Helen Folasade Adu aka Sade was born on January 16, 1959, in Ibadan, Nigeria. Beginning in the 1980s, the British band named after her took over the airwaves, transforming the quiet storm sound into an international phenomenon. Rap music, which is based on sampling, would eventually get its hands on some Sade records. Here 5 Sade records that have been sampled by rappers.
1. Cherish the Day
Nipsey Hussle sampled this for his cut “If U Were Mine” from his Crenshaw mixtape. More recently, Alicia Keys borrowed the intro for her single “Best of Me (Originals)” from her 2021 album KEYS. It’s been sampled by Ashanti, Joe Budden, Paul wall, King Chip, Young Buck, Killah Priest, and the list goes on. It turns out that this Sade song actually samples another classic rap track- “The Humpty Dance.”
2. Feel No Pain
This song was sampled by Krazie Bone in 2001’s “Hard Time Hustlin'” and the group Bone Thugs-N-Harmony sampled it in 2007.
3. Kiss of Life
This track was remixed by Kaytrananda and has been flipped by Nujabes. MF Doom for 1999’s “Doomsday” and again in 2013 by Joey Bada$$ featuring Smoke DZA on “Death of YOLO.” The tragic career of XXL Freshman Charles Hamilton at least gave us his pink-inspired gem “Rosado.”
4. Is It a Crime
MF Doom sampled this one two times. Once as MF Doom and again as Metal Fingers. It is also sampled on LL Cool J’s “Papa Luv It” from the Mr. Smith album and The Show soundtrack.
5. Smooth Operator
Snoop Dogg sampled this joint twice, on 1999’s “Bitch Please” and again in 2004 for “Perfect. “Coast to coast, LA to Chicago,” to be exact. It’s also been sampled by Cyhi, Pastor Troy, and Full Force.
