King Records: Sampling and Genre Mixing

Article by Andrea Gutmann Fuentes, playlist and descriptions by Kaitlyn Roach

Genre mixing and crossovers

King Records’ legendary status as the “birthplace of rock ‘n’ roll music” has a lot to do with the fact that it was a racially integrated workplace. King rose to prominence in Cincinnati at a time when, although there was no legal system of segregation like in the Jim Crow South, Northern cities commonly engaged in informal segregation and racially discriminatory hiring practices. By contrast, King Records is credited as the first racially integrated workplace in the city of Cincinnati— as early as the 1940s. Black people made up 20% of factory workers at the record press, and held integral creative, managerial, and directorial positions within the company.

King’s integrated workplace had implications that went beyond being an issue of economic and social racial equality. Because King integrated musicians from different backgrounds—notably white Appalachian and Black migrants during the Great Migration— the conditions were ripe for hybrid forms of music to emerge. A common practice of the King music executives was to produce “crossover music”, wherein musicians of one style of music would perform a cover of a song originally written in another style. For example, R&B artists might have done an R&B rendition of a song that was originally written in the style of bluegrass. 

As a result of this, King Records produced what many argue was some of the earliest rock ‘n’ roll music. In May 1949, King released “Blues Stay Away From Me,” written and produced by King’s recording director, Henry Glover, and performed by Alton and Rabon Delmore. The song was a mixing of “hillbilly” music and “jump blues,” and is regarded by some to be the first rock n’ roll recording ever made. 

Of the genre mixing that occurred organically at King Records, Henry Glover said:

“We were the first to do that… King worked with white country singers as well as black R&B artists, it seemed a natural thing to cross boundaries. We weren’t afraid of intermarriages.”

Through the practice of genre-mixing, King Records remained a vibrant center of musical innovation throughout its history. In the 1960s, producer, composer, and performer James Brown revolutionized modern music with his contributions to the development of funk music at King. It was during these years, close to the end of King’s existence, that the label produced arguably some of its most influential recordings under the direction of Brown. The music Brown produced in this period would go on to influence R&B, hip hop, and rap music into the present day.

Genre-mixing and crossovers are still very much alive in music today-- just think of Lil Nas X’s “Old Town Road,” a crossover of country and hip-hop. In fact, many contemporary music critics have noted a marked rise in genre-mixing among today’s musicians in the digital age. The relatively inexpensive and easy access to music of a wide variety of genres from subcultures all around the world, thanks to the internet, has meant that musicians listen to a great diversity of music, which they incorporate into their own compositions. The result has been music that pulls from a wide range of influences. 

And music-listeners’ attitudes towards genres have changed too. Whereas it was once common for music fans to listen to music from only one particular genre (think of subcultures like emo, the “deadheads”, or punk), it is now much more common to find music-listeners who don’t subscribe to a particular musical genre-- this is what some call the “genreless” phenomenon.

The history of crossovers at King Records reminds us that genre-mixing is nothing new. To engage in cultural exchange is deeply human, and this is what drives the evolution of music.

Sampling

The music King Records put out was important in its own right, making huge contributions to the development of rock n’ roll, funk, and soul. But King music has lived on even beyond King’s existence as an active label, through sampling. 

Sampling in music is the practice of reusing clips of music from an older recording to create a new song, and it’s been an essential element of contemporary hip-hop music since the practice first emerged in the 1980’s. Individual tracks from a song, such as a drum beat or a horn solo, or entire sections of a song, can be clipped, manipulated, and repurposed as an instrumental to be rapped or sung over in a new song. In this way, old R&B classics or Bach compositions can be recontextualized in a modern rap or pop song. 

There are countless examples of King songs that have been used as samples. Take a look at some examples below. We’ve also included contemporary songs that pair well with the older King tracks as well as the songs that have sampled from King.

  1 Blase, Darren. The King Records Story. King Records Planning Committee, 2008.

  2 King Studios Mobile Exhibits Collections. Exhibit at the Xavier University Library, Xavier University, Cincinnati, OH, 6 December 2018. Accessed 4 May 2020. https://www.exhibit.xavier.edu/king_studios/

“Please, Please, Please” by James Brown 

Recorded with the King 600 Series between 1958 and 1960, “Please, Please, Please” by James Brown and The Famous Flames remains a relevant sample even today. Missy Elliot and Nelly use samples from this song in “Pump It Up,” from Missy Elliot’s 2003 album This is Not a Test! The sample appears throughout the song through lyrical content and direct vocal samples. If you like “Pump It Up” from Missy Elliot and Nelly, you may also like “Bring the Pain” by Missy Elliot and Method Man, which was recorded in Camelot 8B (to “Pump It”’s Camelot 7B) and sits at 107 beats per minute. 

“Think!” by James Brown 

Recorded with the King 600 series between 1958 and 1968, “Think!” by James Brown and the Famous Flames has been sampled over 21 times in popular music. LL Cool J in his song “The Power of God” samples directly from James Brown’s hook and riff off of “Think!” If you like LL Cool J’s song, you should check out “Fight the Power” by Public Enemy and “Hungry” by Common. 

“Funky Drummer” by James Brown 

While “Funky Drummer” was recorded by James Brown, it was not recorded at King Records. Still, “Funky Drummer” remains one of the most popular and most widely used samples in music today. Up and coming R&B artists like Blood Orange have sampled “Funky Drummer”. In their song “Clipped On,” Blood Orange uses the drums from “Funky Drummer”. If you like “Clipped On”, you should listen to “Binz” by Solange. 

“Continental Walk” by Hank Ballard 

Recorded with King in 1963, “Continental Walk” by Hank Ballard and The Midnighters is a well loved tune. “Continental Walk” found a new life as a sample in the 2006 song “Chrome ‘N Paint” by Ice Cube. This is not Ice Cube’s first use of King Records artist-- in 1988 N.W.A used “Funky Drummer” by James Brown in their iconic anthem “F*ck Tha Police”. If you like “Chrome ‘N Paint”, listen to “Ackrite” by Dr. Dre and Hittman. 

“From the Love Side” by Hank Ballard 

While not recorded at King, “From the Love Side” by Hank Ballard has lived on in rap and R&B music. LL Cool J in his 2006 song “Preserve the Sexy” sampled lyrics and vocals from Hank Ballard’s song. If you like LL Cool J, listen to “O.P.P” by Naughty by Nature and “Love Like This” by Faith Evans.