Bobby Caldwell’s Stamp On Hip-Hop Is Solidified Thanks To Classic Soul Samples

Jessica Bennett
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With the death of Bobby Caldwell, music has laid to rest an iconic singer and songwriter whose imprint on Hip-Hop will forever be felt thanks to classic records from quite literally some of the greatest MCs to ever do it.

Caldwell’s most popular hit, “What You Won’t Do For Love,” was famously sampled by Tupac Shakur on the artist’s second posthumous release, 1997’s R U Still Down, though the vocals were recorded in 1994, two years before the icon’s untimely passing.

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Soulshock of production duo Soulshock and Karlin spoke to You Know I Got Soul about crafting the record after ‘Pac’s death, revealing that his mother, Afeni Shakur, approached the pair who had previously worked with the “I Get Around” artist with acapella vocals.

“After he had got shot in Las Vegas, his mother Afeni Shakur called me and was like ‘I have a few records that need to be finished and I’m only letting people who knew him work on these.’ She came up with these two huge security guys. We were using tapes back then because we didn’t have ProTools yet. Every time we would put the the tape on and transfer it to our machine to make it work, the security would be like ‘Where is this going?’ It was an acapella and Afeni was like ‘Start working, I’m not leaving.”

After knocking out “I Wonder If Heaven Got A Ghetto,” the producers started work on the Caldwell-sampled classic.

“We went to ‘Do For Love’ and we were obsessed with A Tribe Called Quest,” he explained of his desire to reach for the soul sample. “We went with something similar to that and it worked.”

Another late icon, The Notorious B.I.G., found himself spitting over a sample of Caldwell’s “My Flame” on the Clark Kent-produced single “Sky’s The Limit” from 1997’s Life After Death.

During a Q&A with BET, the DJ discussed Big’s love of the record even before he officially claimed it as his own.

“When he heard ‘Sky’s The Limit,’ I was like, well this track is for Akinyele so you can’t have it. He’s like, ‘Nah,’ I need that. I said, ‘Not for Junior M.A.F.I.A.!’ He’s like, ‘Nah, that’s for my album.’

Believe it or not, the smooth groove was passed on by both Jay-Z and LL Cool J before Biggie made it the inspirational anthem it is today.

“Every time we spoke about the song it was him singing the hook, and then we got 112 on it, but he was singing the hook the day he heard it.”

Thanks to late producer J Dilla, Chicago’s Common was also blessed with a Caldwell sample in 2000s “The Light,” which sampled the crooner’s 1980 track, “Open Your Eyes.”

Music aficionado Questlove recently shared that he initially suggested his Soulquarian brother Common kill the track because it wasn’t “Dilla” enough.

“I wasn’t mad at it but at that time as a sophomore at ‘Dilla U’ I thought I had Dilla all figured out and NONE of his trademark characteristics were rhythmically there…where are the drunken drums? The odd patches….I mean he did a normal G Funk jawn cause Quik was one of his fav producers but iuuno this just sounds ‘normal’…but man I’m so glad I was wrong about this.

“I got word Brother Bobby loved it like in 2001.”

While these are three of the biggest records sampling the soul icon, Caldwell’s work can be found within the discographies of countless Hip-Hop and R&B artists, including Kool G Rap, Master P, Aaliyah, Kendrick Lamar, Little Brother, The Game, Madlib, Robert Glasper and others.

Rest In Peace to musical legend, Brother Bobby Caldwell.

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