What are your favorite "famous" samples??

[Salty]

  I need your help! I am making a little playlist of songs whose use as a sample in another song is more famous. However, this doesn't mean the song used for the sample is worse! In fact, I'm looking for songs whose original is just as good, if not better. For example, "California Love" by 2Pac is definitely more well-known than the song it samples, "Woman to Woman" by Joe Cocker. However, both of these songs are absolute rippers.

What are some other  songs you guys can think of that also rip just as hard as the songs that sampled them and made them (more) famous? Also, these don't have to be hip-hop songs, that's just what comes to my mind.

[Cobra!]

I heard Coolio’s Gangsta’s Paradise was sampled from “Pastime Paradise” from Stevie Wonder. Gangsta’s paradise  doesn’t have any swear words because that was a stipulation Stevie Wonder set to allow Coolio to use it.

Of course, how could we forget Under Preassure by Queen and David Bowie, and Vanilla Ice’s Ice Ice Baby, a song many classic rock fans hate with a passion?

[larvapuppy]

One that was pretty famous when I was in middle school was Jason Derulo's "Whatcha Say", it uses Imogen Heap's "Hide and Seek" as the chorus... Not a huge fan of either song though. 

[keybladekid6]

The Weeknd's 'Out of Time' intro bgm was sampled from 'Midnight Pretenders' by Tomoko Aran and both are bangers 

When Out of Time released I was really confused listening to it for the first time... I was waiting for Tomoko to start singing c;

(OH and let's not forget Rihanna's Please Don't Stop the Music taking a sample from MJ's Wanna Be Startin' Something)

xoxo, lolo =3

[flowers]

sampled in my name is by eminem (1998), everybody knows it as the "slim shady song" lol

[PurpleHello98]

Some song Rihanna did that didn't come to mind (I looked it up and apparently it's called "Cheers (Drink to That)") by Rihanna samples the "yeah yeah" from I'm With You by Avril Lavigne. Quite interesting if I do say so myself.

[rev]

this one might already be in your playlist, but "hung up" by madonna samples "gimme gimme gimme" by abba super directly, and it's always the first thing that comes to mind when i think of sampling.

also, "s&m" by rihanna samples "let's go to bed" by the cure - a little harder to hear, but it's still there!

[wetnoodle]

Sampled in Bound 2 by kanye and A BOY IS a GUN by tyler the creator

I just love this one, it's such a good song and it's cool to see it used different ways

[wygolvillage]

also, "s&m" by rihanna samples "let's go to bed" by the cure - a little harder to hear, but it's still there!

Yeah!!! Speaking of Cure samples, I think there's a Lady Gaga song that samples Lullaby. iirc it was Government Hooker that sampled it but i may be wrong 

[TheMessengerVEVO]

Puttin On The Ritz by Taco as used in Love in Motion by SebastiAn is pretty good, though i may be biased due to it being a cover of a big band crooner song and i am a big fan of music from that kind of time, so yknow

[ThunderPerfectWitchcraft]

Maybe the procession from Ingmar Bergmans "The Seventh Seal"? You hear it quite often when going into black metal and aligned genres, but I've mixed feelings about this "afterlife": I love the original movie that is a absolute masterpiece, but the samples usage is often damn cheesy.

Also very interesting:

"Coleman's heart and soul went into that drum break. Now these guys copy and paste it and make millions."

The Amen Break could be called fundamental for modern music. It spawned whole genres, and an average media user probably hears it several times a month without knowing it.

[malice]

"Butterfly" by Crazy Town (RIP Shifty Shellshock) sampled three songs, but the only one people remember is "Pretty Little Ditty" by Red Hot Chili Peppers (the other two are "It's a New Day" by Skull Snaps and "The Big Beat" by Billy Squier). Not really a fan of any bands mentioned, but "Butterfly" is almost always stuck in my head haha.


These aren't really as well known, but my actual favorites would be "Even in Death" and "Snow White Queen" by Evanescence sampling "Ratfinks, Suicide Tanks and Cannibal Girls" by White Zombie. I find it interesting that they sampled the same part of the same song twice! In "Snow White Queen" they slow it down and distort it, which sounds super creepy and cool. I think it was more of a callback to "Even in Death", since that was an old demo of theirs and both songs had this theme of obsession and going too far with it (EID being a story about a widow digging up the grave of their former partner so they can be together forever and SWQ being about the creepy fan experiences Amy Lee had, including a stalker.)

[Melooon]

A classic - Parce que tu crois by Charles Aznavour - sampled in Whats the difference by Dr Dre

More of a personal favorite - Washington Square by James Last was sampled in Washington Square by Chinese Man

And lastly the best! Werewolves Of London by Warren Zevon - sampled in All Summer Long by Kid Rock 

[DiffydaDude]

Here's all the ones I know:
Snap's "The Power" is actually a copy of a song by Chill Rob G called "Let The Words Flow" and samples Loves Gonna Get You by Jocelyn Brown.
The Bomb by Bucketheads samples Street Player by Chicago.
The Futurama theme song samples Psyche Rock by Pierre Henry.
Malcolm McLaren's "Buffalo Gals" has been sampled in hundreds of songs from Linkin Park to Homestuck to De La Soul to Pizza Tower and even Chacarron Macarron.
Praise You by Fatboy Slim samples Take Yo' Praise by Camille Yarborough.