#WhoSampled: Drake - Nothing Was The Same (Sample Review)

With his third solo album Nothing Was The Same having officially arrived at your favorite record retailers earlier this week, Drake‘s name can be found throughout the internet these days. Spurred by controversial records such as “Wu-Tang Forever,” “Started from the Bottom,” and “Hold On, We’re Going Home,” the album is heading straight for No. 1 on next week’s Billboard 200 charts and causing strong media reaction. Like many other rap releases, the production on Nothing Was The Same work is laced with sophisticated sample work that deserves to be highlighted. The good folks over at WhoSampled.com went ahead and analyzed the complex palette and offer up a track by track run down of the album’s production and sample sources. Check it out below.

1. Tuscan Leather (samples Whitney Houston’s “I Have Nothing” and Curtis Mayfield’s “When The Seasons Change (Live at Montreux)” and interpolates “‘Started From The Bottom,” Steady B’s “Serious” and Prodigy’s “Keep It Thoro”)

Quite an opening statement for the album, the entire composition is based on a reversed sample of falsetto adlibs lifted from Whitney Houston’s “I Have Nothing.” Producer, Noah ‘40’ Shebib, builds the track around the vocal loops, working through phases of skittering trap hats before arriving at a more classic boom bap arrangement which reworks a passage from Steady B‘s ’80s classic “Serious.”

Referencing a lot of his own work (‘YOLO’, ‘Started From The Bottom’) as well as lines from Prodigy’s “Keep It Thoro,” Drake seemingly spills his mind (“I could go an hour on this beat n***a”), letting go for the best part of 6 minutes without a whiff of a chorus or hook.

The track culminates with a lengthy extract from Curtis Mayfield’s Live at Montreux in 1987 closing with the line “some food for thought for all of us…” an ominous / arguably corny way to open up the album depending on how you choose to look at it.

2. Furthest Thing (No credited samples)

After the fired up opener, ‘Furthest Thing’ takes the tone down a notch with a lyrical delivery we’re more accustomed to hearing from Aubrey: half rapped, half sung, reflective with that all important hook very much present. It’s not a complete departure from ‘Tuscan Leather’ however. A number of the same themes are revisited, a reversed loop of a piano hook underpins the track laced with a scattering of skipping 808 hats.

A track in two parts, part 2, which arrives nearly 3 minutes into the track, takes on a near gospel feel with a more confident sounding Drake buoyantly congratulating himself toward the conclusion “this is the s*** I want to go out to”.

3. Started From The Bottom (samples Bruno Sanfilippo and Mathias Grassow’s “Ambessence Piano & Drones 1” and Lil Jon’s “Who You Wit”)

The lead single from the album and it’s not hard to see why. One of the catchiest tracks on the LP, thanks in part to the chopped sample from ‘Ambessence Piano & Drones 1′ by Bruno Sanfilippo & Mathias Grassow. Mike Zombie cherry picks piano elements from various points in the track and reconstructing them to create a sparse beat that delivers as a club record but maintains the cold edge that Drake really excels at.

DJ Khaled‘s remix (not featured on the album) acts as a Started From The Bottom – Part 2 and takes it to the next logical step from club banger to the after-party anthem by slowing the whole thing down with that chopped n’ screwed sound.

4. Wu-Tang Forever (samples Zodiac’s “Loss Config.” and Wu-Tang Clan’s “It’s Yourz”)

Well aware naming a track ‘Wu-Tang Forever’ would spark some discussion, this has to be one of Drake’s finer moments: a provocative FU to the haters, and let’s be honest, there are plenty out there. When the track surfaced and revealed that Drake had returned to his dark, purpped-out slow jam sound, he could only have been sniggering to himself at the backlash. Sampling ‘Loss Config’ by Zodiac (the producer who worked on some of The Weeknd’s early mixtape output) the track sounds like Started From The Bottom’s evil cousin and the Wu-Tang reference comes in the form of a short vocal sample from “It’s Yourz” littered throughout.

