Impeach the President
{{Infobox song
| name = Impeach the President
| cover =
| alt =
| type = single
| artist = The Honey Drippers
| album =
| B-side = "Roy C's Theme Song"
| released = June 1, 1973{{Cite web|url=https://music.apple.com/us/album/impeach-the-president-single/1315891631|title=Impeach the President - Single by the Honey Drippers|date=June 1973|access-date=2021-08-04|archive-date=2021-08-04|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210804223431/https://music.apple.com/us/album/impeach-the-president-single/1315891631|url-status=dead}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.amazon.com/Impeach-President-Honeydrippers/dp/B077MXFPG6|title = Impeach the President| website=Amazon }}
| recorded =
| studio =
| genre = Funk
| length = {{Duration|3:17}}
| label = Alaga Records, Tuff City Records
| writer = Roy Charles Hammond
| producer = Roy C
| prev_title =
| prev_year =
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}}
"Impeach the President" is a song by funk band the Honey Drippers, written and produced by Roy Charles Hammond, known as Roy C. It was first released as a single on Alaga Records in 1973, and was re-released to iTunes by Tuff City Records in 2017, after being sampled hundreds of times since the mid-1980s.{{cite book |last=Metcalf |first=Josephine |title=African American Culture and Society After Rodney King: Provocations and Protests, Progression and Post-racialism|date=2015|publisher=Ashgate Publishing|isbn=9781472455390|page=182}} It is a protest song advocating the impeachment of then–U.S. President Richard Nixon.{{cite web|last1=Mlynar|first1=Phillip|title=Hive Five: Great Moments in Hip-Hop Inspired by Presidents |url=http://www.mtv.com/news/2695483/hip-hop-presidents/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171107023009/http://www.mtv.com/news/2695483/hip-hop-presidents/ |url-status=dead |archive-date=November 7, 2017 |publisher=MTV|access-date=1 November 2017|language=en}} In the chorus, the band chants the song's title while Roy persuades them to stop. The B-side is "Roy C's Theme".{{cite web|title=Impeach the President / Roy C's Theme, by The Honey Drippers|url=http://tuffcity.com/album/impeach-the-president-roy-cs-theme|publisher=Tuff City Records|access-date=1 November 2017}}
Significance
The song takes its drum pattern from "Funky Drummer" by James Brown; one of the most widely heard beats sampled and interpolated in hip hop, R&B, jazz and pop music.{{cite web|last1=Reiff|first1=Corbin|title=These are the breaks: 10 of the most sampled drum beats in music history|url=https://www.avclub.com/these-are-the-breaks-10-of-the-most-sampled-drum-beats-1798283974|website=The A.V. Club|date=26 August 2015 |access-date=1 November 2017}}{{cite web|last1=Doran|first1=John|title=James Brown – 10 of the best|url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/musicblog/2015/oct/28/james-brown-10-of-the-best|website=The Guardian|access-date=1 November 2017|date=28 October 2015}}{{cite web|last1=Markman|first1=Rob|title=Nas In 'Rare Form' On New Album, Salaam Remi Says|url=http://www.mtv.com/news/1674664/nas-album-salaam-remi/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171107023018/http://www.mtv.com/news/1674664/nas-album-salaam-remi/|url-status=dead|archive-date=November 7, 2017|website=MTV|access-date=1 November 2017|language=en}}
Sampling history
According to Mark Katz, Marley Marl in 1986 "became the first hip-hop producer to sample and reconfigure a recorded drum break" when he used the drum break from "Impeach the President" as the instrumental basis for MC Shan's song
In 1987, Audio Two used a two-second sample of "Impeach the President" on the song "Top Billin'".{{cite book |last1=Cowan |first1=Andy |title=B-Side: A Flipsided History of Pop |date=2023 |publisher=Oxford, England |location=Headpress |isbn=9781915316134 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LYC_EAAAQBAJ&dq=%22impeach+the+president%22+sample&pg=PT310}}
Digital Underground sampled the song on "Flowin' on the D-Line" from their 1991 album Sons of the P.{{cite book |last1=Rabaka |first1=Reiland |title=The Hip Hop Movement: From R&B and the Civil Rights Movement to Rap and the Hip Hop Generation |date=2013 |publisher=Lexington Books |location=Lanham, Md. |isbn=9780739181164 |page=262 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9O4G_FKdpBIC&dq=%22impeach+the+president%22+sample&pg=PA262}}
In 1992, Tuff City Records sued Sony Music and Def Jam Records, alleging that samples of "Impeach the President" were used in L.L. Cool J's songs "Around the Way Girl" and "6 Minutes of Pleasure", as well as EPMD's "Give the People".{{cite magazine |last1=Davies |first1=Barbara |title=Tuff City Sues Sony, Def Jam Over Sample on Cool J Singles |magazine=Billboard |date=11 January 1992 |page=71}} In a commentary in Billboard magazine, Aaron Fuchs, president oF Tuff City Records, stated that he charged a "low four-figure sum ... (three figures and less for indie labels)" to license "Impeach the President".{{cite magazine |last1=Fuchs |first1=Aaron |title=What's in a Hip-Hop Drum Beat? Plenty, If You Own the Original Master |magazine=Billboard |date=23 May 1992 |page=4}}
Digable Planets sampled the song in "Rebirth of Slick (Cool Like Dat)" in 1993.{{cite book |last1=Schonfeld |first1=Zach |title=24-Carat Black's Ghetto: Misfortune's Wealth |date=2021 |publisher=Bloomsbury Academic |location=New York |isbn=9781501355516 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SMwAEAAAQBAJ&dq=%22impeach+the+president%22+sample&pg=PT81}}
A Sprite commercial in 1995 featured Large Professor and Grand Puba freestyling over the song's breakbeat.{{cite magazine |last1=Nelson |first1=Havelock |title=Loud's Mobb Deep Depicts 'Infamous' Hood: 2nd Set Captures N.Y. Ghetto Life in Cinematic Detail |magazine=Billboard |date=8 April 1995 |page=24}}
"Impeach the President" was among the samples used in Nas's song "I Can".{{cite book |last1=Jeffries |first1=Michael P. |title=Thug Life: Race, Gender, and the Meaning of Hip-Hop |date=2011 |publisher=University of Chicago Press |location=Chicago |isbn=9780226395845 |page=72 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=a3bIlG3lrswC&dq=%22impeach+the+president%22+sample&pg=PA72}}
Kali Uchis sampled the beat in "Mucho Gusto" on her mixtape Drunken Babble.
See also
- "Let's Impeach the President", 2006 protest song advocating the impeachment of President George W. Bush by Neil Young
- "Synthetic Substitution", 1973 protest song by Melvin Bliss