Complex has a great series where they have legendary producers breakdown their hits. The latest installment features Diamond D.

Past installments included DJ Premier and Pete Rock. Below is an excerpt. Click here to read the full article. Also, if you missed our latest mix which features a lot of early 90’s A Tribe Called Quest and Diamond D, click here.

Here’s what Diamond D had to say about Soul Clap by Showbiz & A.G. (from Complex):

Diamond D: “I met Showbiz around the block. He was a DJ just like myself. We used to hang out together, go to each other’s houses and DJ all day, go to sleep, wake up, and do the same shit the next day. That’s how me and Show became close. But Show went to school with Finesse too, so everybody knew each other. That’s why we all helped each other. It was like second nature.

“For years, me and Show would say, ‘Damn, maybe one day we can make records.’ We would sit around and talk about Marley Marl and Prince Paul’s production. I remember when ‘The Humpty Dance’ came out, Showbiz loved that record. We were making beats, but at the same time studying other people’s stuff and learning from [them], so we could be relevant, if not better.

When I made ‘Soul Clap,’ there’s a backwards horn in there, and it’s the same horn they used from ‘The Grunt’ by the JB’s. I sampled the same record they used and reversed the horn the same way they did on Terminator X’s ‘To The Edge Of Panic.’ That was me paying homage to them.

“I put ‘Soul Clap’ together at K-Rock Studios in the Bronx, not far from 170th Street and Clay Avenue. We recorded it, A.G. laid his vocals down, and I believe Show added another layer of drums. And again, a lot of people bit off me with the bass line. They know who they are.

“Shout out to Hank Shocklee and The Bomb Squad production team. The first three Public Enemy albums, come on man. They were at the pinnacle. I mean, in the midst of all this rhyming going around me, I’m still a beat head at heart.

“When I made ‘Soul Clap,’ there’s a backwards horn in there, and it’s the same horn they used from ‘The Grunt’ by the J.B.’s. I sampled the same record they used and reversed the horn the same way they did on Terminator X’s ‘To The Edge Of Panic.’ That was me paying homage to them. That backwards shit was so ill, I just threw it under the bass line.”