SAMPLED examines the skeletal production of a contemporary rap, R&B, hip-hop or pop song — Where did the loop, sample, or chopped up vocal providing the backbone originate? SAMPLED gives you the history, the context, and the insight.

This week, we’re breaking down the sample used for that awesome horn section on Major Lazer’s “Watch Out For This (Burmaye),” featuring Busy Signal, The Flexican, and FS Green:

Diplo has a reputation for “genre discovery,” so it should be no surprise that the Major Lazer frontman has an ear for a dope sample. “Watch Out For This (Burmaye)” is a highlight on Free The Universe, the second full-length album for Diplo’s collaborative neo-dancehall project, and the song’s success is largely indebted to two salsa musicians named Willie Colón and Rubén Blades.

Willie Colón is a Bronx-bred trombonist and vocalist of Puerto Rican descent, who also specializes in composition and arrangement, fusing elements of salsa, jazz, and rock. He earned his first record deal at 15, and his first album sold over 300,000 records. Colón claims to have contributed to recordings that have sold over thirty million records, which seems legit, because in 2004, he received a Lifetime Achievement Grammy Award from the Latin Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences. Colón enjoyed many successful collaborations with musicians and singers, but his work with singer/songwriter Rubén Blades would produce some of his most popular recordings.

Rubén Blades is a Panamanian songwriter and vocalist, specializing in Afro-Cuban and Latin jazz. Blades honed his talent as a vocalist peforming with Latin music ensembles in Panama, but would soon move to the United States to pursue music professionally. Blades took a job in the mailroom at New York salsa label Fania Records, through which he met many of the genre’s leading musicians, including one Willie Colón.

Colón and Blades would collaborate extensively, performing together in ensembles under the Fania Records umbrella, and recording six albums between 1977 and 1982. “Maria Lionza” appears on the 1978 collaborative record Siembra, which sold over three million copies, becoming the best-selling salsa record of all time shortly after its release. “Maria Lionza” is an example of the perfect salsa groove Willie Colón and his band could orchestrate, with signature impassioned high-tenor vocals from Ruben Blades.

“Maria Lionza” is sampled in Major Lazer’s “Watch Out For This (Burmaye).” Listen at the 51 second mark:

It’s fitting that the source material for “Watch Out For This (Burmaye)” is such a collaborative recording, since Major Lazer finds its strength in finding suitable cohorts to help execute Diplo’s twisted vision. This time, he’s joined by Dutch DJ FS Green and Mexico City-born producer and DJ The Flexican.

On “Watch Out For This,” the trio of DJs speed up the opening horn section from Willie Colón and Rubén Blade’s “Maria Lionza,” for one of the hookiest and most triumphant sections on Free The Universe.