DJ Hype – Closer To God

DJ Hype – Closer To God (True Playaz, 1998)

After yesterday’s post about ‘Straight Jacket’ I couldn’t resist writing about DJ Hype’s ‘Closer To God’, another track featuring a vocal sample also used by DJ Shadow. It was the opening track on Real Vibes, the first album from the True Playaz label formed two years previously by Hype along with fellow Ganja Kru members Pascal and DJ Zinc, and it was one of the biggest jump-up anthems of the year.

The idyllic intro begins with a female voice saying “In the beginning, God created the Heaven and the Earth”. This was taken from David Axelrod’s ‘The Warnings Part I’ and was sampled by Shadow on ‘Duality’, his collaborative track with DJ Krush, in which he uses the “in the beginning” part as his section gets underway. Hype also samples rhodes, harp and an elastic bassline from Azymuth’s ‘Manhã’, a beautiful latin jazz track which translates as ‘Morning’ and goes together with the Axelrod sample very nicely.

The peace of intro is shattered by a vocal sample from Mobb Deep’s classic ‘Shook Ones Part II’, “Getting closer to God, in a tight situation now”. The track was a particular favourite of the Ganja Kru, with Zinc making a bootleg mix and Hype regularly using the acapella over DJ Krust’s ‘Warhead’ as you can hear in this live set from BBC Radio 1’s One In The Jungle show. The sample ushers in an addictive bassline, which manages to be incredibly energetic despite mainly consisting of one sustained note, helped along by a lively break. Yet another tune to add to my list of perfect set openers.

You can purchase the digital of ‘Closer To God’ from Beatport.

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