Hip hop songs with reggae samples are far more common than casual listeners realise. Hip-hop has been borrowing from reggae since Jamaican-born Kool Herc updated the soundsystem throwdown for his new home in the Bronx.
From golden-era boom-bap to contemporary chart rap, producers have returned again and again to Jamaican vinyl for bass-heavy riddims, melodic hooks, and toasting vocals that no synthesiser can replicate.
The reggae references, both sonic and otherwise, that inform so many of rap’s biggest tunes have a way of flying under many hip-hop listeners’ radars.
This guide names 20 confirmed cases, traces the original source in each, and explains why the connection matters.
Why Producers Keep Reaching for Reggae
The relationship between Reggae and Dub is key to the development of what is now termed ‘the remix,’ and the practice of distributing riddim tracks to multiple vocalists to create versions based on a common theme has also created a unique set of musical connections.
That infrastructure gave hip-hop producers a vast library of pre-cleared rhythms, vocal chants, and horn stabs to work with.
At the height of hip-hop’s first golden age, Boogie Down Productions was one of the very first acts to flip a reggae sample, and in the 1990s, hip-hop and reggae both crossed over in a major way, making the use of reggae samples commonplace amongst players in the hip-hop game.
Today, hip-hop songs with reggae samples are dropping at a rapid pace, especially during the hotter months, when audiences are searching for the soundtrack to cookouts and dance parties.
The 20 Songs
1. Kanye West feat. Rihanna and Swizz Beatz — “Famous” (2016)
Samples: Sister Nancy — “Bam Bam” (1982)
While “Famous” became popular for Kanye’s Taylor Swift name drop, the Sister Nancy sample could not be ignored.
In the middle of this booming cut off The Life of Pablo, Kanye samples the legendary “Bam Bam” tune and blends it with an evocative hip-hop sound. The song is partly based on the Stalag Riddim, released in the 1970s by Winston Riley’s Techniques Records.
Kanye makes use of the classic by looping Sister Nancy’s “Bam Bam” chant, as well as the trumpet arrangements on the Stalag Riddim, to serve as a bridge to the final performance of the chorus.
Billboard called “Bam Bam” “a strong contender for the title of most sampled reggae song of all time.”
2. Jay-Z feat. Damian Marley — “Bam” (2017)
Samples: Sister Nancy — “Bam Bam” (1982); interpolates Jacob Miller — “Tenement Yard”
On his 13th studio album, 4:44, Jay-Z delivered a pair of vintage verses over No I.D.’s reggae-inspired production on the Damian Marley-assisted “Bam.” No I.D. used several elements of dub — dub-style delay and sirens — throughout the song while also sampling Sister Nancy’s classic reggae anthem “Bam Bam.”
Damian Marley, on the other hand, interpolated Jacob Miller’s “Tenement Yard” on the hook. The track represents one of the most architecturally ambitious reggae-informed hip-hop productions of the 2010s.
3. Kanye West feat. Big Sean, Pusha T and 2 Chainz — “Mercy” (2012)
Samples: Super Beagle — “Dust a Sound Boy” (1986); Reggie Stepper — “Cu-Oonuh” (1991)
“Mercy” is among the hip-hop songs that sampled dancehall and landed with the most seismic force, heavily sampling Super Beagle’s 1986 track “Dust a Sound Boy” and Reggie Stepper’s 1991 track “Cu-Oonuh,” weaving Jamaican sound-clash culture through a 2012 hip-hop landmark.
“Mercy” is part of a tradition of summer hip-hop and reggae crossovers that XXL described as “earth-shattering.”
4. The Notorious B.I.G. feat. Diana King — “Respect” (1994)
Samples/Interpolates: Pan Head — “Gun Man Tune” (1990)
On his classic debut album, Ready to Die, The Notorious B.I.G. nods to his Jamaican heritage via “Respect,” an autobiographical track that lifts and speeds up Pan Head’s “Gun Man Tune” for the hook.
Pan Head, born Anthony Johnson on October 28, 1966 in Saint Mary Parish, Jamaica, was a reggae and dancehall deejay whose career was cut short when he was shot dead in October 1993.
The posthumous recognition his music earned through Biggie’s debut album gave “Gun Man Tune” a second life that still resonates.
5. Lauryn Hill — “Lost Ones” (1998)
Interpolates: Sister Nancy — “Bam Bam” (1982)
While “Lost Ones” is not technically a sample in the conventional sense, the melody of the hook is an interpolation of “Bam Bam,” and the track was completed in Tuff Gong Studios with members of The Wailers on hand, drawing a direct throughline from the legendary house that Marley built on Hope Road to hip-hop’s hit-heavy infatuation with reggae and dancehall in the late 1990s.
