That Sample: RL Grime – Core

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That Sample: RL Grime – Core

Remember that heavy “Who Do The Shit That I Do” banger RL Grime dropped at the beginning of 2014? Big build up, bent horn lead, marching snares and the same prominent 7 words that gets everyone hyped just before the drop kicks in?

Yeah you know the one. Core…raising the bar in Trap music since 2014. We know that ‘sampling’ is key when it comes to producing music and let’s face it, EVERYONE samples (specifically electronic). What people sometimes don’t understand is the concept of sampling. As Wikipedia says – ‘sampling is the act of taking a portion of one sound recording and reusing it as an instrument or a sound recording in a different song or piece’. When it comes to producing, lead synths will always make or break a song. Same goes for vocals. ‘Vocals sell’. These two elements will stick with us the most when we listen to a song over and over again. They’re the reasons why we stick around or why a song becomes a hit just like Core.

I’ve heard a lot of people say RL Grime is a genius for writing the Core lead synth that makes the entire tune but…have you done your research? Before RL Grime‘s track smashed the charts, another famous electronic group used the same sample in their track ‘Climbatize’. The Prodigy used the famous horn lead 17 years before RL Grime.

The 6 minute tune is absolute gold. Climbatize is everything electronic music stood for in the 90’s. Simple yet complex and one of The Prodigy‘s classic releases. Around the 4 minute 22 second mark you’ll hear that iconic sound take off on its own. Go on, have a listen.

So I guess The Prodigy are the real winners here, yeah?

Wrong.

The Prodigy sampled Egyptian Empire. And guess what it’s called… ‘The Horn Track’ (har-har). You can hear it within the first couple of seconds. To top it off, a number of Drum & Bass artists such as Fabio & Grooverider and Mickey Finn have remixed The Horn Track so now there are a variety of tracks out there within different genres that use the original Horn sample.

It’s amazing to see a simple 5-10 second sample morph and insert itself into a new era of electronic music over the last two decades.

Having said that, back to RL Grime.

I think RL Grime is a fantastic artist. He puts on a helluva good show and knows how to give back to his crowd. One thing that I’ve definitely taken from this is that RL Grime managed to turn a small horn sample that consists of a couple of notes and a different arrangement and completely make it his own. Not only has he made it into his signature sound but he’s made it incredibly catchy and it’ll stick with us forever.

Like I said at the beginning of the article, everyone samples. Kaytranada has used a bunch of samples from famous Jazz/Blues songs and Daft Punk‘s album Homework used samples from iconic Rock and Disco songs.

The whole purpose of this article is to educate people about ‘Sampling’ and to show you how common it is for a new generation of electronic artists to use bits and pieces of music that goes back into the 50’s and comes from all four corners of the globe.

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