Strictly Butter | 03

"King of Diggin'" - Lord Finesse

"The Package" - De La Soul

"I Juswannachill (Instrumental)" - Large Professor

"Reminiscent Of The Golden Era" - K-Def

"Can't Take My Eyes Off of You" - Lauryn Hill

"Floetic" - Floetry

"Lovesick (Extended Mix)" - Gang Starr

"One Step Featurecast Re-Edit" - Aretha Franklin

"On Your Face" - Treble N Bass

"I Know You Got Soul" - DJ Snatch

"Fresh Rhythm" - Quantic

"Finally Moving" - Pretty Lights

"June (TM Juke Remix, DJ Supermarkt Dub Shredit)" - Gizelle Smith

"Uptown Anthem Instrumental" - Naughty By Nature

"Don't Walk Away (J Period Q-Tip Intro, Skanktified Mix)" - Jade

“King of Diggin’” — Lord Finesse

Our opener “King of Diggin’” appears on Lord Finesse’s instrumental album The SP 1200 Project: Sounds & Frequencies in Technicolor, released in 2025. The track title isn’t random, as Finesse recalls being genuinely thrown by DJ MURO’s “King of Diggin” tapes that displayed such deep crate knowledge, that he chose the track title as a shared secret handshake. Pulling samples from his home archive of over 10,000 records (including The Steve Miller Band’s “Fly Like An Eagle” for this cut), Finesse described the album as a project of “re-enhancement”across instrumentals that departs from the overly compressed sound of today’s music production. Emerging from the Bronx scene and closely associated with Diamond D and the Diggin’ in the Crates collective of the late 1980s, Lord Finesse continues to be a significant presence in New York’s producer ecosystem. 

“The Package” — De La Soul

“The Package” was released in late 2025 as the lead single for De La Soul’s Cabin in the Sky album. It’s their first album following Trugoy the Dove’s death, and it arrived as part of Mass Appeal’s “Legend Has It…” campaign, a deliberately scene-specific New York canon project that is also rolling out new records tied to other pillars like Nas, DJ Premier, and Slick Rick. The track carries the group’s core aesthetic and playful intelligence, with Pete Rock’s signature sample warmth pulling from The Impressions (“Seven Years”), Kid Dynamite (“Uphill Peace of Mind”), and Black Merda (“Cynthy Ruth”).

"I Juswannachill (Instrumental)” — Large Professor

“I Juswannachill” was issued by Geffen as a 12-inch single in October 1996, tied to Large Professor’s long-shelved debut album The LP. The album was recorded at Mirror Image Studios, Battery Studios, and Mix B Studios in New York City, then shelved by Geffen before eventually surfacing as a promo-only issue in 2002 and an official release later. The instrumental is all classic Large Pro sound: relaxed boom-bap and a melodic warmth that never turns glossy. The track’s sample lineage pulls from Milt Jackson’s “Enchanted Lady,” linking the beat to a strain of jazz funk. By the time “I Juswannachill” hit on Geffen, Extra P. was already stamped as a producer’s producer, notably contributing three tracks to Nas’ Illmatic (“Halftime,” “One Time 4 Your Mind,” “It Ain’t Hard to Tell”).

“Reminiscent of the Golden Era” — K-Def

K-Def’s “Reminiscent Of The Golden Era” (often surfaces online as “Reminisce of the Golden Era (Original Mix)”) is track 20 on The Unpredictable Gemini, released in 2016 via Redefinition Records. Hailed as the product of a multi-year build where K-Def “meticulously produced, composed, arranged, mixed and mastered” a much larger body of work before selecting the final sequence. K-Def is a New Jersey producer with deep 90s-era roots who has continued to work across multiple generations of rap, and his own official profile lists a resume that includes work for Marley Marl, Lords of the Underground, Tragedy, World Renown, A.D.O.R., and others. The cut revives the technical craftsmanship and true spirit of the Golden Era.

