50 Greatest Hip-Hop Samples of All Time w/ Kon & Amir

Kon & Amir, heroes of crate diggers and dusty fingered vinyl junkies around the world, drop their combined list of the 50 Greatest Hip-Hop Samples of All Time.

The list starts off with the time honored David Axelrod and proceeds onto Monty Alexander, The Heath Brothers, Gwen McCrae, Skull Snaps, and Melvin Bliss.  Is their number 1 sample correct?  Let us know in the comments!

Check the full list over at Complex.

[Shouts to DJ Trends and OStRANge for the assist!]

1,468 thoughts on “50 Greatest Hip-Hop Samples of All Time w/ Kon & Amir”

  1. They aren’t snitching, man. If you didn’t already know about all those samples, you need to step your game up.

    I agree with the order of 95% of the list, the only thing is I think the Tom Scott song used for They Reminisce Over You should be higher. That sax melody is just unbelievable.

    Plus Funky Drummer should be on there. Maybe it’s there and I just missed it? I don’t remember.

    • same here I dont see who people dont know that name/samples of the songs they love so much
      I think in the last 4years coming to this site there been about 10 songs thats i dint know
      people need to spend more time diggin there are still crates out there with good ish in them

  2. Check out Hip Hop Is Read to see Ivan merk this bullshit list while on his lunch break. True story.

    BB$. 50 Greatest Hip-Hop Samples of All Time. Whatdafuckever.

  3. It’s cool, but I feel cheated on some of those classic, classic, classic breaks that didn’t seem to even make it in the line up…maybe it was the way the records impacted hip-hop and not so much how many times they were used…and perhaps that knocked some of them out of the top 50…hmmmm…I think we can get together on Crate Kings and come up with a more accurate and inclusive list than this, but everyone will have their own opinions. The perspective changes though when you ask cats that are and have been in the game as opposed to those who had the pleasure of growing up and really being influenced through life by some of these gems as pure hip-hop enthusiasts and fans. But that’s my 2 cent. Salaam.

  4. Word , how can they not mention Mountain(long red) WOW! Or even When the Levee Breaks by Led Zepplin. I’m shock by the lack of more rock breaks. They didn’t even mention Ramp’s daylight, or roy ayers, sunshine. WOW. but like all list it’s not going to be the end all be all, but i would have thought it would have included more.

  5. I thought this was dope but wondered why the number one’s pic was of a reissue, being that those dudes are straight kings of digging.

    • yell no doubt, i thought the same thing too. I really noticed it when i saw the honeydrippers impeach the president album. that was a reprint on tuff city 12 inch. the reason i know is because i have doubles i would take out to spin(pre serato) and leave the og at home. I’m thinking that maybe they just wrote the section and the website just posted the music.

  6. The beats on those su-preme video’s from the past 2 years are wack.I guess kon & amir didnt have alot of time to compile this and thought of some other classics after this and was done like “DAM” How the fuck i forget that.There was NO RZA MENTION ANYWHERE!!! Rza flipped a gang of shit back in his zoned out days! barely any erick sermon as well.I came to realize that erick sermon is prolly the most slept on producer EVER! No madlib,Thes one or Hi-tek the list goes on.

    • “I came to realize that Erick Sermon is probably the most slept on producer EVER!”…1000% TRUTH!!! And dude has MAD classics in the catalog.

  7. i felt like the list was about 40-50% on point, and very east-coast heavy. no funkadelic? no bob james? no roy ayers? no zapp? no big beat? you can’t include everything, but there were definitely some joints included that were mad obscure, or used by like one or two cats. i don’t care if it’s rare or not. and if you’re gonna include something like the “times up” sample, then include the “nuthin but a g thang” sample, or whatever. or just dont include either.

    everyone is gonna disagree to an extent, tho, and everyone’s a critic (like me). i just want a copy of the monty alexander record.

  8. There’s 2 many classics to cover in one feature! Then again there’s so many classics that no one has dug up yet.I found a gang of samples and drums that no one to my knowledge has touched! Those are the samples im lookin for.

  9. The samples they talked about were the rare joints that pretty much changed the game in a way. A lot of the samples that people want on the list are mad common. I mean the one`s where your parents could pick up in an instant. Plus,they are comming from a Ny hip hop point of view. I think most of it was dead-on. But like Dj Ian Head said,we are not all going to agree with one another on this one.

    • Then perhaps they should not have titled their post “50 Greatest Hip-hop Samples of All Time” That title in itself is loaded. Lol. Maybe Kon & Amir’s “50 Greatest Game Changing Hip-Hop Samples of All Time” This would give the assumption that not only will there be the possibility of having obscure findings included, but that it is a purely opinionated list

  10. I think we can all come up with a different list, due to our different opinions and taste ect… BUT “funky drummer” is the most influential hip hop sample of all time. Maybe for you younger cats who were not around in the 80’s..but there was a time when almost 1/2 the hip hop records that came out at one time had the funky drummer in it. We can debate all day about it, but from a “historical” aspect it is almost criminal to omit that record. As a matter of fact James could have had the top 5 or at least top 3. We can argue the importance of”rare” records all day, but when you go with the “50 greatest hip hop samples of all time”….certain things can’t be omitted.

    Now what is up for debate is how come there is no bob james,roy ayers, george clinton or roger troutman on the the list?

    I do commend them for coming up with the list even though some of the audio didn’t match the song listed.

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