As for Herbie Hancock, the website lists him as the third most-sampled jazz musician of all time, which makes the pianist responsible for an astounding amount of the best Blue Note samples to appear on record. In 2006, the Hancock original also formed the backbone for a European EDM track called “Blue Note Tribute” by Congaman. The group’s debut album, Hand On The Torch, featured music that sampled a variety of classic Blue Note recordings. London-based group Us3 were the first hip-hop act signed to Blue Note and scored a Top 10 US pop hit, “Cantaloop (Flip Fantasia),” in 1993, which famously reconfigured the most accessible cut from Hancock’s fourth Blue Note album, Empyrean Isles. Herbie Hancock: Cantaloupe Island (1964) Listen to the Blue Note’s Most Sampled playlist right now, and scroll down for 20 of the best Blue Note samples of all time.
Today, artists such as J Cole, Kendrick Lamar, Flying Lotus, and Kanye West have continued to plunder the Blue Note vaults, ensuring that the best Blue Note samples remain key building blocks in hip-hop’s evolution.
The result was their 1992 hit “Cantaloop (Flip Fantasia),” which was built on a sample of Herbie Hancock’s classic track “Cantaloupe Island.” Blue Note, however, under the visionary stewardship of the late Bruce Lundvall – who was in charge of the label from 1984-2010 – led the way in legitimizing sampling by inviting London hip-hop group Us3 to access the label’s catalogue. In hip-hop’s early days, sampling was a free-for-all, smash-and-grab situation.