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Pete Rock VibeZ

Twenty-five tracks from the producer whose horn loops taught a generation what a sample could feel like. Pete Rock is the warmest sound in hip-hop.

The Chocolate Boy Wonder

Peter Phillips grew up in Mount Vernon, New York, and is the cousin of Heavy D — which is how he got into a studio young. His method became one of the most identifiable in the genre: horn stabs and flute lines lifted from 1970s jazz and soul, layered thick, and drums with an audible swing that most of his contemporaries could not replicate.

Where DJ Premier chopped samples into fragments, Pete Rock tended to keep them whole and let them breathe. The result is music that sounds like nostalgia even on first listen, and it is why his records have aged as gracefully as they have.

He has also had an unusually long second act as a remixer, and he continues to be called on by artists half his age.

What to listen for

"They Reminisce Over You (T.R.O.Y.)" is the essential and one of the most beloved records in hip-hop history. It was written for Trouble T Roy, a dancer with Heavy D & The Boyz who died in 1990, and the Tom Scott saxophone loop is arguably the most famous sample of the era.

Nas's "The World Is Yours" is the other monument — a Pete Rock production on Illmatic, and the track most people name when they name that album.

The Heavy D tracks are the family history, and "Take You There" and "All the Places" show the C.L. Smooth partnership at its warmest.

The remixes are where his ear is clearest. House of Pain's "Jump Around," Monica's "Before You Walk Out Of My Life," Robert Glasper's "Black Radio" with Yasiin Bey, and Kali Uchis's "After The Storm" with Tyler and Bootsy span thirty years.

InI's "Step Up" and "Grown Man Sport" are the deep cuts from a shelved album that circulated for years and is now a cult object.

Go deeper

Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth's Mecca and the Soul Brother (1992) is the album, and it is one of the finest in the genre.

Soul Survivor (1998) is his own solo record, and InI: Center of Attention is the lost one worth finding.

For the source material: Tom Scott, Roy Ayers, Bob James, Lou Donaldson and the whole CTI catalogue. Following Pete Rock's samples backwards is one of the best jazz educations available.

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