Yesterday marked 8 years since Michael Jackson died at the age of 50. His impact on the music industry whilst he was alive was phenomenal, and that didn’t stop when he passed away. Infact, Forbes ranked Jackson as the top-earning dead celebrity, with earnings of an astounding $825 million last year (that’s roughly £647 million).
We’ve put together a list of our top tracks that sample the legend that is MJ, check them out below:
“Good Life” – Kanye West samples “P.Y.T”
Taken from Graduation, Kanye samples “P.Y.T” throughout the whole song. Last year Kanye surpassed Jackson’s record of most top 40 hits by a male artist, some fans were mad, but Paris Jackson- MJ’s daughter came to Yeezy’s defence and stated that Jackson loved the album 808 & Heartbreaks.
“King Kunta” – Kendrick Lamar samples “Smooth Criminal”
Kendrick’s “King Kunta” features an easy to spot sample of lyrics from Michael Jackson’s classic “Smooth Criminal” (which interestingly only reached #8 in the Official Charts when it was originally released in the 1980s).
“All Time Low” – Jon Bellion samples “The Way You Make Me Feel”
We were baffled when we heard that “All Time Low” sampled “The Way You Make Me Feel”, it samples a classic MJ ‘OH!’, first coming into the track at 18 seconds, it is featured throughout the whole song. We’ve posted the Stormzy remix of “All Time Low”, because his verse on this track is pretty sick.
“It’s All About The Benjamins” – Puff Daddy samples “It’s Great To Be Here”
Puff Daddy et al’s 1997 track “It’s All About the Benjamins”, features a sample from The Jackson 5’s “It’s Great To Be Here”. The Jacksons performed at Glastonbury over the weekend, performing a poignant tribute to their brother.
“GMO” – Wretch 32 & Avelino (ft Youngs Teflon) samples “Rock With You”
Of course, we had to bring it back to this side of the shore! “GMO” from Young Fire Old Flame features chopped and screwed vibes with slowed down vocals from “Rock With You”.