This Little Boy Blues Record Was A Seed Of Love For Some Brooklyn Rap Giants (Audio)

Little Boy Blues released a single album, 1968’s In The Woodland Of Weir. The Psychedelic Garage Rock outfit fronted by “Little Boy Blue” Ray Levin, would eventually rise to open for the Rolling Stones, The Association, and Lovin’ Spoonful. Formed four years before the Fontana Records LP, the band was active in the mid-1960s Chicago, Illinois and Milwaukee, Wisconsin scene. Right as things got interesting, the group disbanded, leaving just one LP for the world to remember. Curiously, by the time the LP dropped—much of the original band was not to thank. Marc Coplon’s vocals are those heard crying into the song, as new drummer Bill Mooney set the time. As they say, nothing was the same.

As it would happen, the world would remember the dusty nugget of an LP. Although Garage Rock and Hip-Hop are not often associated with each other, one drum-and-organ-heavy song from the album would make its way into the hands of some esteemed Rap producers.

In 1994, “Seed Of Love” would make up some of the basis for an incredibly catchy interlude track on O.C.’s acclaimed Word…Life debut for Wild Pitch Records. The hard hitting organs were the perfect interjection on O’s insightful debut. Buckwild and Prestige blew the dust off of the song for the lead-in to “Point Of Viewz.” With just less than 20 seconds of beat, the moment was fleeting.

Related: Stream O.C.’s New EP, Chock Full Of Introspect & Precise Delivery (Audio)

In the 2000s, things got interesting. For Black Moon’s third album, Total Eclipse, the group’s sound shifted. Founding member DJ Evil Dee and brother, Mr. Walt (together known as the primary basis of Da Beatminerz) would bring Little Boy Blues back out for Duck Down single, “Stay Real.” While Da Beatminerz would share production duties with a host of others on the charting LP, this fiery track was a reminder of that dusty Bucktown sound forever associated with early Boot Camp Clik movement.

Just over one month after Total Eclipse hit shelves, Jay Z’s multi-platinum curtain call The Black Album followed. While “Public Service Announcement (Interlude)” was never a single, it has become one of Jay’s most heralded songs. Arguably, not an album cut, in Shawn Carter’s career, few records elicit more of a response than this Just Blaze-produced moment of clarity. With a nearly identical chop-down of the sample as Evil Dee’s, the coincidence of the two songs stirred controversy at the time in Hip-Hop. Notably, Black Moon and Jay both had Brooklyn ties, and very interesting career parallels. To boot, some of Just Blaze’s breakthrough production came with Black Moon front-man Buckshot.

Whether Just Blaze heard Da Beatminerz’ work or not does not matter in 2015. Both artists came after the D.I.T.C. usage. Additionally, the overlap does not compromise the impact of Black Moon’s single, or Jay’s moment—both of which are performed in their respective concerts today.

Related: Black Moon’s ‘Powaful Impak’ Is The Focus Of A Duck Down Feature Documentary (Video)

In Chicago—the same city that the Little Boys Blues repped—Qwel (of Underground Hip-Hop mainstay Typical Cats) would freak a completely different element of the song in 2001’s “Brick Walls.” Perhaps this adds to the charm in the master recording, hitting the groove pocket.

Like many Psych records, Little Boy Blues employed motifs on In The Woodland Of Weir. The same sounds that would lead into “Seed Of Love” were at play in “Dream Weaver.” That somber groove was used by Diamond D on “Bird’s Eye View,” the Likwit posse cut from 1996 Xzibit debut, At The Speed Of Life. Diamond and Buckwild are D.I.T.C. brethren, in the 1990s—and today.

All these years later, what do you think is so grabbing about the whole song, “Seed Of Love”? Who do you think flipped the sample the best?

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