Album: Moment of Truth (1998)
Track: Moment of Truth (4:07)
Setting up and cutting up:
The track is set up by a vocal sample (possibly from a film) telling us that we'll all find our "moment of truth". Fading in from this is cut up sample containing strings and bells. It sounds cohesive enough to be a straight sample. However you can hear the cut just before the last two notes. The previous sound doesn't blend into the next. In this genre this poses no problem. Guru's vocals come in one rotation before the bass and drums.
Vocals:
The vocals on the track are quite dry. However, there is a short and soft delay I can hear. Because it's most prevalent on "S" syllables it occasionally clashes with the hi hat sound. At the end of each verse, an extended delay tail is added to help transition into the short instrumental sections. The focus is on Guru's voice as if you were just in a room with him. You can hear quite a bit of his breath and hear that he's quite close to the microphone.
Structure and instrumentation:
The string sample DJ Premier used in this beat doesn't change throughout this track. It follows the same two bar loop from beginning to finish. This is okay, there is enough variation in the vocals big verses. The drums are fairly straight forward other than some layering on the snare. I can hear a clap with each snare stroke. The groove itself has quite a bit of space to let the string sample shine. The bass follows the drums, again creating space. There's a good sense of tension and release with each two bar loop on the drums and bass. The first bar contains the gap between beats two and four. The second bar fills this gap with an extra kick stroke and a higher bass variation.
Origin of samples:
These are the sample credits for this track are as follows:
"Let's Fall in Love All Over" by Billy Paul
"Who's Gonna Take the Weight" by Gang Starr
Head over to WhoSampled and have a listen to how the sample was chopped and looped.
The team:
The album was produced by DJ Premier and co-produced by Guru. It was recorded at D&D Studios in New York.
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