
I know some of you all are saying, “Damn Kevin, another sample set?” What can I say… I love to dig! I know there are quite a few new albums out that I’ve probably been sleeping on that deserve a review, but I don’t enjoy reviewing as much as I do diggin’. So, I’ve been working on this one for quite some time. You may remember my original post showcasing the samples of Common’s Be back when I only posted snippets of the original songs. Well, I promised I would go back and make official sample sets out of all those and this one seemed to be the most requested. The problem was a few of the songs were a little difficult to come by in their full form. But finally, here it is… search no more!
Released on May 24, 2005, Common went back to his roots when he recorded Be. After the negative criticism he received over Electric Circus, Common decided to take a simpler approach to his next album. He enlisted super-producer Kanye West to produce the entire album. All songs were produced by Kanye, with the exception of two outstanding tracks from the late J Dilla. The formula worked — Be spawned three hit singles (”The Corner”, “Go!”, and “Testify”) and the album itself went to #2 on Billboard.
Common said in a 2005 interview with sixshot.com: “I named it Be to be who you are man and be able to be in the moment and not try too hard. Be is another way of saying just do without trying hard, like I said natural and be true to the core of who you are and this album I wanted to just be and not just go and exist as just an artist not worried about the past.”
- “Mother Nature” by Albert Jones
- Sampled in “Be Intro”
- Produced by Kanye West
- “What It Is” by The Temptations
- Sampled in “The Corner”
- Produced by Kanye West
- “You Make The Sun Shine” by The Temprees
- Sampled in “The Corner”
- Produced by Kanye West
- “Old Smokey” by Linda Lewis
- Sampled in “Go!”
- Produced by Kanye West
- “Faithful To The End” by DJ Rogers
- Sampled in “Faithful”
- Produced by Kanye West
- “Innocent Til Proven Guilty” by Honey Cone
- Sampled in “Testify”
- Produced by Kanye West
- “God Is Love” by Marvin Gaye
- Sampled in “Love Is…”
- Produced by J Dilla
- “Since I Found My Baby” by Cornelius Jones & Sister Rose
- Sampled in “Chi-City”
- Produced by Kanye West
- “Never Had It So Good” by The Chi-Lites
- Sampled in “The Food
- Produced by Kanye West
- “Nothing Can Change This Love” by Sam Cooke
- Sampled in “The Food”
- Produced by Kanye West
- “Sweet Children” by Caesar Frazier
- Sampled in “Real People” & “Be Intro”
- Produced by Kanye West
- “Ghetto Child” by Ahmad Jamal
- Sampled in “They Say”
- Produced by Kanye West
- “Share What You Got, Keep What You Need” by The Modulations
- Sampled in “It’s Your World”
- Produced by J Dilla





































{ 9 comments… read them below or add one }
this is the greatest thing you do for heads like us!! the knowledge behind this is ill!! thank you!!
Yo, Kev,I think you forgot a beautiful tune which Kanye basically took as it is for “Real People”, namely Caesar Frazier’s “Sweet Children”.If you need it, I got it
No, it’s in the compilation… I just missed it in the list here. Thanks for pointing that out; I corrected my post.
Wonderful, Kev, keep em coming!
appreciate it fam
Link re-upped!
Kevin, you revived my love for hip-hop with this site dude… THANK-YOU….
Thanks Kevin, Love your work man, keep it up!
. . .would anybody in here be as kind to tell me who produces the hidden track behind it’s you world ? good looking out.