Sample Saturday: Ain't Leavin Without You
An R&B song from 2009 samples a hip-hop song from 1991... which samples a pop song from 1989... and a R&B/funk song from 1982...
"Ain't Leavin Without You" by Jaheim (Another Round, 2009) popped up in my shuffled playlist as I was washing the morning dishes. Jaheim has a great voice and I've loved the bassline ever since I first heard the song.
And then I fell deep into a rabbit hole when I remembered how "Ain't Leavin Without You" sampled another great song, "Ring Ring Ring (Ha Ha Hey)" by De La Soul (De La Soul Is Dead, 1991).
Hey how ya doin'
Sorry ya can't get through
Why don't you leave your name and your number
And I'll get back to you
In middle school, my music class had a unit on "Me, Myself and I" and young Alleanna did an even deeper dive on De La Soul on early iTunes and early YouTube. Good times. But back to my main-ish point:
"Ring Ring Ring (Ha Ha Hey)" samples a few songs in particular.
The chorus comes from "Name and Number" by Curiosity Killed the Cat (Getahead, 1989):
I... have a soft spot for sophisti-pop. (Think mid-80s British pop mixed with elements of jazz and soul. More on this later.)
Also, the music video for "Name and Number" is so 1989 and so good.
The song is a bop, okay?
The second sample is from "Act Like You Know" by Fat Larry's Band (Breakin' Out, 1982). Fat Larry's Band was a R&B and funk band from Philly.
I originally thought the "Ain't Leavin Without You" and "Ring Ring Ring (Ha Ha Hey)" bassline came from "Act Like You Know," but it actually came from the following song which came out a year before "Act Like You Know":
Help Is On the Way by The Whatnauts (1981)
The Whatnauts were a R&B/soul group from Baltimore. I had no idea that "Help Is On the Way" came first! The bassline was performed by Rodney "Skeet" Curtis from Parliament-Funkadelic.
"Act Like You Know" and "Help Is On the Way" having the same bassline makes me think of other groups of songs that share qualities (like all the songs in 2002 and 2003 that shared the Diwali Riddim) but that's a blog post for another day.
Anyways, that's my time here. Time to put some clothes in the washer.
Alleanna
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