Anyone who has listened to hip-hop for the last 20 years knows about the influence the Stax catalog has had on hip-hop production, whether it’s Albert King‘s “Cold Feet”, Sam & Dave‘s “I Thank You”, or Rufus Thomas‘s “Sophisticated Sissy”. While there have been a small number of unofficial compilations honoring this exchange, including all of the Shaolin Soul compilations that examine the songs used by The RZA, Stax is finally doing something about it by releasing Stax: The Soul Of Hip-Hop Vol. 1. An older generation may not realize that their classic songs have been reinterpreted into brand new songs, and it has been that way for the last 20 years or so. This comp taps into some of those sources so that both young and old audiences, as well as future heads, will know where these sounds came from. Here’s the official track listing:
1. 24-CARAT BLACK – “Ghetto: Misfortune’s Wealth”
2. THE EMOTIONS – “Blind Alley”
3. BOOKER T. & THE MGs – “Melting Pot”
4. THE BAR-KAYS – “Humpin’”
5. THE DRAMATICS – “Get Up and Get Down”
6. ISAAC HAYES – “Hyperbolicsyllabicsesquedalymistic”
7. ISAAC HAYES – “Hung Up On My Baby”
8. DAVID PORTER – “I’m Afraid the Masquerade Is Over”
9. WENDY RENE – “After the Laughter (Comes Tears)”
10. CHARMELS – “As Long As I’ve Got You”
11. THE SWEET INSPIRATIONS – “Why Marry”
12. RUFUS THOMAS – “Do the Funky Penguin (Part 1)”
13. LITTLE MILTON – “Packed Up and Took My Mind”
14. WILLIAM BELL – “I Forgot To Be Your Lover”
If you know your tracks, you can see that a few of them were chosen because of their Wu-Tang Clan usage, such as Wendy Rene‘s “After The Laughter (Comes Tears)”, Charmels‘s “As Long As I’ve Got You”, and The Sweet Inspirations‘ “Why Marry” (the latter of which was used for Raekwon‘s “Criminology”:
The CD will be released on April 28th and is available from CD Universe
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