Sunday Night Sample - Nas - Hip Hop Is Dead

For tonight's sampling, I decided to roll with Nas' "Hip Hop Is Dead". I heard this song play during an episode of The Gentlemen on Netflix the other night, and was reminded how awesome it is. 

The track samples the legendary "In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida" by Iron Butterfly. 

If that riff sounds familiar, it's because Nas already rode that wave with "Thief's Theme." 

But hold up, Will.I.Am took that same sample and absolutely killed it with a fresh twist for "Hip Hop Is Dead."

Nas isn't just spitting bars here; he's dropping truth bombs about the state of mainstream hip-hop. Gone are the days when hip-hop was the voice of social revolution. According to Nas, today's scene is all bling, bragging, and, frankly, treating women like garbage.

The production also features mixing in samples like "Apache" by The Shadows alongside that hypnotic "In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida" groove.

When will.i.am jumped on the production and laid down some vocals, he wasn't just there to make the track sizzle. In a chat with The Boombox back in 2012, the Black Eyed Peas mastermind clarified that when they said hip-hop is dead, they weren’t throwing shade at the genre itself. Nah, they were talking dollars and cents, industry talk. According to him, the cash flow from radio hits and record sales in hip-hop? Not what it used to be.