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 on the haunt for the impassioned spoken word sample that helped English dance duo Disclosure’s Settle skyrocket to the top of the UK charts for its debut last week:

It feels like I’m constantly sorting through obscure hip-hop flips of ’70s funk songs turned into trap bangers, which is exciting enough, but I can’t pretend it’s not refreshing when I come across a truly inventive use of a vocal sample. The brothers Lawrence, collectively known as Disclosure, had the brilliant idea of sampling Eric Thomas, the self-proclaimed “hip-hop preacher,” and it works insanely well over their UK future garage/deep house/minimal techno bleep-bloops.

Eric Thomas is a motivational speaker, educator, author, activist, and a minister, whose main goal is to inspire through delivering high energy messages encouraging people to break the cycle of the bad habits that plague their daily routines. Born in Chicago, Thomas is a high school dropout who sought mentorship through a local pastor who helped him realize his passion in life — helping, educating, and motivating. He now speaks at high schools and colleges, challenging at-risk youth to break the cycle as the “hip-hop preacher.”

You can watch one of Eric Thomas’ speeches above, as part of his Thank God It’s Monday series.

A sample from one of Eric Thomas’ sermons appears on Disclosure’s “When A Fire Starts To Burn”:

In the digital booklet for Settle, Disclosure claim that the sample of Eric Thomas’ voice is from something called “Speed Up,” which matches the video I posted above. While the voice clearly belongs to Thomas, the sample they used seems to have been omitted from the video. My thought is that as part of the licensing deal, Disclosure asked Thomas to remove the source from the Internet as to protect its obscurity. If you’re able to dig up the actual section they used, let me know in the comments below, because it’s seriously driving me crazy.

Regardless, these guys recognized the power in Thomas’ passionate voice, pitching it up slightly, and laying it in over their beat without too much editing. The repetitiveness of the vocal is easy to get lost in, as Disclosure weave in shifting minimal house beats in one of the strangest, and most satisfying sample flips of the year.