Took a few weeks off of writing to work on another project the freethinking movement, but I’m back. Kinda bummed out when I heard this news today. An unsung hero in Funk and Soul music, Melvin Bliss has left us. Who would have known (Melvin didn’t even know) that a B side to a 7″ of “Reward” on Sunburst would lend itself as one of the most sampled drum breaks in the history of Hip Hop? Melvin didn’t, neither did Pretty Purdie, who actually played on this monster (it has never been confirmed that he did or didn’t play on those Beatles records). It seems like we are losing a lot of the old timers as of late, and that means a few things: I’m getting older, these artists who are 35 and 40 years older than me are really getting up there, however, as bad as that is, this music will stay around with us forever. The Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings and the El Michels Affair of today are like Melvin Bliss and James Brown of yesterday. They live this music, learn from the innovators, preserve it, and bring it to you. That’s what Melvin Bliss did, and it’s our job to preserve what he did. “Synthetic Substitution” was of course introduced to me through the UBB record series (thanks dude at a flea market who sold me a shit ton for 25 cents!), and has always been featured one way or another in my DJ sets. It’s a shame that he’s left us, but what he has left behind is one of the best drum breaks out there. Thanks Mel, and Rest In Peace. Scroll Down to the bottom to see a trailer from a Melvin Bliss documentary. Keep Diggin!

Here is a partial list of who sampled the drums on “Synthetic Substitution” from the Rap Faq:

3XDope – “Funky Dividends”
Alkaholiks – “Bullshit”
Alkaholiks – “Turn the Party Out”
Almighty RSO – “One in the Chamba”
Big Daddy Kane – “Just Rhymin’ with Biz”
Big Daddy Kane – “Looks Like a Job for. . .”
Biz Markie – “Cool V’s Tribute to Scratching”
Blessed Union of Soul – “Let Me Be the One”
Boss – “Comin’ to Getcha”
Brotha Lynch Hung – “24 Deep”
Brothers Like Outlaw – “The Real McKoy”
Chubb Rock – “My Brother”
Chubb Rock – “The Night Scene”
Coolio – “I Remember”
Criminals at Large – “Times are Getting Hard”
Da King & I – “Flip Da Scrip”
De la Soul – “Millie Pulled a Pistol on Santa”
De la Soul – “Potholes in My Lawn”
De la Soul – “Sh.Fe.MC’s”
Deee-Lite – “I Won’t Give Up”
Def Jef – “Black to the Future”
Depeche Mode – “In Your Room”
Digital Underground – “Tie the Knot”
DJ Honda – “Out for Cash”
DJ Jazzy Jeff & the Fresh Prince – “Groove”
DOC – “Mind Blowin'”
Dr. Octagon – “A Visit to the Gynecologyst”
Dr. Octagon – “Wild and Crazy”
Eazy-E – “Eazy Street”
En Vogue – “Hold On”
EPMD – “Mr. Bozack”
EPMD – “Scratch Bring it Back”
Gang Starr – “Code of the Streets”
Gang Starr – “Dwyck”
Ghostface Killah – “Deck’s Beat”
Ghostface Killah – “Mighty Healthy”
Goats – “Do the Digs Dug”
Gravediggaz – “Bang Your Head”
Gravediggaz – “Nowhere to Run, Nowhere to Hide”
Group Home – “So Called Friends”
Guru – “Take a Look (At Yourself)”
Guru – “Transit Ride”
Ice Cube – “2 N the Mornin'”
Ice T – “Depths of Hell”
Ice T – “Original Gangster”
Imani Coppola – “It’s All about Me, Me and Me”
King & I – “Flip Da Scrip”
Leaders of the New School – “Bass is Loaded”
LL Cool J – “Crossroads”
MadKap – “Here Comes the Break”
Masta Ace – “Saturday Nite Live”
MC Lyte – “Never Had Nothing Like This”
Mellow Man Ace – “Silly Rabbit”
Method Man – “All I Need”
Naughty by Nature – “O.P.P.”
Naughty by Nature – “On the Run”
Naughty by Nature – “Yoke the Joker”
Nice & Smooth – “Cake & Eat it Too”
Nice & Smooth – “Pump it Up”
Nikki D – “The Beauty Shop”
NWA – “Alwayz into Somethin'”
NWA – “Real Niggaz Don’t Die”
ODB – “Cuttin’ Headz”
Onyx – “Nigga Bridges”
Onyx – “Throw Ya Gunz”
Orb – “Supernova at the End of the Universe”
Papa Chuk – “Make Way for the Rudeboy”
Peanut Butter Wolf – “I Will Always Love H.E.R.”
Penthouse Players Clique – “P.S. Phuk U2”
Pharcyde – “Ya Mama”
PM Dawn – “On a Clear Day”
Public Enemy – “Don’t Believe the Hype”
Public Enemy – “Miuzi Weighs a Ton”
Redman – “I’m a Bad”
Redman – “Jam 4 U”
Run-DMC – “Wreck Shop”
Scarface – “For Real”
Scarface – “Murder by Reason of Insanity”
Schoolly D – “Saturday Night”
Slick Rick – “Venus”
Sloan – “Stove”
Souls of Mischief – “A Name I Call Myself”
Special Ed – “5 Men and a Mic”
Tim Dog – “I Ain’t Takin’ No Shorts”
Tone Loc – “On Fire”
Too $hort – “Hoes”
Tupac – “The Streetz R Death Row”
Tupac – “When I Get Free II”
Ultramagnetic MCs – “Ego Trippin'”
Ultramagnetic MCs – “Pluckin Cards”
WC & the Maad Circle – “A Crazy Break”
Wu-Tang Clan – “Bring Da Ruckus”
Wu-Tang Clan – “Clan in Da Front”
Wu-Tang Clan – “Method Man”

Trailer for Melvin Bliss Documentary