Everyone has a differing opinion on which Dilla beat they think is the best but you can’t deny how amazing this one is. After The Pharcyde’s superb debut Bizarre Ride II the Pharcyde, Jay Dee was enlisted to produce seven tracks of their sophomore offering Labcabincalifornia. While it didn’t perform as well sales wise, it featured some of the best of Dilla with joints like Drop and Y?.
But for the hip hop heads, Runnin’ is what really captured people’s attention with its Brazilian sample (Saudade Vem Correndo by Stan Getz), which some say is one of the first times Brazilian music was introduced into the repertoire of hip hop sampling.
I don’t know about you but whenever I hear the original, my mind immediately tunes in ready for the part Dilla flipped. Then there was the subtlety of the shaker at the very beginning, taken from Woody Herman’s Flying Easy and of course, the “Run, run” vocals from Run-DMC’s Rock Box. But that was Dilla all over – picking the best parts of songs and amalgamating them into classics.
Stream the greatness below.