“Can’t Take My Eyes Off of You (I Love You Baby)” — Lauryn Hill

Lauryn Hill’s soulful cover “Can’t Take My Eyes Off of You (I Love You Baby)” appears on The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill (Ruffhouse–Columbia, 1998), a rework of the 1967 pop-soul standard written by Bob Crewe and Bob Gaudio. The recording credits place Hill as producer and executive producer, with Commissioner Gordon and Warren Riker on engineering/mixing, Devon Kirkpatrick as editor, and Herb Powers credited for mastering. The album’s recording footprint runs through Chung King (NYC), Circle House (Miami), Perfect Pair (NJ), and Marley Music Inc. in Kingston, Jamaica, among others. The track’s path onto The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill is unusually backwards: it was first recorded for the film Conspiracy Theory (1997), then gained enough radio momentum to become a bonus track on the album rather than a outright single. 

"Floetic" - Floetry

Floetry’s debut single, the title track to their 2002 album, is a confident introduction to their hybrid of sung hooks and spoken-word cadence. The duo branded themselves as a two-part instrument (Ambrosius the “songstress,” Stewart the “floacist”), and the album’s production circle explicitly overlaps with the early-2000s soul scene that included Bilal and Jill Scott. The most revealing detail is the songwriting line: “Floetic” carries credit not only to Marsha Ambrosius and Natalie Stewart (plus Henson and Pelzer), but also to Mel Tormé and Robert Wells, because the track contains a documented interpolation of “Born to Be Blue.” Pulling from a standard associated with classic vocal-jazz repertoire (often traced by modern sample trackers to Jack Bruce’s 1971 reading) gives the song a lineage outside the then-current neo-soul tracings. 

"Lovesick (Extended Mix)" - Gang Starr

“Lovesick” is a Gang Starr track produced by DJ Premier and Guru for their second album Step in the Arena, commercially released in 1991. The album’s recording sessions are credited to Calliope Productions (NYC) and Brooklyn rooms Firehouse and Such-A-Sound. Guru’s rap is already all cool compressed authority, while DJ Premier builds the beats and the turntable cuts that would distinguish the era’s grammar. On the sampling side, you can see Premier’s crate logic in black-and-white: “Lovesick” samples include Young–Holt Unlimited’s “Ain’t There Something Money Can’t Buy,” plus Ohio Players (“Never Had a Dream,” “Pain”) and The Delfonics (“Trying to Make a Fool of Me”). 

"One Step Featurecast Re-Edit" - Aretha Franklin

Aretha Franklin’s “One Step Ahead” began life as a 1965 Columbia non-album single. Decades later, the song is widely recognized for its prominent placement in Moonlight and for being sampled in Mos Def’s “Ms. Fat Booty”. The appropriately beautiful Featurecast remix comes from the UK white-label economy of edits and reworks, titled as “One Step (Featurecast Re-Edit)”, appearing as a Wah Dubplate / Wah Wah Dubplates 7-inch released in 2009.

“On Your Face” — Treble N Bass

“On Your Face” landed as part of That’s Not An Edit Vol.12 (That’s Not An Edit, Australia), released May 2020. The label’s own framing of the boogie/funk/hip-hop/disco series describes it as a stack of Australian producers “re-editing and reworking their favorite tunes.” Treble ’N’ Bass are a Sydney-based DJ team, reworking recognizable bars into DJ-ready cuts. The track samples "On Your Face" by  Earth, Wind & Fire, released in 1977 on Columbia Records. 

“I Know You Got Soul” — DJ Snatch

DJ Snatch’s “I Know You Got Soul” is a digital edit released via his Bandcamp, credited as track 5 on Snatch Edits pt.03 in 2019. The Athens-based DJ and radio producer describes the track plainly as “Eric B & Rakim meets Beatnuts,” sampling both Eric B. & Rakim’s 1987 “I Know You Got Soul” and The Beatnuts’ 2001 “Let’s Git Doe” (feat. Fatman Scoop). Rakim’s original is itself historically significant, as it’s built around Bobby Byrd’s 1971 “I Know You Got Soul,” and widely credited with helping cement the James Brown sample vocabulary in rap so Snatch isn’t sampling a record so much as sampling a hip hop cornerstone. 

