Woo! Yeah!

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	"Woo! Yeah!" Menu 0:00 The loop as heard on the original single, "Think (About It)" with the follow-up lyric
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Woo! Yeah! is a drum break that includes James Brown's ("Woo!") and Bobby Byrd's ("Yeah!") voices which has been widely sampled in popular music, often in the form of a loop. The drum break was performed by John "Jabo" Starks. It originates from the 1972 Lyn Collins recording "Think (About It)", a song written and produced by Brown, and is just one of a few other frequently used breaks contained in the recording, often collectively known as the Think Break.^[1]

Background and impact[]

In 1987, "Think (About It)" was featured on the 16th volume of the drum break compilation Ultimate Breaks & Beats, a highly popular series among hip hop producers.^[2][3] That year marked the first known use of the "Woo! Yeah!" break, when the Beatmasters, a UK hip hop production trio, sampled the break for Cookie Crew's song "Females (Get On Up)".^[4] While "Females" was a minor hit in the UK, the break did not receive major airplay and attention until the following year, when it was used as the backing loop for the track "It Takes Two" by MC Rob Base & DJ E-Z Rock. The song, which is almost entirely composed of sampled parts from "Think (About It)", became a platinum-selling hit.^[1]

As of 2020, thousands of songs have sampled "Woo! Yeah!". It became almost ubiquitous in dance and hip hop records during the late 1980s and early 1990s and continues to see use.^[4]

References[]