The Think Break (Part Two)

#samplehistory #dnbhistory #hiphophistory #thinkbreakhistory #thinkbreat #dnb #drumandbass #jungle #history #tallygtuesday #dnbproper #drumandbassproper

Welcome back to learning about the history of the Think drum break! As discussed in the first article a few weeks ago, the Think break is a sample taken from a song by American soul singer Lyn Collins (produced by James Brown) which was released in 1972.  It is the second most sampled drum break in history after the mighty Amen.  This extraordinarily versatile drum break has been sampled well over 4,000 times since 1987.

What happened in 1987?  Lyn Collins's "Think (About It) was featured on the extremely popular drum break compliation entitled Ultimate Breaks & Beats (16th Edition).  This complilation series was huge with hip-hop producers (it probably still is, to be honest).

"Think (About It)" was sampled by a number of early hip-hop producers, leading to the "first significant wave of sample based cuts" (Read, 1987).  This included the first known use of the "Woo! Yeah!" break (ad-libbed by James Brown)--one of a handful of distinct breaks within the song--when it was sampled by the Beatmasters for the song "Females (Get On Up)" by the Cookie Crew.  "Females (Get On Up)" was hugely popular in the UK and gained some notoriety stateside as well.

1988 brought a steep increase in the amount of sampling within the hip-hop and dance music communities (upwards of 50 times that year) most notably with "It Takes Two" by MC Rob Base & DJ E-Z Rock; the "Woo! Yeah!" break is used as the backing loop and the song is almost completely created by samples from "Think (About It)".  It became a platinum hit and is widely played to this day.  Everyone has heard this song at some point as it is most definitely a classic.

Chris Read states on whosampled.com that "if '88 was the year that 'Think' blew up, then '89 was the year that it became industry standard" (2018) as it was sampled 150 times, thrice more than the year before.  Hip-hop producers started to use fewer James Brown samples starting in 1990, and the Think breakbeat started to become popular within other sampled-based genres, specifically hip-house and early forms of house and the new rhythm and blues (R&B) sub-genres swing beat and new jack swing in the United States.

1991 brought us the hardcore era that is the precursor to jungle and therefore to drum and bass.  2 Bad Mice sample Collins's "Think (About It)" in their early Moving Shadow release "Hold It Down".  A year later the tempos of these breakbeat-filled hardcore tracks speed up, leading us to the very beginnings of jungle.  You can hear this in songs such as "Luv to Luv Ya" by The Skeleton Krew.  The Think break was still being sampled in hip-hop though now on the more commercial end.

Stay tuned for the third and final installment about the Think break in about a month. In two weeks keep your eyes peeled for my writeup about a couple of upcoming shows in my world.

Big up, all y'all!

Tally G