5. Own It (samples Wu-Tang Clan’s “It’s Yourz”)

For the second time in the space of two tracks, the phrase ‘It’s Yourz’ gets lifted from Wu-Tang’s track of the same name, although this time a far less prominent feature of the track. Placed over a heavily filtered reversed drum loop, the use of the sample provides a link of sorts between ‘Wu-Tang Forever’ and the ballad-esque territory of ‘Own It’, which sees Drake return to relationship mode: “next time we f***, I don’t wanna f***, I wanna make love”.

6. Worst Behaviour (No credited samples)

In a single step we’re back to more abrasive territory, the hook “Motherf***ers never loved us” sounding out over sinister synth bass tones and a rattling drum track punctuated with occasional stabs of strangled sounding autotune vocals and momentary dancehall references, “dunn know”.

7. From Time (No credited samples)

Featuring Jhené Aiko who delivers the captivating vocal performance that opens the track, ‘From Time’ heads to more conventional territory production wise but it’s not a track without impact. Chilly Gonzales’ gentle piano phrases weave in and out of an extremely sparse drum track comprising little more than a kick and a finger snap. Two thirds of the way in more familiar themes from the album return with a reverse synth loop taking over the track and ultimately accompanied by another 808-esque drum track.

8. Hold On, We’re Going Home (No credited samples)

Just when you think you’ve settled into the album’s themes, along comes a track which makes an almost complete departure. You’d be forgiven for mistaking the opening drums for any one of a number of mid tempo 80s boogie cuts, but there’s no doubt that the track that they introduce is out and out pop, complete with ‘actual singing’ from Drake (as opposed to his typical half sung vocal style which appears elsewhere). It’s a track that may struggle to find an audience with those who had hoped that the Wu-Tang references of the album’s precursor were indicative of the album’s direction, but it’s undeniably catchy and will no doubt find favor with Drake’s pop audience.

9. Connect (samples DJ DMD’s “25 Lighters”)

“Connect” offers a return to far more familiar Drake territory, a subtle downtempo soundscape provided by 40 and Hudson Mohawke underpinning that unique brand half sung relationship rap Drizzy is famed for pioneering. The delicate 808s are back again laced with a heavily pitched down sample of DJ DMD featuring Fat Pat & Lil Keke’s “25 Lighters” providing the ‘Swang’ of the hook.

10. The Language (No credited samples)

Low key synths and subtle 808s are the order of the day once again but the vocal tone is of the more abrasive nature, embracing / taunting the haters and bragging of sexual encounters. Not a stand out track but unmistakably Drake.

11. 305 To My City (No credited samples)

Another reversed, tripped out, chopped n’ screwed style beat, no samples present. Even Drake’s voice has been detuned/slowed here.

12. Too Much (samples Sampha’s ‘Too Much’)

One of the album’s more memorable moments, ‘Too Much’ samples an as yet unreleased track of the same name by long time SBTRKT collaborator Sampha (who is also credited as a featured artist on Drake’s track). Not Drake’s first association with SBTRKT, some will recall Drizzy’s strong appearance on the OVO remix of Wildfire back in 2011 and the contrast and synergy with Sampha here has no less impact here than that with Little Dragon had back then.

13. Pound Cake/Paris Morton Music 2 (samples Jimmy Smith’s ‘Jimmy Smith Rap’, Ellie Goulding’s ‘Don’t Say A Word’ and interpolates Wu-Tang Clan’s “C.R.E.A.M.”)

The track opens with a speech from Jimmy Smith about real music which Drake is clearly trying to channel on this LP. This eventually makes way for one of the most impressive beats on the record. Boi-1da and 40 chop an excerpt of Ellie Goulding’s Burial-esque wails from ‘Don’t Say A Word’ and combine it with a catchy little interpolation of Wu-Tang’s “C.R.E.A.M” (sung by an uncredited Timbaland) to create another hazy beat. Jay Z makes an appearance in a somewhat forgettable set of verses to round off the first half of the track.

The second part of the track, Paris Morton Music 2, contains no samples and is an odd conclusion to the record, drifting out on a sort of loose end. The bed of the track seems to contain a field recording of a restaurant or café, over which fading piano solo departs over a scattering of snare hits.