6. Drake — “Controlla” (2016)
Samples: Beenie Man — “Tear Off Mi Garment”
There is no questioning how much of a dancehall reggae fan Drake is. In 2016, “Controlla” became one of the hottest songs of the summer thanks to its breezy dancehall beat and dance floor-ready vibes.
For the album version of the song, a sample of Beenie Man’s “Tear Off Mi Garment” amplifies the dancehall aesthetic of the track.
7. LL Cool J — “Doin’ It” (1995)
Samples: Grace Jones — “My Jamaican Guy” (1983)
For LL Cool J’s “Doin’ It,” the Queens MC and Rashad “Ringo” Smith sampled the piano keys off Grace Jones’ 1983 reggae single “My Jamaican Guy.”
The song adopted the concept of Leshaun’s “Wild Thang” (which also samples Grace Jones’ hit) where a raunchy conversation between the two rappers details a steamy encounter.
The song was originally meant for The Notorious B.I.G., but due to money issues, “Doin’ It” became LL’s second top 10 hit off Mr. Smith and his third top 10 hit overall.
8. Eric B. and Rakim — “Paid in Full (Seven Minutes of Madness — the Coldcut Remix)” (1988)
Samples: Mikey Dread — “African Anthem Dread All the Way”; Mikey Dread — “Saturday Night Style”; Mikey Dread — “Comic Strip”
The Coldcut remix of the 1987 golden-age landmark is one of the most sample-dense recordings in hip-hop history.
The remix contains samples of, among many others, “African Anthem Dread All the Way” by Mikey Dread, Rod Taylor, and King Tubby, and “Saturday Night Style” by Mikey Dread.
The “You make me feel so good” vocal from Mikey Dread’s catalogue is perhaps most famously used in Coldcut’s cut-and-paste masterpiece of a remix of “Paid in Full.” Eric B. and Rakim admitted to not having heard Coldcut’s remix until they came to London and were played the song on their way to perform on the BBC’s Top of the Pops.
At first angered since they had not authorised the remix, by the end of the journey the duo had warmed to the track.
9. Nicki Minaj — “Megatron” (2019)
Samples: “Filthy Riddim” (as used in Mr. Vegas — “Heads High”)
Nicki Minaj dropped “Megatron,” her first solo single of 2019, which samples “Filthy Riddim,” a classic beat notably used in dancehall songs like Mr. Vegas’ “Heads High.”
The choice confirmed that, even as Afrobeats competed for mainstream ears, dancehall riddims retained their currency in top-level commercial rap production.
10. Main Source — “Just Hangin’ Out” (1991)
Samples: Sister Nancy — “Bam Bam” (1982) / Stalag 17 Riddim
Sister Nancy’s “Bam Bam,” based on the Stalag 17 riddim and borrowing vocals from the Maytals track of the same name, is arguably the best known of the Stalag vocal cuts.
Themes from the track cropped up in early 1990s hip-hop, including usage on classics such as Main Source’s “Just Hangin’ Out” and Pete Rock and CL Smooth’s “The Basement.”
11. Pete Rock and CL Smooth — “The Basement” (1992)
Samples: Sister Nancy — “Bam Bam” (1982) / Stalag 17 Riddim
Pete Rock and CL Smooth, two of the most sample-literate producers of the early 1990s, tapped the same Stalag foundation for “The Basement.”
The Stalag Riddim has been sampled or referenced by global artists including Jay-Z, Lauryn Hill, Public Enemy, and Kanye West, making it, in aggregate, the single most important Jamaican musical structure in the history of mainstream sample culture.
12. French Montana feat. Nicki Minaj — “Freaks” (2013)
Samples: Chaka Demus and Pliers — “Murder She Wrote”
The sample usage of Chaka Demus and Pliers’ “Murder She Wrote” on French Montana’s “Freaks” sees the song chopped and noticeably looped with little alteration. Nonetheless, the track became a radio hit.
13. The Diplomats — “Dipset Anthem” (2003)
Samples: Reggae source
The Diplomats’ “Dipset Anthem,” released in 2004, is part of the tradition of summer hip-hop and reggae crossovers that has defined the genre’s relationship with Jamaican music.
The track’s horn-laden swagger lifted directly from a reggae record and became one of the most recognisable rap anthems of the mid-2000s New York scene.
14. Guerilla Black feat. Beenie Man — “Compton” (2004)
Samples: Sister Nancy — “Bam Bam” (1982)
Guerilla Black turned heads in 2004 with his debut single, “Compton.” The rapper possessed a flow similar to the late Biggie’s heavy, nasally delivery. Carlos “6 July” Broady sampled Sister Nancy’s “Bam Bam” for “Compton,” which features an excellent appearance by dancehall king Beenie Man.
