I remember walking into Buckwild’s studio one night late last year just to bullshit with the master himself and talk music, and I asked as I always do “Anything been coming out that you’re feeling?” Â He asked “You heard that new Jay Electronica?” Â I had not – so he put me on. Â Just Blaze flipped the sample into something that sounded classic yet brand new, and the lyrics had me stuck on each word. Â I hear a lot of new records on a day to day, but there was no doubt that this one stood out. Â In an unorthodox release strategy it was put on iTunes in December of ’09 as an EP with clean and explicit versions plus the instrumental. Â That instrumental eventually would be rapped on by half the industry, until the point of exhaustion if you ask me. Â Nonetheless, the single set a very high standard for Jay Electronica to maintain. Â For the New Orleans born rapper with a New York delivery, it will not be an easy feat.
The first part of the Billy Stewart sample that is used is taken from the 1:52 mark, and those 4 bars are then repeated with some type of flanger effect added to the whole intro. Â Then the sample from the beginning of the record (0:02) starting with “Cross my heart that I’m…” is brought in, which leads into the drums. Â The majority of the beat is then based of that same sample being looped and chopped in a few different ways. Â Every 16 bars or so, Just Blaze freaks the Billy Stewart record even more, as he uses smaller chops to construct what we hear at the 1:17 mark of “Exhibit C.” Â That extra little part to me, is what takes the beat and the entire record to a different level.
Billy Stewart – Cross My Heart