No Rights Given Or Implied: The Original Samplers

On Monday I'll be posting my January mixtape and, in my humble opinion, it's probably the best one I've made to date. Some of the material on it has been featured here in other posts, but there is a theme running through it for which those tracks are essential. In a way, it's my amateur take on anthologizing its content, making it a Volume One of sorts as I'd like to make a follow-up collection at some point, but it's also the soundtrack to a project I really want to do that may be a few years off. All in all, I'm REALLY proud of it and hope you find it enjoyable, but before I unleash it I was given some advice from my roommate. I was told the title might be confusing to some and that I'd get a lot of bugged-out looks for it, so I've decided to first post this excellent compilation which, while dated and a bit limited in scope, should give you an idea where Monday's post will be going.

As to where this comp, No Rights Given Or Implied: The Original Samplers, originated from, I've never been able to get a clear answer, but it seems that Coldcut is most likely responsible for it's creation. Half of it is dedicated to Steinski's works with and without Double Dee, but the other half features two classics from Coldcut doing their best to emulate the DD+S sound and three rare tracks from sources for which little is known or the data is questionable at best. It was sold via the Ninja Tune website for quite a while but that may no longer be accurate, primarily since the Steinski-related tracks have all been given a pseudo-official release on his wonderful illegal art compilation, What Does It All Mean?: 1983-2006 Retrospective.

Despite the availability of some of these tracks elsewhere and in better quality, No Rights Given Or Implied is still an essential compilation that one should definitely explore. The Steinski-related tracks are his best known works and essential for anyone interested in the evolution of cut-up hip-hop and modern producers like DJ Shadow or Girl Talk but the Coldcut tracks are also fantastic and everything else, if not quite as incredible, is still worth hearing. If this entices you for more, you should go to illegal art's site immediately and purchase Steinski's What Does It All Mean?, although it's also available there as a free download. Steinski could always use a little cash for his classic works though so, if you're really feeling his stuff, I implore to you to purchase a copy which comes in a nice package with cool liner notes from the man himself. As for the Coldcut tracks, they've both been reissued on a compilation of their own named Cold-Cut-Outs featuring rare tracks, mixes and instrumentals from early in their career, although I don't know about that release's availability.


No Rights Given Or Implied: The Original Samplers

01 Double Dee & Steinski - Lesson One: The Payoff Mix
02 Double Dee & Steinski - Lesson Two: The James Brown Mix
03 Double Dee & Steinski - Lesson Three: The History Of Hip-Hop
04 Steinski & Mass Media - The Motorcade Sped On
05 Steinski & Mass Media - It's Up To You (Television Mix)
06 Afrika Bambaataa, Afrika Islam & Jazzy Jay - Fusion Beats
07 Big Apple Productions - Genius At Work
08 TD - Feelin' James
09 Coldcut - Say Kids (What Time Is It?)
10 Coldcut - Beats & Pieces

A FEW NOTES ABOUT THIS COMPILATION: I've seen this listed as having been released in 1986 at several sources, but that's utterly ridiculous. Double Dee & Steinski's tracks date roughly back to 1985, but the latest released track here is probably It's Up To You which was issued in 1992 on DOVe (Death Of Vinyl Entertainment) as well as Ninja Tune. The comp was most likely initially released in 1993. As for the rest of the tracks, their producers have been confirmed for certain (TD is apparently an alias for Danny Krivit) apart from Fusion Beats which is uncredited on all releases. While I've listed it as having been credited to Afrika Bambaataa, Afrika Islam & Jazzy Jay, this doesn't seem to be in stone. If anyone wants to shed some light on the accuracy of that credit I'm sure many would love to hear about it.