15 of the Best Bowie Samples in Hip Hop and R&B

Your favorite artists rock to Bowie too.

R.I.P Bowie, You’ll Be Missed - On January 10, 2016, music lost one of its most innovative musicians. David Bowie’s music was beloved all over the world, and while at face value it’s easy to think the English musician had very little to do with hip hop or R&B; that couldn’t be more wrong. Bowie was an inspiration for so many of the genres' producers. His songs managed to trickle their way into timeless tracks. Check out our favorite 15. Don’t worry, we obviously left Vanilla Ice off this list. — Jon Reyes(Photo: Bryan Bedder/Getty Images)
Public Enemy, 'Night of the Living Baseheads' (1988) - This ultimate anti-dope PSA by Public Enemy was rambunctious in its message and audio, it had to be. For a couple of seconds deep into the record you can hear an opening riff from Bowie’s “Fame.”(Photos from left: Peter Kramer/Getty Images for Tribeca Film Festival, Kevin Winter/Getty Images)
Jay Z, 'Takeover' (2001) - When Yeezy Tweets about David’s influence on him, he isn’t just saying it. On the opener for Jay Z’s critically acclaimed The Blueprint West used a Bowie sample to interpolate into Hov’s rhymes dissing Nas.(Photos from left: Andrew H. Walker/Getty Images, Theo Wargo/Getty Images for TIDAL)EPMD, 'It Wasn’t Me, It Was the Fame' (1989) - The New York native hip hop duo sampled Bowie’s “Fame” for an ode to their own come up and how things had changed after they made it.(Photos from left: Michael Loccisano/Getty Images for Tribeca Film FestivalScott Gries/Getty Images for Vh1)

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R.I.P Bowie, You’ll Be Missed - On January 10, 2016, music lost one of its most innovative musicians. David Bowie’s music was beloved all over the world, and while at face value it’s easy to think the English musician had very little to do with hip hop or R&B; that couldn’t be more wrong. Bowie was an inspiration for so many of the genres' producers. His songs managed to trickle their way into timeless tracks. Check out our favorite 15. Don’t worry, we obviously left Vanilla Ice off this list. — Jon Reyes(Photo: Bryan Bedder/Getty Images)

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