Music Sample Discovery: Niche for Deep Music Exploration

Origin Reddit Post

r/music

It’s cool when I randomly discover the origin of a sample song

Posted by u/BummerCakes•07/21/2025

I was in the mall today just casually walking around when I heard this song playing on the speakers. I knew I never heard it before but it sounded so familiar and it made me realize that the

Top Comments

u/damnitmcnabbit

Cola Bottle Baby by Edwin Birdsong was a sample source discovery i found randomly one day. Such a delightful feeling when it clicks.

u/maxplanar

Better than the site is their app - it’s like Shazam, ID’s the song you’re hearing, and tells you what songs sampled it, and the source of any samples in the track itself. So interesting.

u/infinitebloops

I bought a vinyl bootleg version of Salt City Orchestras "Thought it was you", that had instead of the sample "whatta you staring at? man you're positively hostile", it said "whatta you stari

u/VerseMancer

That’s always such a cool feeling! It’s like unlocking a little music mystery you didn’t even know existed.

u/oneorsome

Yay internet!

u/A04141

I know what you mean. I probably would have never heard of Leon Haywood had it not been for samples.

u/yuhuh-

Thanks for the link dicklord!

u/DocEss

Here's a free one: the laugh in the Macarena was sampled from Yazoo's singer's laugh in the song "Situation".

u/Gonzostewie

I love catching a sample in the original track. I thoroughly enjoy organically stumbling across a song and having the "Hey wait a minute..." moment. It's like musical crack sometimes.

u/Falstaffe

Last week, on the car radio, I heard a song which clearly sampled Only You by Yazoo. Turns out it was How Bad Do U Want Me by Lady Gaga. I like some of her stuff, but Only You is a classic an

u/ExponentialA

The best for me is how often Boadicea by Enya of all people shows up in hip hop songs.

u/Harvest_Rat

And I had no idea they were separate before! We both learned from each other :) Great reddit “experience” lol

u/Harvest_Rat

And I had no idea they were separate before! We both learned from each other :) Great reddit “experience” lol

u/yuhuh-

Thanks for the link dicklord!

u/TheRevEv

I've found so much great music from this site. A lot of rap producers are music librarians and can find some super deep cuts you'd have never heard, otherwise

u/BummerCakes

I know some people have different takes on the over use of samples but that’s how I’ve discovered a lot of older songs.

u/djseanmac

I seriously had one of those crazy ass moments where, while DJing in the early 2000s, I sat my dad down and played him a bunch of tracks asking where the sample came from. He pulled out the r

u/A04141

A funny one for me was when Anaconda came out. When I first heard it on the radio I was laughing because of the sample. My coworker had no idea what I was laughing about. They had never heard

u/berger3001

Great show on Rock the Bells radio (serius fm) called Salute the sample. It’s all about looking at how music is sampled in hip hop/rap. Cool listen.

u/DNSGeek

I have a pretty extensive knowledge of music from the 70's-90's and whenever I hear a new song using music sampled from something in that era, I will point it out to my son and then usually p

u/SparrowCrocodile

It makes you realize how untalented and uninspired rappers are.

u/Halcyonandonandoff

Massive daft punk fan, but it’s wild how many of their tracks are composed of just one or two looped samples. E.g. Robot Rock is a lot of fun, but when I subsequently heard Release the Beast

u/stratdog25

One of the real popular ones that seems to be everywhere is from Lyn Collins “Think About It”. You hear one of the background singers yell “WOO!” Followed by James Brown’s “YEAH!” My mom h

u/ExponentialA

The best for me is how often Boadicea by Enya of so people shows up in hip hop songs.

u/ExponentialA

The best for me is how often Boadicea by Enya of all people shows up in hip hop songs.

u/BummerCakes

That Anxiety song is hot garbage and a horrible use of a sample

u/BummerCakes

Just did a deep dive and this site is awesome

u/maxplanar

Better than the site is their app - it’s like Shazam, ID’s the song you’re hearing, and tells you what songs sampled it, and the source of any samples in the track itself. So interesting.

