino’s hook. Rapid-fire hi-hats and schizophrenic snare programming round out the arrangement for Skywlkr’s “Toxic” beat, as Gambino pays tribue to a song that was blowing up when he was only in high school.