Give the Drummer Some, Pt. II

The best hip-hop beat by year, 2002-2023

I do not own the rights to the images in this article.

Respect is back with the second half of a sonic journey through hip-hop history. Check out Part 1 here if you haven’t, and then run down the rest of the list below. Once again, salute to whosampled.com for being a valuable source.

2002 - Eminem, Jeff Bass and Luis Resto, Eminem’s “Lose Yourself”

From the moment you hear the vinylesque crackling and auspicious opening keys, you know something epic is about to drop. What follows is as cinematic as the film this track scores, with drums that thump like a broken-down Delta and blasts of strings that jolt the heart. The guitar strums live up to 8 Mile’s promise to be a 21st century Rocky, as they dance in place like a boxer before a big fight. 

After Eminem parts with the mantra, “You can do anything you set your mind to, man,” the beat rides out for us to take it all in. It’s exactly like sitting stunned in a theater as the credits roll. 

2003 - Kanye West, Ludacris’ “Stand Up”

Amidst a year filled with dramatic soundscapes for street odes and sweet melodies for love joints, “Stand Up” stands out as a rumbling club banger that can rattle your trunk. The beat’s brilliance is found in its effective simplicity, as Kanye supplies the kind of hypnotic jungle vibes that would fully bloom on cuts like “Amazing.” 

You can’t help but move to it. Just like that.

2004 - Kanye West, Kanye West featuring Jamie Foxx & Twista’s “Slow Jamz”

The production for a star-studded, magical affair like “Slow Jamz” needs to be justttt right. 

It has to be whimsical enough to underscore Kanye’s sung-rapped one-liners, strong enough to match Jamie Foxx’s powerfully soulful vocals, and breezy enough for Twista’s rapid-fire flow. 

Fortunately, Mr. West lays out the perfectly dreamy soundbed, mixing hyperactive drums with mellow keys. 

That chipmunked Luther Vandross sample? That’s the star-shaped lights swirling around the floor on prom night. 

2005 - Cool & Dre, The Game featuring 50 Cent’s “Hate It Or Love It”

There’s been debate over how much of this track was the brainchild of Cool & Dre, and how much of it was a facelift by Dr. Dre. Whatever the case, there’s no denying the end results. The almost ghoulish cry from The Trammp’s “Rubber Band” makes for an earnest yearning for better days, while horns lifted from the same song emit the feeling of soulful triumph. 

In the current era of intentionally warbled production, the clean, clear musicality makes this cut age like pinot noir. It’s as timeless as timeless gets.

2006 - DJ Toomp, T.I. featuring P$C and Young Dro’s “Bankhead”

DJ Toomp is a genius. He apparently heard a piano arrangement of the theme from the 1960 film Exodus – about the founding of the state of Israel – and figured it would make for a dope trap anthem. 

He puts his honey-dripped soul on a sped-up version of Ferrante & Teicher’s keys to let Tip and co. loose on their old stomping grounds. The result was a triumphant exodus from T.I.’s bombastic King, and a beat that’s repeatable until the batteries die. 

2007 - Jermaine Dupri & No I.D., Jay-Z’s “Fallin”

This ain’t your daddy’s Jermaine Dupri. He teams up with No I.D. to craft a crescendo for Jay’s concept album, American Gangster. As the album was inspired by the eponymous film chronicling Frank Lucas’ drug empire in the ‘70s, the sample of The Dramatic’s 1973 cut “Fell for You” fits “Fallin” like a glove. 

Yet, the only love here is for the life, with the sped up keys and falsetto vocals utilized to build tension and paranoia as Jay’s narrative of the hustler inevitably comes crashing down into chaos. 

“Uh oh, girl,” indeed. 

2008 - Drumma Boy, T.I.’s “You Ain’t Missin’ Nothing”

Man, does Tip know how to pick ‘em. On an album filled with energetic anthems and lush crossover joints, all Drumma Boy needed was slowly paced hi hats, melancholy keys and wistful horns to underscore Tip’s letter on wax to those locked up. 

At the time, the fact that T.I. was headed to prison added to the song’s meaning. Even free from that context in 2024, this cut stands as a heartfelt tribute laid over beautiful music. 

2009 - Exile, Fashawn featuring Blu’s “Samsonite Man”

Fashawn’s ode to life on the road from his criminally slept-on Boy Meets World is longingly soulful, much like a man missing home from his hotel room. 