u/stratdog25

u/BummerCakes

That Anxiety song is hot garbage and a horrible use of a sample

u/oneorsome

I had to go sanity check myself - they were originally two separate bands. I didn’t know they are together now!

u/oneorsome

When I was young I thought they just were doing the same thing, like Perry Farrell’s scream in NIN’s Ringfinger or Tone Loc’s songs using Van Halen or Robert Palmer. I thought that they both

u/damnitmcnabbit

Cola Bottle Baby by Edwin Birdsong was a sample source discovery i found randomly one day. Such a delightful feeling when it clicks.

u/real_bro

I don't think Lady Gaga used a sample. It's more like interpolation.

u/A04141

I know what you mean. I probably would have never heard of Leon Haywood had it not been for samples.

u/oneorsome

I had to go sanity check myself - they were originally two separate bands. I didn’t know they are together now!

u/Gonzostewie

I love catching a sample in the original track. I thoroughly enjoy organically stumbling across a song and having the "Hey wait a minute..." moment. It's like musical crack sometimes.

u/yoki_au

Back in the day I bought an album called “sampled” that had this original as well as a bunch of other ones. Someone has very kindly put a playlist together: https://open.spotify.com/playlis

u/A04141

As someone who grew up in the '80s and '90s, it's really interesting to listen to artists like James Brown and start recognizing samples because so much of music from that era was later sampl

u/KirbzTheWord

Thanks for this… lots of things to dive into here! Also, no one asked, but one of my favourite discoveries is A House Is Not A Home by Luther Vandross… sampled for Slow Jamz by Kanye, Jamie

u/KirbzTheWord

I caught all this from the first listen & I agree it’s interesting… all cool songs!

u/A04141

LOL Or, as most people would know it - 1 2 3 and to the 4....

u/Falstaffe

Last week, on the car radio, I heard a song which clearly sampled Only You by Yazoo. Turns out it was How Bad Do U Want Me by Lady Gaga. I like some of her stuff, but Only You is a classic an

u/VerseMancer

That’s always such a cool feeling! It’s like unlocking a little music mystery you didn’t even know existed.

u/Halcyonandonandoff

Massive daft punk fan, but it’s wild how many of their tracks are composed of just one or two looped samples. E.g. Robot Rock is a lot of fun, but when I subsequently heard Release the Beast

u/RedditFretGo

I thought for years Levon Helm's drums from the intro to The Band's "Cripple Creek" should be sampled in Hip-Hop. Then I went on a Gang Starr Spotify deep dive. **DJ Premier knew the assign

u/yoki_au

Back in the day I bought an album called “sampled” that had this original as well as a bunch of other ones. Someone has very kindly put a playlist together: https://open.spotify.com/playlis

u/djseanmac

But I wanna do something freaky to you riiiiight noooow.

u/ExponentialA

The best for me is how often Boadicea by Enya of so people shows up in hip hop songs.

u/Heroes-182

For over 20 years, I had no idea "we want the airwaves back" on Paramore's Born for This was even a sample. Hayley acknowledges Liberation Frequency on her BBC podcast, and my mind was blown

u/A04141

A funny one for me was when Anaconda came out. When I first heard it on the radio I was laughing because of the sample. My coworker had no idea what I was laughing about. They had never heard

u/TheNewsDeskFive

The wildest one I've had was an Ampichino, Berner, Jacka song, the name escapes me right now, that sampled the main menu music from the Pan's Labyrinth dvd. Went back to watch it one day and

u/dicklord_airplane

There's a great site that's a database of where samples are from. Learned a lot from it: https://www.whosampled.com/

u/oneorsome

When I was young I thought they just were doing the same thing, like Perry Farrell’s scream in NIN’s Ringfinger or Tone Loc’s songs using Van Halen or Robert Palmer. I thought that they both

u/TheNewsDeskFive

The wildest one I've had was an Ampichino, Berner, Jacka song, the name escapes me right now, that sampled the main menu music from the Pan's Labyrinth dvd. Went back to watch it one day and

u/Heroes-182

For over 20 years, I had no idea "we want the airwaves back" on Paramore's Born for This was even a sample. Hayley acknowledges Liberation Frequency on her BBC podcast, and my mind was blown

u/inkyblinkypinkysue

Paul’s Boutique packs so much awesomeness in one album it seems impossible. I really learned a lot from it.

