Just Blaze Unpacks His Samples For Beyoncé and Jay-Z | The Formula, S1E1

Just Blaze Unpacks His Samples For Beyoncé and Jay-Z | The Formula, S1E1 with tags npr, npr music, national public radio, performance, tiny desk, tiny desk concert, tony desk, tiny concert, sampling, the record, tiny desk, beyonce, jay-z, freedom, lemonade, hovi baby, show em what you got, johnny pate, shaft in africa, kaleidoscope, hip hop, rap, beats, just blaze, show me what you got, dj, producer, creativity, graphics, music production

In the first installment of our new video series The Formula, producer Just Blaze unpacks the drum-centric samples he created for Jay-Z and Beyoncé. Whether he's tapping out sampled drums or incorporating live drummers in the studio, his ability to harness energy is what makes his sound so dynamic.

Watch the second season early at npr.org/theformula

READ THE COMPANION ESSAY

"'I Hate You, Man': Questlove On Just Blaze's Maddening Genius" by Questlove

FULL SERIES PLAYLIST HERE

CREDITS

Host: Rodney Carmichael; Producers: Nick Michael, CJ Riculan; Animator: CJ Riculan; Assistant Producer: Ben Naddaff-Hafrey; Director of Photography: Colin Marshall; Editors: Annabel Edwards, Nick Michael; Videographers: Annabel Edwards, Nickolai Hammar, Colin Marshall; Audio Recording Engineer: Nickolai Hammar; Audio Mix Engineer: Josh Rogosin; Supervising Producer: Nick Michael; Senior Producer: Abby O'Neill; Consulting Editor: Jacob Ganz; Managing Editor: Becky Lettenberger; Executive Producers: Anya Grundmann, Keith Jenkins, Lauren Onkey

MUSIC

"Hovi Baby," Jay-Z, The Blueprint 2 (2002)

"Shaft In Africa (Addis)," Johnny Pate, Shaft in Africa (1973)

"Show Me What You Got," Jay-Z, Kingdom Come (2006)

"Let Me Try," Kaleidoscope, Kaleidoscope (1969)

"Freedom," Beyoncé, Lemonade (2016)

"Rose Water", DJ Face [series theme track]

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