Exile turns the guitar melody from Billy Paul’s “Don’t Think Twice, It’s Alright” into a lovely staccato piano loop to match Fashawn’s flow. Fash does a fine job singing on the hook, but it’s the sample of Paul’s airy vocals from the same song that lifts “Samsonite Man” below the heavens.

2010 - Kanye West, No. I.D., Mike Dean, Kanye West featuring Kid Cudi and Raekwon’s “Gorgeous”

Kanye’s wide-ranging collaborative process would sound like too many cooks in the kitchen in later years, but here, this all-star trio of musical chefs whips up perfection. Armed with a sharp guitar sample of “You Showed Me” by Enoch Light and the Glittering Guitars, Ye soundtracks his no-holds-barred comeback song with an elongated simmer. 

So when it boils over to downbeat keys for Raekwon to walk his Diadoras over, it’s one of the most satisfying music payoffs in hip-hop history. 

2011 - Kanye West, Jay-Z & Kanye West’s “Otis”

The story goes that Ye made this beat in 20 minutes. Yet, the sonics of “Otis” are anything but lazy. With a sample of the classic Otis Redding’s “Try a Little Tenderness,” Jay and Ye let loose in grandiose style.

The King of Soul is no mere sideshow, though. From the grand opening keys and guitar strums at the song’s outset, to Otis’ impassioned ad-libs throughout that rev up Jay and Ye, the legend’s essence is all over this joint. So much so that he’s listed as a feature. 

When was the last time you saw that from a sample?

2012 - Big K.R.I.T., “Cool 2 Be Southern”

Big K.R.I.T. turned out to be exactly who we thought he was: Country to his Levis with the soul of Pimp C, flavor of Big Boi and spirit of a child of God. And this beat, this beat right here? It’s everything I just described in a bubbly stew of musical goodness. 

The drum pattern is simple yet effective, while the horns alternate from blasts to drawn out before taking center stage on the hook. 

The humming? Smooth as a glass of apple pie on the front porch in July. 

2013 - J. Cole, “Let Nas Down”

An entire song about disappointing Nas with a radio jingle could have been so contrived. Corny even. But it works, not just because of Cole’s earnest bars but because he laced his vulnerability with a beat that sounds like letting Nas down is the biggest mistake of Jermaine’s life. 

Cole combines formidable drums with samples of swirling horn riffs and a vocal bit from Fela Kuti and The Afrika 70’s “Gentleman.” The result is music both hard-knock and emotional, like many great Nas songs. 

No wonder Nas responded by rapping over the beat for a song called “Made Nas Proud.” 

2014 - Cardo, Jeezy featuring Jay-Z’s “Seen It All”

Who said the New School can’t dig in the crates? Cardo laced Jeezy and Jay’s drug-game meditation with an eerie flute loop from “Tomadoi Twilight” by Japanese singer-songwriter Tazumi Toyoshima. 

It doesn’t take much more than that loop and some trap drums for the listener to be entranced. Jay Jenkins and Shawn Carter take it from there with nakedly honest reflections that mesh seamlessly with the soundscape. 

This wasn’t the first time the two hustler-turned-rappers made some magic, but it’s definitely the most memorable. 

2015 - Da Internz, Ludacris featuring Miguel’s “Good Lovin”

By 2015, Ludacris was more recognizable to the new generation as Tej Parker in The Fast & The Furious franchise than he was for his rapping. But that didn’t mean he wasn’t still capable of turning out a gem now and then. “Good Lovin,” showcases a softer side we rarely see from Luda, at least when it comes to the ladies. 

Da Internz produced a beat to match his melancholy mood – and Miguel’s pained vocals – with gloomy keys and drums that low-key cut like harsh words from an ex. But it’s the old-fashioned school bell at the beginning that tips the scales of aching nostalgia and, somehow, makes this a timeless song. 

2016 - nineteen 85, Noah “40” Shebib and WizKid, Drake’s “One Dance”

I’m not a fan of Drake’s music, and I don’t think much of Aubrey Graham the person. But at my old job, I worked late into the night (or morning, as it were) and had a long drive home. 

One night, I had just gotten off the exit to my city when I heard the opening notes to a bouncy song that was the perfect cap to my commute. When I realized it was a Drake song, I cringed, shouted “NO!” in a scratchy voice and hit the off button on the car radio. 

