We are in the midst of a mini-Nina Simone revival. Netflix recently released a documentary on the singer's life called "What Happened, Miss Simone?" and Nina Revisited...A Tribute to Nina Simone, featuring covers from Lauryn Hill, Jazmine Sullivan, Common, Usher, Mary J. Blige, and more, might change the compilation album game forever when it drops on July 10.
Simone is the eighth most-sampled jazz artist of all-time. as producers have long since realized that her rugged, leathery vocal style is brimming with flavor and ripe to be positioned as a counterpoint to or base for 16 bars.
Check out 10 of hip hop's best ever uses of Nina Simone incomparable voice.
Talib Kweli's "Get By" | Nina Simone's "Simmerman"
Let's start with the obvious. Talib Kweli's magnum opus "Get By" incorporates piano, hand claps, and Simone's guttural cry off one of best known songs "Simmerman." 13 years later, still incredible replay value.
Samples appear 4:55, 5:18, & 8:33 into "Simmerman."
Kanye West's "Blood on the Leaves" | Nina Simone's "Strange Fruit"
Strange Fruit has some of the most poignant lyrics you will ever hear ("Pastoral scene of the gallant south, The bulging eyes and the twisted mouth") as it paints a vivid image of a lynched black man hanging dead from a rope. Kanye West reworks Simone's mournful wail into a more shrill, pointed attack for one of the most popular songs off "Yeezus."
Samples appear 0:17, 0:38, 0:45 into "Strange Fruit."
Lil Wayne "Dontgetit" | Nina Simone's "Don't Let Me Be Understood"
Tha Carter III outro "Dongetit" calls upon the bells, strings, and chorus from Simone's "Don't Let Me Be Understood" as Weezy raps for a hot second before going off on an extended rant directed at Al Sharpton.
Sample appears 0:00 into "Don't Let Me Be Understood."
50 Cent "Bad News" feat. G-Unit | Nina Simone's "Feeling Good"
Trombones are perhaps an underused instrument in rap music, but 50 Cent puts the low brass of "Feeling Good" to work on Curtis track "Bad News." Also be sure to check out Lauryn Hill's cover of "Feeling Good" off the new Nina Simone tribute album, possible even a more incredible vocal performance then the original.
Sample appears 0:40 into "Feeling Good."
Common
Common's "Misunderstood" feat. Bilal | Nina Simone's "Don't Let Me Be Understood"
Common raps "we are" -- and then Nina completes the phrase with "misunderstood," compressing a whole song's worth of emotion and humanity into the one word.
Sample appears 1:03 into "Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood."
Styles P's "Rocks Out Here" | Nina Simone's "The Work Song"
Simone blessed Nat Adderley's "The Work Song" with her leathery vocals, and then some creative sampling gives "Rocks Out Here" some banging vocals that also bestow the song its title.
Sample appears 0:08 into "The Work Song."
Jay-Z & Kanye West's "New Day" | Nina Simone's "Feeling Good"
Kanye heavily processes Simone's vocals as he does on "Blood on the Leaves" and he and Jay address their verses toward their respective unborn child. More than any other producer, Kanye appears to have a soft spot for Nina Simone -- he sampled her "See-Line Woman" on 808s and Heartbreak's "Bad News."
Sample appears 0:07 into "Feeling Good."
The Game's "The Ocean" feat. Dr. Dre | Nina Simone's "Baltimore"
Dr. Dre & Che Vicious team up to sample the rare Nina Simone reggae ode to the city of Baltimore.
Sample appears 0:26 into "Baltimore."
Onyx's "See You In Hell" feat. X-1 | Nina Simone's "Porgy"
You wouldn't guess "Porgy" is a Gershwin tune once it ends up on this vicious Onyx track; it is no longer a love song but a bone-chilling battle cry.
Sample appears 2:53 into "Porgy."
Blu's "My Boy Blu" | Nina Simone's 'Trouble In My Mind"
This classic Blu cut combines a smattering of Simone vocal samples and jolly ragtime piano with snippets of Will Ferrell yelling "Your my boy, Blue!" to his frat brother Joseph "Blue" Pulaski in "Old School."
Samples appear 0:10 into "My Boy Blu," 0:02, 0:15 into "Trouble In My Mind."