Cortex — Huit Octobre 1971
Troupeau Bleu · 1975
Label: Saravah · Genre: Rare Groove / Jazz-Funk / Rare Groove · From: Paris, Europe
Cortex was a Parisian jazz quartet that in 1975 recorded one of the most sampled albums in hip-hop history without anyone in hip-hop knowing their names for twenty years. Troupeau Bleu was released on Saravah — Pierre Barouh's label — and sold almost nothing. The track Huit Octobre 1971 was discovered by New York crate diggers in the 1990s and sampled by Jay-Z on Dead Presidents II. The sample's origin remained a mystery for years. When it was finally traced to a 1975 French jazz record by an obscure quartet, even serious collectors were stunned.
Did you know: Huit Octobre 1971 was built around a sample-ready break that French producers were using years before sampling was mainstream. Cortex was a Paris-based jazz quartet who dissolved after one album; their obscurity made the record extremely rare until crate-diggers found it in the 1990s. Today an original pressing sells for several hundred euros, and the album has been reissued multiple times to meet demand.
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