The Sample Behind The Notorious B.I.G.’s ‘Juicy’


 
Legendary funk and soul artist James Mtume reflects on his 1983 hit “Juicy Fruit” in a new video from Red Bull Music. The song was sampled for The Notorious B.I.G.’s “Juicy” in 1994 and is still considered a classic to this day.
 

“I didn’t quantize it — I didn’t want it to be even. Quantizing that beat would’ve been sterile. I wanted to feel like a human being playing it.”

 
In the second half of the video, DJ Evil Dee (Black Moon, Da Beatminerz) makes his own version of “Juicy Fruit” with the SP-1200 drum machine and sampler. The Brooklyn-based DJ/producer also reflects on hearing “Juicy Fruit” for the first time:
 

“I spun ‘Juicy Fruit’ at various parties and it was just tearing parties down. It was destined for somebody to rhyme on it.”

 

 
Related: The Sample Behind Jason Derulo’s ‘Talk Dirty’

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