I stayed silent for a few seconds, grinned sheepishly, and turned the song back on. With reckless abandon, I pumped my fist to the upbeat drums and staccato keys all the way home. 

2017 - No I.D., Jay-Z’s “The Story of O.J.” 

“My skin is Black,” went the choppy sample of Nina Simone’s beautiful, pained voice. And with her were those scattered piano keys from the same sample, Ms. Simone’s “Four Women” from 1966. It was the perfect beat for one of the most insightful recordings of Jay-Z’s career. 

Of course, the beat would take on a whole other meaning the next spring, when Pusha T used it to take down Drake. 

2018 - Big Ghost Ltd, Ghostface Killah featuring Snoop Dogg and E-40’s “Saigon Velour”

Who would’ve thought a song could be this dusty in 2018?

Right from the jump, those heavy-handed horns cue up a cinematic experience. The track is further boosted by rolling drums that smack like Blue Magic. 

Even Ghost’s husky voice sounds like an instrumental, playing smoothly off the soulful cries on the hook. 

It’s like the man said: “Oh, baby.”

2019 - 94Skrt and Jae Green, Arizona Zervas’ “Roxanne”

This unlikely one-hit wonder from Rhode Island faded from the mainstream as quickly as he came. Yet, in his wake is this contagiously catchy jaunt, with the spaciest vibes this side of Jupiter. 

The track is less than three minutes, but what sets it apart from so many other songs of its ilk is the warbled, almost melancholy coda that feels like looking up at a shooting star in the midnight sky.

2020 - Jay Electronica, Jay Electronica featuring Jay-Z and The-Dream’s “Shiny Suit Theory” 

While the concept of this song has aged poorly – Sean Combs is not the one to be taking advice from – there’s no denying the regal classicism of Jay Electronica’s production. He borrows heavily from The Ambassadors’ “Ain’t Got the Love (Of One Girl on my Mind),” sampling suave horns and ridiculously dope vibraphone keys. 

But the most surprising sample is the icing on the cake: A clip of children shouting “Yay” from Sound Ideas’ Small Studio Audience of Children: Big Cheer, Cheering 101. 

Who’da thunk it?

2021 - DMX featuring Westside Gunn, Benny the Butcher and Conway the Machine, “Hood Blues”

DMX tragically passed in April 2021, but not before he completed his powerful swan song, Exodus. Arguably the strongest cut is “Hood Blues,” which is a gully rap head’s dream session with Griselda.

Swizz Beatz and Avenue Beatz team up with a sample of “Shady Blues” by Lee Mason & His Orchestra. The chunky horns and fat, deliberate drums are all Dark Man X needs to ride out in beastly fashion with Buffalo’s Finest.

X’s fiery ad-lib, “I ain’t 50 years old for nothin’!” is made all the more memorable for the fact he was born in late 1970, just months before “Shady Blues” was released 50 years prior to this song.

2022 - Kanye West, Pusha T featuring Kanye West’s “Dreamin of the Past”

This is the “old Kanye,” so many people miss. Ironically, he sampled a song – Donny Hathaway’s 2010 cut, “Jealous Guy” – that is more recent than vintage-soul Kanye. 

Kanye’s lovable chipmunk effect on Donny’s vocals works wonders for the track, while dense piano keys complete the ensemble. 

Cut this up in your car. We won’t blame you if you begin to lose control. 

2023 - No I.D., Killer Mike featuring Mozzy’s “SHED TEARS”

Killer Mike x Gospel was as gargantuan as the idea promised. That’s undoubtedly due to Mike’s talent and vision, as well as the crew of producers who helped make MICHAEL a modern-day masterpiece. 

“SHED TEARS” is the most shining moment of all, as Michael Render’s unshackled rhymes about contemplating suicide and facing his fears busted the gate of a mental prison. 

No I.D. keeps up with his cohort, laying down a passionate sample of The Clark Sisters and Mattie Moss Clark’s Gospel number, “Now Is The Time.” 

From the nimbly dark piano keys to the streetwise drums lifted from Cold Grits’ “It’s Your Thing,” “SHED TEARS” is a song that makes you grip the sink and stare down the one in the mirror. 

But when it’s over, you have exactly what The Clark Sisters said you would: Rest for your soul.