So you thought J Dilla was first artist to sample Raymond Scott in Hip Hop? Think again. Long before he began to fight crime in the year 2000 as NYPD Detective Odafin “Fin” Tutuola on the NBC-TV drama Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, and before drawing controversy with his 1992 song “Cop Killer,” which depicts a criminal’s revenge on the police, rapper and actor Ice-T was an unlikely early advocate of recycling Raymond Scott’s music. In 1985, the same year he appeared in the movie Breakin' 2: Electric Boogaloo, he released the single "Ya Don't Quit,” which incorporates the famous ‘B’ section from Scott’s iconic 1937 hit tune, “Powerhouse.” A year later he released a sequel, "Dog'n The Wax (Ya Don't Quit Part II)” — which features a different “Powerhouse” element — on his album Rhyme Plays, and as a single on the Sire/Warner Bros. label. Both tracks, which have a Def Jam-era Beastie Boys/Run-D.M.C.-like production, represent the earliest-known examples of Raymond Scott’s music in Hip Hop. Listen to both songs below:
