Production Breakdown: J. Cole’s “Return of Simba” Posted by Richard on 05/27/11 | Filed under Features, J. Cole, Production Breakdown

The great – if ridiculously difficult to understand – German philosopher Georg Wilheim Friedrich Hegel, famously wrote “Truth is found neither in the thesis nor the antithesis, but in an emergent synthesis which reconciles the two.” If it weren't for the fact that he, you know, died over a hundred years ago, the man could easily have been talking about a debate that went down earlier this week, when J. Cole's much-buzzed-about “Return of Simba” made its impact at RefinedHype.



An album outtake on which the N.C. buzzmaker once again asserts his dominance over the game, the record features an epic, Elite-coproduced instrumental which samples not only Disney classic The Lion King, but also a joint by indie darlings The Yeah Yeah Yeahs... or was it vintage funk/soul group Heaven and Earth? Turns out it's both. Though RefinedHype users bitcloud7 and Xuup17 did most of my work for me (props!), I figured a beat this ingenious (and new) was worth breaking down for those who have yet to inform themselves.

Since it wouldn't be a Production Breakdown without going into unnecessary detail, here's the exact scene from The Lion King that J. Cole flipped for the record's intro – chosen, of course, to parallel the Roc Nation standard-bearer's relationship with Hova.



The ominous string/synth accompaniment playing behind the Lion Kingspeech (and right on top of the original soundtrack's strings) is taken from the Yeah Yeah Yeahs' “Runaway,” off critically-acclaimed '08 full-length It's Blitz.



Once J. Cole actually starts rhyming, the instrumental snaps back to an earlier section of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs' joint – roundabouts 0:58.

As RefinedHype readers noted, “Runaway” was also flipped (in Chipmunked form) on a track of the same name by Floridian emcee Laws. This “Runaway,”conveniently enough, can be found on last year's DJBooth.net-sponsored 4:57 mixtape, available for download here.



Back to J. Cole's record. Sample numero dos (or tres, if you count the intro) kicks in along with the percussion 34 seconds or so into “Simba.” Drawn from the intro to “Let Me Back In,” off Heaven and Earth's 1976 I Can't Seem to Forget You, the piano/bass-backed vocal opening fits perfectly over the top of the “Runaway” sample, sharing the Yeah Yeah Yeahs joint's key and (approximate) tempo. The seamless mixing of the two is what makes this beat truly impressive – and deceptive, as shown by many on the 'net who caught only one of the two.



As was the case with “Runaway,” there's only one other known (to me, anyway) sampling of “Let Me Back In:” Hi-Tek made similar, though less dramatic use of the same section on “Ballad of the Black Gold,” a record off Reflections Eternal's 2010 comeback LP, Revolutions Per Minute



And that's all she – ahem, I – wrote. This is one of those rare cases where a sampled beat doesn't have an intricate web of connections linking it to dozens to dozens of other joints. Which means that more beatsmiths really oughtta jump on these samples. Especially the Heaven and Earth cut – it's 35 years old, so producers have a lot of time to make up for. While you're getting on that, I'm going to go outside and enjoy some of this sun. Have a dope Memorial Day weekend!