“Fresh Rhythm” — Quantic

Quantic’s “Fresh Rhythm” was originally issued as the B-side to “We Got Soul” on a Breakin’ Bread 7-inch in July 2000. This is Quantic before the larger “Quantic universe” (Tru Thoughts, Quantic Soul Orchestra, the later Latin/Caribbean projects) became his public identity. “Fresh Rhythm” has a three-source sample stack: Harry Stoneham & Johnny Eyden’s “Coming Home Baby,” Dickie Goodman’s “Mr. Jaws,” and Redd Foxx’s “Side Two”. 

“Finally Moving” — Pretty Lights
“Finally Moving” is track 4 on Taking Up Your Precious Time, Pretty Lights’ debut album released October 2006 on Pretty Lights Music, from the project’s early period as a duo (Derek Vincent Smith and Michal Menert). The track’s sample sourcing includes Sonny Stitt’s “Private Number,” Etta James’ “Something’s Got a Hold on Me,” and Beside’s “Change the Beat (Female Version).” Smith publicly addressed the Sonny Stitt sample use as a case study on how shared source material often gets misread as one artist “stealing” from another. 

“June (TM Juke, DJ Supermarkt Dub Shredit)” — Gizelle Smith
“June” was issued by Milan’s Record Kicks as a two-track single pairing the original (3:29) with “June (TM Juke rmx)” (3:49), released November 2009. Record Kicks also placed “June” on their compilation SoulShaker Vol.6, in November 2009. Def Stef is credited for production and mix duties, with writing credited to Gizelle Smith, Steffen Wagner, and Guillaume Méténier. Record Kicks’ release positions “June” as the moment Smith steps out from her earlier work with The Mighty Mocambos into a solo lane, namechecking Kenny Dope’s Kay-Dee release of her “Working Woman”. DJ Supermarkt’s “dub shredit” of the TM Juke remix, was released in November 2009 under the Too Slow to Disco / DJ Supermarkt banner.

“Uptown Anthem (Instrumental)” — Naughty By Nature
“Uptown Anthem” is credited to Naughty By Nature’s core trio of Vincent Brown (Vin Rock), Anthony Criss (Treach), and Keir Lamont Gist (DJ Kay Gee), with production by Kay Gee. Recorded for the Juice soundtrack and later added to varioius editions of the group’s 1991 self-titled album on Tommy Boy, the record is one of those early-’90s crossover objects that’s equal parts rap single and film relic. Naughty By Nature formed in East Orange, New Jersey, and their early trajectory is inseparable from Queen Latifah’s co-sign and introduction to Tommy Boy, one of the defining downtown-to-radio pipelines of the era. Chart-wise it was a “minor hit” by Billboard standards: the single peaked at #27 Hot Rap Singles and #58 Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles & Tracks. 

“Don’t Walk Away (Skanktified Mix)” — Jade
“Don’t Walk Away” was issued by Jade on Giant Records as the second single from their debut album Jade to the Max (released November 1992), written and produced by Vassal Benford III and Ronald Spearman. The album sessions are credited to Oasis Recording Studios (Canoga Park) and The Post Complex (Los Angeles), with the album’s mastering credited to Steve Hall. The cut landed in the early-’90s moment when major-label R&B was being engineered to travel across formats: pop radio, Hip-Hop and R&B radio, club play, and remix culture. Commercially it was a transatlantic breakout: it peaked at #4 on the Billboard Hot 100 (and #13 on Billboard’s 1993 year-end Hot 100), and hit #7 in the UK. The song’s sample DNA is built upon Kool & the Gang’s “Jungle Jazz” (drums) and Stevie Wonder’s “That Girl” (harmonics). The track’s afterlife is most notable for Q-Tip’s sanctification with A Tribe Called Quest sampling the “Don’t Walk Away” bassline for “Award Tour.” 

Listen to: Strictly Butter | 02