A documentary that reveals how a forgotten record by the Incredible Bongo Band helped cement the foundation of hip hop when DJ Herc extended its percussion by playing them back to back, creating an anthem on the streets of the Bronx.
In June of 1968 Michael Viner was an aide to Bobby Kennedy. His roommate, ex-NFLstar Rosey Grier was a bodyguard for the aspiring President. They were both therethat night when Sirhan Sirhans fatal shots rang out in Los Angeles. Grier wrestledthe pistol from the killers hands while Viner watched stunned from the sidelines.
Viner was devastated by the death of Bobby Kennedy and left politics to work forMike Curb at MGM. He held various positions with the company including producingthe soundtrack for a B movie, The Thing With Two Heads which starred his formerroom mate Rosey Grier. In order to complete a soundtrack for the film, Viner headedinto the MGM recording studio in 1972 with the cream of LA studio musicians lead byarranger/composer Perry Botkin Jr. They recorded several tracks by a group Vinernamed The Incredible Bongo Band. A sountrack inspired by the film containingthe tracks Bongo Rock and Bongolia by the Incredible Bongo Band wasreleased later that year.
In the Spring of 1973 Viner headed to Vancouver, Canada to record additional tracksso that an album could be released. The sessions at Can Base Studios were againlead by Perry Botkin Jr. but a different group of LA studio musicians including JimGordon, King Errisson, Mike Deasy and Steve Douglas played on the secondIncredible Bongo Band sessions. In May of 1973 MGM released the album,Bongo Rock by Michael Viners Incredible Bongo Band. The album was acommercial failure in the US as was a follow-up album released in 1974 thatfeatured the band on the cover.
In the summer of 1973, a Jamaican born DJ in the Bronx discovered the IncredibleBongo Band album languishing at a record store. The long percussion breaks onthe album caught his ear. DJ Herc pioneered the technique of taking those breaksand extending them by playing them back to back from two copies of the samerecord. Bongo Rock, Apache and other tracks from the Incredible Bongo Bandare widely acknowledged as the foundation of hip hop music.
The Incredible Bongo Band has been sampled by many contemporary artistsincluding Moby, Grandmaster Flash, Will Smith, Missy Elliot, Nas, Sugarhill Gang,Hammer, C+C Music Factory, Tone Loc, LL Cool J, Freddie Foxx, Faith Evans, DoubleD, Busta Rhymes, Goldie, Kanye West and Jay-Z.
Sample This chronicles the incredible story behind the creation of one of the mostinfluential albums in popular music that helped spawn a whole new genre of music.
If not for the assassination of Bobby Kennedy it might never have happened. Sample This features new interviews with Questlove, Melle Mel, Grandmaster Caz,Rosey Grier, Grand Wizzard Theodore, Freda Payne, Jerry Butler, Mike Curb, KingErrisson, Afrika Bambaataa, Jerry Scheff, Mike Deasy, Perry Botkin Jr., Mike Melvoinand many more.
The film is narrated by Gene Simmons, directed by Dan Forrer and produced by BobBurris.
