Samples Of The Week: A$AP Rocky Edition

It's been a while since we've done a Samples Of The Week, but when we have one of the most sample-heavy albums in recent memory on the docket this week, it's too good to pass up. A$AP Rocky's lengthy A.L.L.A. contains samples on over half of its tracks, and today we're here to break down every single one. 

With the sheer number of samples, including one from Rod Stewart, and a very rare, unreleased Pimp C verse, the budget for A.L.L.A. must've been crazy, and Rocky spent the money wisely. Read on to get hip to the classic cuts Rocky, Danger Mouse and Hector Delgado flipped on the new album.

The album's opening track was produced by Danger Mouse and DJ Khalil and although it sounds like an old-school spaghetti western soundtrack (which makes sense considering Danger Mouse's Rome project), its source material is much more recent. Sampled within is a 2005 track by alt-country band Lucero. It's called "Noon As Dark As Mingiht," and was smoothed out considerably for Rocky's album.

When I saw Bones' name on the A.L.L.A. tracklist, I was pretty shocked. He's a little-known underground rapper from L.A. who specializes in grimy, post-cloud rap, and the thought of him sharing a studio with Rocky was unbelievable. As it turns out, Rocky only sampled an existing Bones track on "Canal St.," which makes much more sense. Props to whoever put Bones' "Dirt" in Rocky's ear.

Possibly the trippiest song on an album full of trippy songs, "L$D" is built around a slo-mo sample of Lou Donaldson's cover of Billy Gentry's "Ode To Billie Joe," which Kanye West also sampled on "Jesus Walks." You'd never know it though, and that's a testament to Jim Jonsin's production chops.

Sampling Christmas music is always a daunting task, but Hector Delgado, Rocky and Jonsin nailed it on "Excuse Me." Flipping The Platters' version of "I'll Be Home For Christmas," they give the song a cartoonish, technicolor backdrop that makes it seem like a blissful extension of the trip Rocky embarked on in "L$D."

The one Kanye West-produced track on A.L.L.A is something that sounds like it could be from his chipmunk soul halcyon days, with a repetitive sample looping throughout (until one of the mid-song beat switches that pervade the entire album kicks in, at which time another soul sample takes the reigns). The songs sampled are, respectively, "Doa Untuk Kekasih" by obscure Indonesian prog rockers Rasela, and "Much Better Off" by the not-so-obscure Smokey Robinson and the Miracles. 

Rocky's been a fan of curveballs his whole career, and basing a song called "Max B" around a Leonard Cohen sample is certainly one of those. In addition to the singer/songwriter's "Who By Fire," the track also lifts the classic drum break from Bob James' "Take Me To The Mardi Gras."

Of course, the most impressive feat of this song, and probably the entire album, is getting an unreleased Pimp C verse (one in which he fantasizes about copping dome from Sheryl Crow, no less), but to boot, Juicy J cooked up a warm, soul-sampling beat that hearkens back to "Int'l Player's Anthem." He sampled the shit out of Syl Johnson's "Could I Be Falling In Love."

 Of all the eclectic sampling jobs on A.L.L.A., "Better Things" stands out. Here we have two indie-pop bands thrown in a blender with Bobby Caldwell, and coming out sounding pretty seamless. Listen to all three original tracks below, and try to find common ground between them.

The sole track that Rocky produced entirely on his own is the "Dreams" interlude, and sampled on there is a song called "Stuck In The Middle" by the relatively unknown Naja Rosa.

Even when you've got Mark Ronson, Emile Haynie, Jeff Bhasker, Hudson Mohawke, Yasiin Bey and The Black Keys' Dan Auerbach in the studio, sometimes you still need a sample. This one was probably the most expensive on the album, as it takes a chorus straight from Rod "Da Gawd" Stewart. The original track, "In A Broken Dream" was actually performed by the band Python Lee Jackson with Rod stepping in as a session vocalist. 

Supplying the "Shimmy Shimmy Ya"-style bounce on the album's closing track is a very obscure cut by The Jaggerz (no Mick) called "Gotta Find My Way Back Home."