Coming up with the right supporting beats and melody in a hip-hop track can be extremely challenging. Not to mention the time and effort it takes to make an original beat. In this day and age, artists often borrow music from other songs and build off it, to create a new and unique beat-- obviously, this is called sampling. Out of the 16 tracks put out on Jay-Z's Magna Carta Holy Grail, 12 of them were sampled with other songs and beats.
Curious to know where Jay-Z gets his inspiration? There are a wide range of tastes found on Magna Carta-- from Nirvana, to M.I.A., to classic Biggie, to indie artist Gonjasufi.
Check out our list of sampled tracks from his latest album along with the original song the music was borrowed from.
Nickels and Dimes
"Nickels and Dimes" by Gonjasufi was used in the track of the same title on MCHG
Jay Z Blue
For "Jay Z Blue", producers Timbaland, J_Roc and Justin Timberlake sampled from Notorious BIG's "My Downfall"
BBC
Mase's "Feel So Good" is featured on "BBC"
Part II On the Run
In "Part II On the Run", Timbaland and J-Roc sampled from the R&B/Funk band One Way which formed in 1979
Versus
Timbaland and Swizz Beatz use the beat behind "Sucka Nigga" from A Tribe Called Quest for "Versus"
Heaven
In "Heaven", Timbaland and J-Roc use samples from R.E.M's "Losing My Religion" & beats from Adrian Younge's "Reverie"
Crown
"Crown" sampled from Sizzla's "Solid as a Rock"
Somewhere In America
In "Somewhere In America", producers Hitboy, Darhyl "Hey DJ" Camper and Mike Dean used samples from "Gangster of Love" by Johnny Guitar Watson
F.U.T.W
For "F.U.T.W", Timbaland and J-Roc used vocal samples from the 1973 funk/soul band Amnesty as well as Notorious B.I.G's "Long Kiss Goodnight"
Tom Ford
For "Tom Ford", producers Timbaland and J-Roc played with the line from M.I.A's "Bad Girls"
Picasso Baby
"Picasso Baby" sampled from Adrian Younge's "Sirens"
Holy Grail ft. Justin Timberlake
"Holy Grail" contains samples from Nirvana's - "Smells Like Teen Spirit"