This is not a new story, and it is not the first time it has been told, but I’m writing it in honor of Martin Luther King, Jr. day, 2019. If nothing else, I hope that awareness about this tiny nook of music history might help bring some justice, even if only a mote, to the contributions to music made by minorities. I write this to honor both their memory, and to recognize the contribution made to a genre of music I have enjoyed for over two decades.

In the year 1969, a band named The Winstons released an early Funk / Soul album called Color Him Father. This album featured a B-Side track called “Amen, Brother” that, while a great funk song in its own right, wasn’t especially noteworthy. The song was:

an up-town instrumental rendition of Jester Hairston’s ‘Amen’, which he wrote for the Sidney Poitier film ‘Lilies of the Field’ (1963), and which was subsequently popularized by The Impressions in 1964. 4

Except for one break in the song.

At 1’ 25”, a very brief, 8 second, drum solo interjects, played by Gregory Sylvester (“G.C.”) Coleman. This came to later be known as the “Amen Break” or “Amen Loop”.

Sampled Drumming

Much like the drum breaks in Funky Drummer (James Brown), Superfreak (Rick James), this loop has been sampled, almost always without attribution, by hundreds of songs since 1979. A few notable instances 1:

• Straight Outta Compton, N.W.A. (1988)
• Original Nuttah, Shy FX & UK Apachi (1994)
• Streets on Fire, Lupe Fiasco (2007)

A more comprehensive list (though I would be surprised if this was complete) can be found on WhoSampled.com. At present, that website counts 3,022 songs using this break.

For those of us who enjoyed Jungle / Drum’n’Bass music, particularly in the late ’90s and early ’00s, this sample will be instantly recognizable — it is so prevalent in that genre that most fans would immediately think of it if you were to say “that jungle breakbeat.” Listen to how the break is transformed in the ragga jungle track R.I.P. by Remarc from 1995 (break begins around 1’00”), it’s virtually unrecognizable from the original performance:

The artist High Contrast released the LP True Colors in 2002, featuring a track Amen Sister. The album is superb, and this track is solid drum’n’bass, heavily featuring a derivative of the original break — the title is obviously a subtle nod to the source, though I don’t know if the album itself cites the sample reference. I would hope that it does, but would also not be surprised if it’s absent.

This loop has been sped up, slowed down, cut apart, sliced and chopped into so many derivative works, that the near-erasure of the original artist was near-inevitable.

According to the Nathan Harrison podcast 1, there was, at one point, a sample company (“Zero G Limited”) listed it in a sample pack (for electronic music producers) and was charging for it. That is to say — they were selling it / collecting royalties as if they were the owners of the creation.

Erasure, indeed.

Sampled Sourcing

I love remix culture. I don’t want this writing to suggest that I think sampling is bad, or that I think these works should have never lifted from the source track. It’s an amazing, and clearly versatile, drum break. The creative process is most free when it is allowed to extend, derive, transform, and remix existing works. In college, I had a lecturer named (I think) Thomas Girvin, who said that if you’re going to make art, “show me something new, or show me something old in a new way.”

But I think we can do better than we have been, particularly with ensuring that the “old” works that we draw from are properly credited. We must take particular care to acknowledge the works of people of color and other marginalized groups that have been historically seen as undeserving of this recognition.

Ijeoma Oluo wrote in “I don’t feel like celebrating” (please read her original text, as my reductive paraphrasing here does not do her rhetoric justice) that this holiday should honor Dr. King through pro-active work that is inclusive and helps to mend the divisions and damage wrought through centuries of misguided action by an oppressive hegemony.

Writing a Medium piece about a drum sample that’s simultaneously obscure and ubiquitous isn’t a solution on its own. But at the same time, I don’t believe that reversing that historical harm is possible without these sorts of acknowledgements, however infinitesimally small.

I’m writing this because the Amen Loop has brought much joy to life. Hours of listening to music that gave me happiness. I listened to that original Harrison podcast nearly 2 decades ago, and I have since carried with me the knowledge and memory of The Winstons; and hearing that glorious drum break now calls to mind the actual creator of the work, and in a very small and personal way, honors their contribution. Where the anonymous transformation erased them from my understanding of history, this knowledge has restored them for me.

My hope for others, on their journeys, is that they too can discover the delight of honoring the creators of works that spark joy for them; learning the history (the good and the bad); giving names and faces to those works.

Thank you Richard Lewis Spencer, Phil Tolotta, Quincy Mattison, Sonny Peckrol, Ray Maritano, and especially Gregory “G.C.” Coleman (Rest in Power, 2006).

Footnotes

1. Nate Harrison did an excellent 18 minute podcast about this very topic, but with more audio samples. I highly recommend listening to it. This was probably the first source, for me, that dove so deeply into the history of it.
2. Mixmag also did a short 6 minute video about it as well.
3. Lastly, Dr. Jason Hockman gave a talk about the history of looping and breakbeats across genres, noting the Amen Break and others. This one is done in a more “TED Talk” style format.
4. Who Sampled: The Amen Break
5. Wikipedia: The Amen Break