Production Breakdown: The Sample History of “A Clockwork Orange”

Gangster cinema has provided no shortage of sample material for rappers and producers seeking to evoke images of organized crime—simply flip the Godfather theme or Paul Engemann's “Scarface (Push It to the Limit),” and listeners' heads will automatically flood with visions of big money and besuited mafiosi. But what about when you need something that says, “I'm a violent thug, but in a cultured, art-house kind of way”?

That, of course, is when you reach for a copy of the A Clockwork Orange soundtrack. One of the most outre entries in cinema giant Stanley Kubrick's filmography, the X-rated cult favorite found a group of flamboyantly-dressed teens committing theft, rape and murder in a dystopian near-future England—all backed by electronic pioneer Wendy Carlos' Moog renditionds of classical favorites (along with the occasional showtune).

Among many notable scenes, the film boasted one of the most memorable openings in cinema history (Warning: this clip contains sexually explicit mannequins).



That ominous shot, backed by a synth rendition of 17th-Century composer Henry Purcell's “Music for the Funeral of Queen Mary,” (presented below in a more complete/traditional version)



has inspired quite a few hip-hop songs—most recent among them “Sofa King Cole [Redux],” a recent Booth feature from Windy City emcee Rockie Fresh. (Produced by The Cartoonz\)



That, however, was just the most recent use of the sample, which has been flipped by a variety of underground artists from the early 2000s onward (No, I don't know why they waited so long to sample a flick from the '70s). According to WhoSampled.com, the first act to flip the sample was actually a German crew by the name of Creutzfeld & Jakob (for all y'all medical students out there, yes, that is inspired by Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease, the human variant of Mad Cow disease) on “Fehdehandschuh,” a cut off 2000 album Gottes Werk Und Creutzfelds Beitrag.



East Coast underground rapper Cage, famous for (among other things) accusing Slim Shady of style-biting, used the Clockwork Orange as a springboard gfor a vivid tale of antisocial behavior on the Necro-produced “Agent Orange,” off '02 debut set Movies for the Blind.



Another early-2000's sampling came courtesy of Hypnotize Minds emcee Frayser Boy. Off 2003 full-length Gone on That Bay, “Pistol Playa” found Three 6 members DJ Paul and Juicy J putting an interesting Southern spin on the Wendy Carlos sample. It also boasts lyrics made up almost entirely of the words “b*tch” “n*gga,” “p*ssy,” “f*ck,” “ass” and “gun”... could this be what rap sounds like to my grandparents?



In keeping with the firearm theme, “Okay Dun,” Mobb Deep's contribution to '05 comp album Maybe You Been Brainwashed, found Clinton Sparks (the man behind the album) garnishing the sample with about as many hanbdgun soung effects as one record can hold.



The Alchemist liked Wendy Carlos' Purcell cover so much he chopped it up on his very own “ALC Theme,” off 2009 LP Chemical Warfare.



Last but most definitely not least, producer Mani took a fresh approach to the sample on Ämina,”a cut off Greek crew Bong Da City's recently-releasded Purple and Blue mixtape. (Side note: for being totally incomprehensible to me, Greek flows sound pretty damn cool, huh?)



And that, my friends, is the sample history of the Clockwork Orange theme (aka “Music for the Funeral of Queen Mary”) Whose beat was the dopest? That's for RefinedHype readers to decide...