u/KirbzTheWord

I caught all this from the first listen & I agree it’s interesting… all cool songs!

u/infinitebloops

I bought a vinyl bootleg version of Salt City Orchestras "Thought it was you", that had instead of the sample "whatta you staring at? man you're positively hostile", it said "whatta you stari

u/Harvest_Rat

“Parliament and Funkadelic” has a nice ring to it, almost more so than the actual hyphenate

u/TheRevEv

I've found so much great music from this site. A lot of rap producers are music librarians and can find some super deep cuts you'd have never heard, otherwise

u/BummerCakes

I know some people have different takes on the over use of samples but that’s how I’ve discovered a lot of older songs.

u/DocEss

Here's a free one: the laugh in the Macarena was sampled from Yazoo's singer's laugh in the song "Situation".

u/dicklord_airplane

I know right? Being able to find the origins of samples and songs has been great for my mental health.

u/A04141

LOL Or, as most people would know it - 1 2 3 and to the 4....

u/musickismagick

I second this. Check it out OP you’d be surprised what you learn from this site

u/Lazerpop

So secrets by the weeknd is interesting. It has an interpolation, not a sample, of talking in your sleep, and it also has a direct sample, of tears for fears - pale shelter

u/DNSGeek

I have a pretty extensive knowledge of music from the 70's-90's and whenever I hear a new song using music sampled from something in that era, I will point it out to my son and then usually p

u/dicklord_airplane

There's a great site that's a database of where samples are from. Learned a lot from it: https://www.whosampled.com/

u/dicklord_airplane

I know right? Being able to find the origins of samples and songs has been great for my mental health.

u/random420x2

Old guy who worked with a bunch of young guys about 5 years ago. Music was really fun. A lot of their songs had samples from my days and they didn’t know the original track. They humored me a

u/BummerCakes

Just did a deep dive and this site is awesome

u/djseanmac

I seriously had one of those crazy ass moments where, while DJing in the early 2000s, I sat my dad down and played him a bunch of tracks asking where the sample came from. He pulled out the r

u/djseanmac

But I wanna do something freaky to you riiiiight noooow.

u/Lazerpop

So secrets by the weeknd is interesting. It has an interpolation, not a sample, of talking in your sleep, and it also has a direct sample, of tears for fears - pale shelter

u/KirbzTheWord

Thanks for this… lots of things to dive into here! Also, no one asked, but one of my favourite discoveries is A House Is Not A Home by Luther Vandross… sampled for Slow Jamz by Kanye, Jamie

u/oneorsome

Yay internet!

u/Harvest_Rat

“Parliament and Funkadelic” has a nice ring to it, almost more so than the actual hyphenate

u/real_bro

I don't think Lady Gaga used a sample. It's more like interpolation.

u/berger3001

Great show on Rock the Bells radio (serius fm) called Salute the sample. It’s all about looking at how music is sampled in hip hop/rap. Cool listen.

u/A04141

As someone who grew up in the '80s and '90s, it's really interesting to listen to artists like James Brown and start recognizing samples because so much of music from that era was later sampl

u/random420x2

Old guy who worked with a bunch of young guys about 5 years ago. Music was really fun. A lot of their songs had samples from my days and they didn’t know the original track. They humored me a

u/musickismagick

I second this. Check it out OP you’d be surprised what you learn from this site

u/RedditFretGo

I thought for years Levon Helm's drums from the intro to The Band's "Cripple Creek" should be sampled in Hip-Hop. Then I went on a Gang Starr Spotify deep dive. **DJ Premier knew the assign

Origin Reddit Post

r/music

It’s cool when I randomly discover the origin of a sample song

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