Comptons Most Wanted - Hood Took Me Under 1992

Intelligent Hoodlum - Grand Groove 1993

On August 10th we lost another godfather of hip-hop, Isaac Hayes. After James Brown and George Clinton he is possibly the third most sampled artist in hip-hop history. An artist search of the sampling database www.the-breaks.com produces an impressive list that most likely still misses a few entries. But like the aforementioned musicians as well as contemporaries such as Curtis Mayfield or Marvin Gaye, Hayes was more than just a convenient provider of musical components for beatmakers. As an innovator of black music, he was a lead figure in the artistic and socio-political background that rap music fed from.

Whether it’s his seminal score for Shaft and the Oscar-winning “Theme from Shaft,” the epic and symphonic dimensions he added to the soul format and the way he managed its emancipation from white middle class America, his early exhibitions of spoken vocals, his songwriting achievements, the intimate and at the same time cosmic quality of his music, an acting career that reflected the profound respect for him - these aspects make Isaac Hayes a figure influential to hip-hop and rap music beyond the bits and pieces of his compositions that went into rap tracks.

Nevertheless, it is only right that we showcase two instances of rappers being inspired by Ike’s moods, both originating from the early ’90s. First we have Compton’s Most Wanted MC Eiht deliverying a gangsta’s biography in “Hood Took Me Under” (production: DJ Mike T) over a cinematic rearrangement of “Walk on By,” then Tragedy AKA the Intelligent Hoodlum mourns loved ones in “Grand Groove” (production: K-Def) over the wistful piano of “Ike’s Mood” which Biz Markie earlier put his stamp on with “Make the Music with Your Mouth, Biz.”

Soul Sides on Isaac Hayes