About This Sample
Timmy Thomas's 1972 Miami soul plea — recorded almost entirely solo on a Lowrey organ with an early rhythm-box preset (a forerunner of the Casio CZ-101 drum-machine aesthetic). The skeletal organ-and-drum-machine loop, with its Vietnam-era political weight, became one of the most distinctive minimalist arrangements in soul. For 'Hotline Bling' (2015), Nineteen85 lifted that exact rhythm-box pattern and pitched-up organ chord cycle wholesale, then layered Drake's croon and a marimba-style topline on top. Thomas received a co-writer credit. The sample is the song — the haunting, slightly off-grid organ pulse is what made 'Hotline Bling' immediately identifiable from one bar of audio and earned Drake his first Grammy for Best Rap/Sung Performance.
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Timmy Thomas
Drake
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