The Think break is a

drum break In popular music, a break is an instrumental or percussion section during a song derived from or related to stop-time – being a "break" from the main parts of the song or piece. A break is usually interpolated between sections of a song, to pr ...

that has been widely

sampled Sample or samples may refer to: Base meaning * Sample (statistics), a subset of a population – complete data set * Sample (signal), a digital discrete sample of a continuous analog signal * Sample (material), a specimen or small quantity of so ...

popular music Popular music is music with wide appeal that is typically distributed to large audiences through the music industry. These forms and styles can be enjoyed and performed by people with little or no musical training.Popular Music. (2015). ''Fun ...

. It comes from the 1972 song "

Think (About It) "Think (About It)" is a funk song recorded by Lyn Collins and released as a single on James Brown's People Records in 1972. The recording was produced by Brown (who also wrote the song) and features instrumental backing from his band The J.B.'s. ...

" by the American soul singer

Lyn Collins Gloria Lavern Collins (June 12, 1948 – March 13, 2005), better known as Lyn Collins, was an American soul singer best known for working with James Brown in the 1970s and for the influential 1972 funk single, "Think (About It)". A favorite a ...

, written and produced by

James Brown James Joseph Brown (May 3, 1933 – December 25, 2006) was an American singer, dancer, musician, record producer and bandleader. The central progenitor of funk music and a major figure of 20th century music, he is often referred to by the honor ...

. The drum break was performed by

John "Jabo" Starks John Henry "Jabo" Starks (; October 26, 1937Sources vary as to his year of birth. According to his obituary, published by Mobile Register, Starks was born on October 26, 1937; The New York Times gives 1938 – May 1, 2018), sometimes spelled Jab' ...

Background and impact

In 1987, "Think (About It)" was featured on the 16th volume of the drum break compilation '' Ultimate Breaks & Beats'', a highly popular series among hip hop producers. That year marked the first known use of the "Woo! Yeah!" break, when the

Beatmasters The Beatmasters are an English electronic music group who gained success in the UK in the late 1980s with four top 20 hit singles. They then went on to produce and remix records for many other artists. The group's string of chart hit singles ...

, a UK hip hop production trio, sampled the break for

Cookie Crew Cookie Crew were a rap music duo formed in Clapham, South London in 1983. Career Their career took off after winning a national rap championship and recording two sessions for the John Peel BBC Radio 1 show. They gained a recording contract f ...

's song "Females (Get On Up)". While "Females" was a minor hit in the UK, the break did not receive major airplay and attention until the following year, when it was used as the backing loop for the track " It Takes Two" by MC Rob Base & DJ E-Z Rock. The song, which is almost entirely composed of sampled parts from "Think (About It)", became a platinum-selling hit. It became almost ubiquitous in

dance Dance is a performing art form consisting of sequences of movement, either improvised or purposefully selected. This movement has aesthetic and often symbolic value. Dance can be categorized and described by its choreography, by its repertoir ...

and hip hop records during the late 1980s and early 1990s and continues to see use. In addition to the famous "Woo! Yeah!" sample, another part of the drum break has seen prominent use in songs of different

breakbeat Breakbeat is a broad type of electronic music that tends to use drum breaks sampled from early recordings of funk, jazz, and R&B. Breakbeats have been used in styles such as hip hop, jungle, drum and bass, big beat, breakbeat hardcore, and UK ...

subgenres like

jungle A jungle is land covered with dense forest and tangled vegetation, usually in tropical climates. Application of the term has varied greatly during the past recent century. Etymology The word ''jungle'' originates from the Sanskrit word ''jaṅ ...

drum and bass Drum and bass (also written as drum & bass or drum'n'bass and commonly abbreviated as D&B, DnB, or D'n'B) is a genre of electronic dance music characterized by fast breakbeats (typically 165–185 beats per minute) with heavy bass and sub-ba ...

and

breakcore Breakcore is a style and microgenre of electronic dance music that emerged from jungle, hardcore, and drum and bass in the mid-to-late 1990s. It is characterized by very complex and intricate breakbeats and a wide palette of sampling sources ...

. The sample contains a short ad lib shout by one of the musicians, and is usually played at a higher speed, giving the shout a very recognizable character.

References

{{reflist Sampling (music) Sampled drum breaks James Brown 1972 compositions