Thread by @UjuAnya

I take such pleasure in recognizing old hip hop in new Afrobeat. You can imagine my delight hearing that famous flute from Beatnuts “Watch out now” on the opening to Olamide’s “Greenlight.”

In case you don’t know the Beatnuts reference that I swear on my dying breath Olamide’s producer sampled, here it is. And to keep it fully real, Beatnuts got that flute from a 70s funk/disco hit “Hijack.”

And if I’m talking about old hip hop samples in contemporary Afrobeat, I will never neglect to mention Wizkid’s “Ojuelegba” which sampled Snoop and Dre’s “Nuthin but a G thang”

Here’s the original hip hop classic the “Ojuelegba” sample came from which, of course, is itself a sample from 70s funk—Leon Haywood’s masterpiece “I wanna do something freaky to you.”

You may wonder, does this old hip hop in new Afrobeat musical influence go both ways like the winter soldier? Yes! Here’s J Cole’s “Can’t get enough” with a heavy sample from Balla et ses Balladin’s 80’s hit “Paulette.” Basically lost my mind hearing my parents’ music in hip hop.

For your reference, here’s the original song “Paulette” by old school Guinean band Balla et ses Balladins from where J Cole’s producer sampled the entire sound for “Can’t get enough”