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Concept
Amen break
Summary
The Amen break is a drum break that has been widely sampled in popular music. It comes from the 1969 track "Amen, Brother" by the American soul group the Winstons, released as the B-side of the 1969 single "Color Him Father". The drum break lasts about seven seconds and was performed by Gregory Coleman.
With the rise of hip hop in the 1980s, the break was used in hits including "Straight Outta Compton" by N.W.A and "Keep It Going Now" by Rob Base and DJ E-Z Rock. In the 1990s, it became a staple of drum and bass and jungle music. It has been used in at least six thousand tracks of many genres, making it the most sampled recording in music history.
The Winstons received no royalties for the sample. The bandleader, Richard Lewis Spencer, said it was unlikely that Coleman, who died homeless and destitute in 2006, realized the impact he had made on music. Spencer condemned its use as plagiarism, but later said it was flattering.
The Winstons were a multiracial soul band from Washington, D.C., who played throughout the southern United States. They were led by Richard Lewis Spencer. In early 1969, the Winstons recorded the single "Color Him Father" in Atlanta. For the B-side, they recorded an instrumental based on the gospel song "Amen" and a guitar riff Curtis Mayfield had played for Spencer. The result was "Amen, Brother", which took 20 minutes to compose. Though "Color Him Father" became a top-10 R&B hit and won a Grammy Award, "Amen Brother", received little notice at the time of release. The Winstons struggled to secure gigs in the South with their multiracial composition and disbanded in 1970.
At about 1 minute and 26 seconds into "Amen, Brother", the other musicians stop playing and the drummer, Gregory Coleman, performs a four-bar drum break. For two bars, he plays the previous beat; in the third, he delays a snare hit; in the fourth, he leaves the first beat empty, following with a syncopated pattern and early crash cymbal.
The drum break was added to lengthen the track, which had been too short with just the riff.
Official source
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