Hip-hop wouldn't be the same if it wasn't for the funk and soul artists that came before it. Whether it's Dr. Dre looping Leon Haywood's "I Wanna Do Something Freaky To You" as the backbone to "Nuthin' But A G Thang," Jermaine Dupri flipping Ohio Players' "Funky Worm" for the basis of Kriss Kross' "Jump" or Redman dipping into Parliament/Funkadelic's deep catalog for just about all of Whut? Thee Album and Dare Iz A Darkside, the thread of funk music flows freely through the history of rap.

If George Clinton, James Brown and Sly Stone make up the heavy hitters from which hip-hop has most often drawn, Steve Arrington's influence has been almost as significant. Initially breaking in as the percussionist and drummer for the Ohio-based funk group Slave in the mid-1970s, he went solo in the early 1980s and had a string of success as the frontman for Steve Arrington's Hall Of Fame throughout that decade. His records as a part of both Slave and his solo group have been sampled by hip-hop heavyweights such as Jermaine Dupri and Jay Z ("Money Ain't A Thang"), N.W.A ("Gangsta Gangsta"), A Tribe Called Quest ("The Chase, Pt. II") and Snoop Dogg ("Gin And Juice" and "Let's Get Blown"), among plenty of others.

With a new album, Way Out 80-84, in stores Sept. 29, XXL spoke to the funky pioneer about the early days of hip-hop, being sampled by Dr. Dre and Q-Tip and how hip-hop has played a major role in keeping the essence of the funk alive. One nation under a groove. —Dan Rys

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Photo Credit: Clark Gable
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XXL: You got your start professional in music in the mid-1970s, correct?
Steve Arrington: Professionally, yes. Kind of in high school, but yeah I'd say that.

When did you first start hearing hip-hop?
Well it would have to be "Rapper's Delight," when I first heard that by Sugar Hill Gang. As a matter of fact, their first tour they went out and they were opening for Slave when I was in Slave. I saw them, I saw Grandmaster Flash and those guys; I saw the beginning, and then I saw the next wave when I was doing my own solo thing when Eric B. and Rakim opened for me once. So I saw it really get started and then I saw it when it really had taken hold.

What was your initial reaction to the new genre of music?
I loved it from the artform point of view, but when I heard that people were being sampled and not getting paid for it because the business template had not caught up with the artistic moves that were happening in music, there was confusion on how to get paid for people using your music. Once that was rectified and the business model caught up with the vision of the artist, I was fully engaged and with it. And I am to this day a fan of from what started with Sugar Hill Gang.

How did you feel when you started to hear your records get sampled, at least from an artistic perspective?
Oh, I loved it. When I first heard "The Chase Pt. II" with A Tribe Called Quest using "Beddie-Biey," I loved it. I loved how they flipped it, and I told Q-Tip that when we actually met about, I guess, three to four years ago. I told him how much I dug that, and he was excited about that. Actually the whole team was together and I walked in on the rehearsal they were doing in L.A., and they were just like, "Woah, what's happening, man?" And I just told them how much I was digging how they flipped "Beddie-Biey."

And I also was digging how Jermaine Dupri and Jay Z used "Weak At The Knees," and N.W.A, and Brand Nubian, how they flipped "Nobody Can Be You." I dug it, man. You know, I'm always a person who digs the adventure of music. I call myself a music adventurist. So people that are doing fresh and new things, I'm always interested to see what it is and how I fit in it, or how others are doing things to push music forward.

A lot of hip-hop legends have sampled your music, whether with Slave or your solo material. Who do you think flipped your songs the best?
Which one did it best? It depends on the mood I'm in. I will quickly say "The Chase Pt. II" because "Beddie-Biey" was not like "Weak At The Knees" or "Nobody Can Be You," or even Snoop Dogg's "Gin And Juice" or "Let's Get Blown" [both of which sampled Slave's "Watching You"]. All of those were hit records that were sampled for those particular tracks. But "Beddie-Biey" wasn't a single, it was an album cut. And I played guitar on that. So the fact that they sampled that, plus that's me playing guitar—which people hadn't really known that I'd done much guitar playing and bass playing and things like that—for me to hear that with me playing guitar is a special treat for me.

"Gin And Juice" especially is such a massive song. How does it feel to be apart of that legacy?
Oh, yeah, absolutely. It's incredible. When I first heard it and I heard the melody I was like, "Woah, man, they jumped on the melody." 'Cause a lot of times they jump on just the tracks, or they'll replay the track rather than sample it. But in that case, they jumped on the melody and Snoop did his thing. Yeah, man, I loved it, and that was a huge, historic hip-hop record. It's a blessing and an honor to be a part of that.

Have you ever met Dr. Dre?
I've never met Dre. I've met DJ Quik and some of the people that are closely associated with the camp, but I've never met Dre. That would be something I'd like to do for sure.

Especially because he's been such an influential supporter of funk music.
Yeah, absolutely. You know, the West Coast has really been instrumental through the G-Funk movement and the hip-hop that's come from the West Coast has definitely connected with the funk movement. And particularly Dayton funk.

A lot of this generation really get introduced to the deep cuts of funk music via hip-hop.
Absolutely. Salute to hip-hop inasmuch as so many people who wanna say, "Oh, where did Dre get this sample?" or, "Where did Madlib get that sample?" and then they find the original record that Jermaine Dupri sampled. And then they're introduced to music that they never would hear. So that's one of the great things about hip-hop that I appreciate as well. They kept funk music alive for another generation, and a lot of soul music as well.

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There have been a lot of legal issues around sampling over the years. Did you ever get caught up in that?
No, my publishing administration always was able to get things cleared. And sometimes things took longer than others, but no, I never had to sue anyone or get really hardcore with it. And I'm thankful for that.

You've got a new record coming out, right?
Yes. Way Out 80-84, it's a retrospective of the years of my career in that time with eight unreleased joints. With five I went in and revisited, added vocals to and overdubs on top of the original tracks with members from my current band. So it was an exciting project to do. It'll be out September 29. Looking forward to that.

Related: Snoop Dogg & Dâm-Funk Pay Homage To The Greats In 7 Days Of Funk
22 Rappers Who Sampled James Brown’s “Funky Drummer”
Big Boi’s Tour Bus Playlist: E-40, Slick Rick, Parliament-Funkadelic, More

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