15. Boogie Down Productions — “P Is Free” (1987)
Samples: Reggae sources including Yellowman and Super Cat
Hip-hop and reggae have had a long, interwoven relationship, and some might even say reggae plays an influential role in hip-hop.
The sampling of reggae has occurred for decades, beginning most notably with Boogie Down Productions, who sampled the great works of Yellowman, Super Cat, and many other reggae legends.
BDP’s KRS-One, himself of Jamaican parentage, brought an authenticity to these early flips that few of his contemporaries could match.
16. Joey Bada$$ and Capital STEEZ — “Survival Tactics” (2012)
Samples: Reggae source
WhoSampled lists “Survival Tactics” by Joey Bada$$ and Capital STEEZ (2012) as one of the notable hip-hop records drawing on reggae source material.
The Pro Era duo’s use of a heavy reggae-rooted sample on their breakout record introduced the practice to a new generation of boom-bap revivalists.
17. Dr. Dre and Ice Cube — “Natural Born Killaz” (1994)
Samples: Reggae source
WhoSampled catalogues “Natural Born Killaz” by Dr. Dre and Ice Cube (1994) among the prominent hip-hop records that drew on reggae material.
The Death Row/Priority collaboration’s menacing atmosphere was partly constructed from a Jamaican source, underscoring how far the reach of reggae extended across the genre’s regional fault lines
18. A Tribe Called Quest — “Dis Generation” feat. Busta Rhymes (2016)
Samples: Reggae source
WhoSampled also lists “Dis Generation” by A Tribe Called Quest featuring Busta Rhymes (2016) alongside “Pass Da Blunt” by Missy Elliott featuring Timbaland (1997) as hip-hop tracks with verified reggae connections.
“Dis Generation,” from ATCQ’s reunion album We got it from Here… Thank You 4 Your Service, demonstrated that the practice of reaching for reggae source material remained vital even in the streaming era.
19. Missy Elliott feat. Timbaland — “Pass Da Blunt” (1997)
Samples: Reggae source
WhoSampled records “Pass Da Blunt” by Missy Elliott featuring Timbaland (1997) and “I Left My Wallet in El Segundo (Vampire Mix)” by A Tribe Called Quest (1992) among verified reggae-sampling hip-hop records.
Timbaland’s production instinct to fold a reggae element into an R&B and rap hybrid pointed toward the cross-genre experimentalism that would define his career.
20. 2 Live Crew — “Reggae Joint” (1989)
Samples: Wayne Smith and King Jammy — “Under Mi Sleng Teng” (1985) / Sleng Teng Riddim
An anthem of the 1980s digital riddim revolution, the Sleng Teng riddim and vocal has seen more varied appropriation than any other track in the reggae canon, including being sampled by 2 Live Crew in an X-rated hip-hop rework from the group’s controversial 1989 LP As Nasty As They Wanna Be for the unimaginatively titled “Reggae Joint.”
The Sleng Teng riddim, widely regarded as the first fully digital riddim in Jamaican music, proved irresistible to hip-hop producers working in an era when digital production itself was still a novelty.
The Riddims That Keep Coming Back
Several Jamaican musical structures appear so frequently across this list that they deserve individual recognition.
The Stalag 17 Riddim is the most consequential of all. Bam Bam,” originally released in 1982 on producer and Techniques Records founder Winston Riley’s Stalag riddim, has permeated hip-hop for over two decades, turning up in samples, song lyrics, and even films. According to WhoSampled, “Bam Bam” has appeared, in some form, in over 130 tracks as of 2022.
The Sleng Teng Riddim sits close behind. Created in 1985 and credited as the genre’s first wholly digital production, it gave 2 Live Crew, Barrington Levy, and SL2 very different but equally memorable records.
Sister Nancy’s catalogue has functioned almost as a standalone sample library for hip-hop. From Madlib and DJ Premier to Pete Rock and Lauryn Hill, hip-hop has given Sister Nancy and her seminal recording “Bam Bam” as many lives as there are producers still excited to chop the 1982 dancehall anthem.
A Living Tradition
Hip-hop’s use of reggae samples includes The Diplomats’ bold “Dipset Anthem” in 2004, G.O.O.D Music’s “Mercy” in 2012, and Nicki Minaj’s “Megatron” in 2019. Even with the surge in popularity of Afrobeats, hip-hop’s relationship with reggae continues to flourish.
The connection is structural, not seasonal. As long as hip-hop producers keep digging through Jamaican record crates, whether physically in Kingston or digitally via streaming databases, the cross-pollination that began in a Bronx rec room in the 1970s will keep producing new chapters.
