- [Narrator] What you're about to hear
are six seconds that changed the course of music history.
("Amen, Brother" by The Winstons)
From N.W.A. to Skrillex,
from David Bowie to countless drum and bass songs,
this four-bar drum solo is possibly
the most sampled piece of recorded music ever.
This is the Amen, Break.
In 1969, funk soul band The Winstons
released a single called Color Him Father.
The B-side of that record was a groovy,
horn-driven rendition of a traditional
gospel song called "Amen, Brother."
At one minute and 25 seconds,
drummer G.C. Coleman takes a solo.
("Amen, Brother" by The Winstons)
Color Him Father would win a Grammy Award for best R&B song,
but "Amen, Brother" would remain
nothing more than a B-side for years.
Enter Breakbeat Lou.
- Alright, start it from the top.
Louis Flores, aka Breakbeat Lou.
Bronx DJ since 1974.
- [Narrator] Lou and his late partner Lenny Roberts
started making compilations for DJs
called Ultimate Breaks and Beats.
- My role mainly was to help him select the records.
And then I started becoming the editor
and the recording engineer for these particular records.
- [Narrator] The first Ultimate Breaks
and Beats included a half dozen tracks,
including of course "Amen, Brother."
("Amen, Brother" by The Winstons)
- The drum break is probably one of the most organic,
larger than life, big presence style of drums.
The way the drums are tuned, the way they are played.
The way the hi-hat is going is real soft, but real rhythmic.
The way the kick is hit is hard, like a heavy leg.
The snare is snapping in your face.
There's so many depths to this particular track.
There's nothing else like it.
- [Narrator] As young DJs became producers,
they slowed down the Amen break
and used it as the foundation in early hip-hop songs,
notably N.W.A.'s Straight Outta Compton.
("Straight Outta Compton" by N.W.A.)
- N.W.A. Straight Outta Compton
is straight out "Amen, Brother."
You really have the excitement of
and the message that record was sending.
I don't think that any other drum break
coulda made it the way it was.
- [Narrator] Throughout the '90s,
the influence of the Amen break continued to spread.
The sample became a defining element to drum and bass
and jungle music, like this track by English DJ, Dillinja.
("Ja Know Ya Big" by Dillinja)
- [Narrator] According to the online database Who Sampled,
by the end of 2018, the break has
appeared in over 3,000 songs.
Cropping up in "Little Wonder" by David Bowie,
("Little Wonder" by David Bowie)
"Eyeless" by Slipknot,
("Eyeless" by Slipknot)
and contemporary electronic acts like Skrillex.
("Ragga Bomb" by Skrillex)
- To think of the impact that it's
had in multiple genres is incredible.
We had no idea that the sampling
craze was gonna become what it has.
Even though we didn't release CDs,
the impact of Ultimate Breaks and Beats
have invoked people to create CDs as bootlegs,
full cover, credits and everything behind it.
- [Narrator] After putting out 25
volumes of Ultimate Breaks and Beats,
Lou saw the industry changing
and decided to walk away from his music career.
But the legacy of Ultimate Breaks and Beats remained.
And in 2009, people wanted to put
a face to the album's creators,
and Lou was coaxed out of retirement.
- I want y'all to give it up for
Breakbeat Lou on the wheels of steel.
(hip-hop music) (crowd cheering)
- I had no idea of the appreciation
for the compilation had become
and the appreciation for Lenny and myself.
Then when they found I was a DJ also,
then they were like, well, so come back and DJ.
It's just been a snowball effect of the appreciation
for what we contributed to the culture.
It is humbling; it is mind-boggling;
and it brings a certain amount of pride
that we were able to become a part
of music history in the essence.
(electronic dinging)