By Alvin 'aqua' Blanco
Isaac Hayes was a musical genius. Chances are if you check the credits you will find your favorite artist has rhymed over a Hayes assisted beat creation at one point or another. So selecting a small portion of Black Moses’ extensive catalogue that’s been sampled by Hip-Hop artists and labeling it “best” is a fool’s errand. No matter, here are eight of our favorites along with some words from Scarface and Chuck D speaking on the late musician’s genius. Heaven just got a lot more soulful. RIP.
“Theme From Shaft” from Shaft Soundtrack (Stax, 1971)
Doesn’t matter how many people sampled it when or how well, “Theme from Shaft” is a masterpiece well enough left alone. The crispy instrumentation, that absolutely sick wah wah guitar, the “Can you dig it?”; this was the original playa’s anthem. Yeah, it won Hayes an Oscar in 1971, but Black Moses' lore was already legend without the approval of any academy.
Do Your Thing from Shaft Soundtrack (Enterprise/Stax, 1971)
Back in ’88 the debate was Kane or The R (no disrespect to Kool G. Rap). The Mary Jane Girls didn't get all the sample clearance shine as the regal horns heard on Isaac Hayes’ “Do Your Thing” (another gem from the Shaft Soundtrack) got melded by Marley Marl into the backdrop for Kane’s party friendly by lyrically ferocious to the core mic persona.
Big Daddy Kane "Smooth Operator"
“Walk On By” from Hot Buttered Soul (Enterprise/Stax, 1969)
Notorious B.I.G. “Warning”
Wu-Tang Clan f/ Isaac Hayes “Can’t Go to Sleep
"Hyperbolicsyllabicseequedalymystic" from Hot Buttered Soul (Enterprise/Stax, 1969)
From the same landmark, only four track long album “Walk On By” appears on (note to would be artists; sometimes less is a lot more) the Bomb Squad seriously dug in the crates because those eerie pianos they lifted for Public Enemies "Black Steel in the Hour of Chaso" don't appear until deep into this winding song.
Public Enemy “Black Steel in the Hour of Chaos”
"Isaac Hayes was my music godfather. We had a great relationship and he mentored me as he did others about the business and life itself. Before I had even met him Black Moses symbolically exuded a Black Pride Movement, as Mr James Brown did with Black Soul Power. I traveled to Ghana Africa for the first time in 1992 witnessing him being [made] a Chief. I picked his brain often as a songwriting god, and guide while over there. We as Public Enemy opened up for him in Africa and marveled at his talents.
He co-produced the song But Can You Kill The Nigger In You on my solo MISTACHUCK project in 1996, as I gladly had the pleasure of rapping on his BRANDED album a year later or so. He surprised me often, appearing to present me with awards, rather than me the other way around. Whenever he called I tried to be there at his and other STAX events. I won't forget when he and David Porter pulled me to the side during a STAX Memphis Reunion and both said that I was an official 'SOUL MAN' ...for me nothing else could be better. R.I.P. Godfather. R.I.P. Black Moses.'" -Chuck D
“A Few More Kisses to Go” from Don’t Let Go (Polydor, 1979)
E-Sermon basically jacked this loop wholesale for Redman’s classic “Tonight’s Da Night.” No need to tamper with it too much as Reggie Noble has a blast over those mystifying strings and bright horns.
Redman “Tonight’s Da Night”
“Hung Up On My Baby” from Tough Guys (Enterprise/Stax, 1974)
Geto Boys’ “Mind Playing Tricks on Me”
“Bumpy’s Lament” from Shaft Soundtrack (Stax, 1971)
Mobb Deep “Back At You”