Joe Sample

During the creation of “Dear Mama”, Tupac used samples of another artist named Joe sample.
Joe Sample was an American Pianist born on February 1, 1939 in Houston, Texas. Joe had a successful solo career before joining the Jazz Crusaders, a modern jazz sextet, in the 1970’s that parted ways in 1987.(Brackett) His modernized work within jazz music was a hit during it’s time period and brought him to fame based on his skills playing the electric keyboard. His style of play signified on rhythm and blues with a jazzy-funk sound.(Brackett) Tupac heard the value in Joe’s music and was able to sample from it. Tupac sampled from the song, “In All My Wildest Dreams”, which was written during the extent of Josephs solo career. Tupac was able to sample this song and slow it down from its original version while adding his own spin on it. During the course of “Dear Mama” we are able to hear the sample hit at approximately 24 seconds into the song. Tupac doesnt explicitly steal the entire song but rather signify’s on the hook / riffs of Joe Samples solo modern jazz music. This method of Sampling, specifically choosing Joe Sample is to signify on his success and also to signify on the popular music of the generation that Tupac’s mother grew up in. Reason being is that “Dear Mama” is a thank you letter or essentially a gift from Tupac to Afeni. In giving this gift he wanted to decorate it to his mother’s style and liking so that she could relate to it and make a personal connection to the song that goes deeper than the lyrics.