Drum pioneer of hip-hop beat dies
“GIVE THE Drummer Some”!
Drummer Clyde Stubblefield, the man behind what is arguably the most sampled beat in all of hip hop, died Saturday. He was 73.
Stubblefield, a session drummer best known for his work with James Brown, held down the beat on dozens of iconic songs such as “Say It Loud — I’m Black and I’m Proud,” “I Got the Feelin’ ” and “Funky Drummer,” the last of which fueled a musical revolution.
Stubblefield’s breakbeat on “Funky Drummer” resonated across decades, and generations.
Recorded in 1969, the song contains a deceptively simple drum solo featuring an eight-beat rhythm.
More than five minutes into the recording, James Brown tells his band that he wants “to give the drummer some of this funky soul we got going here.”
He tells Stubblefield, “You don’t have to do no soloing, brother, just keep what you got . . . . Don’t turn it loose, ’cause it’s a mother.”
The other players drop out and Stubblefield lays into the beat.
The break was rediscovered in the mid-’80s by hip-hop heads, and used as the underlying, head-bobbing base for tracks from the likes of Run-DMC, Public Enemy, the Beastie Boys, LL Cool J and others.
The snare pop is instantly recognizable in songs such as “Run’s House,” “Fight the Power,” “Shadrach,” “Freedom! ’90,” “Mama Said Knock You Out” and hundreds of others.
Stubblefield’s wife, Jody Hannon, said her husband died of kidney failure at a Madison, Wis., hospital on Saturday. She said he had suffered from kidney disease for 10 years, and had been hospitalized for a few days at the time of his death.
Although Stubblefield received little recognition for his contribution to music for much of his career, he did earn the respect of fellow musicians and younger players.
Prince reportedly paid for $90,000 of the drummer’s medical bills in the mid-2000s, and other musicians created a contributions web page several years ago to help offset medical costs.
Roots drummer Questlove eulogized Stubblefield on social media, calling him “The Funky Funkiest Drummer of All Time.”
Bassist Bootsy Collins also wrote a touching tribute,“We lost another Pillar Stone that held up the Foundation of Funk . . . . We all loved U so much. R.I.P. From all yr Funkateers . . . ,” Collins wrote.