Triggerman (beat) - Wikipedia

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2024-05-14 11:30:15

The Triggerman beat, also known as Triggaman, is a one-bar drum loop that originated from sampling "Drag Rap" by the Showboys and "Brown Beats" by Cameron Paul. The one-bar drum loop and bells was known to be used in bounce music, having been used in hundreds of records.[1][2] The beat has been influential in recent hip hop music, including Juvenile's "Back That Thang Up",[3] David Banner's "Like a Pimp",[4] T.I. and Lil Wayne's "Ball",[5] Drake's "Nice for What" and "In My Feelings", and also "Go Crazy" by Chris Brown and Young Thug.[6][7]

The first beat was created in 1986 by Orville 'Buggs Can Can' Hall[2] and Phillip 'Triggerman' Price,[8] the duo went by the stage name the Showboys, for the song "Drag Rap" on Priority Records. In a studio in Hollis, Queens New York named Power Perk where owner and engineer Brian Perkins acted as the in-house keyboard session player. Drag Rap is regarded as "a classic rap story that lifts both its sonic and structural cues directly from Dragnet." The song references three popular commercials of that period including Wendy's Where's the Beef, Old Spice's sea shanty jingle, and Irish Spring soap,[3] the idea for the Old Spice whistle was suggested by Jam Master Jay. The production includes beatboxing, a xylophone riff and the 'bones' piano loop which was manually played out for 6 minutes because some of the studio equipment was malfunctioning. The 808 drum machine, instrumental ostinato arpeggio pattern, "all right all right" vocal ad libs, vocal clips, five variation of drum rolls, and the 'bones' piano loop were part of what has been frequently sampled.[8][2]

The record had buzz for its first month of being released in New York City but was largely a flop [2] until it was later discovered in the southern hip hop community being first used by Memphis based DJ Spanish Fly on the song "Trigga Man" in 1990.[9] The second song to use the triggerman beat was Kevin 'MC. T. Tucker and DJ Irv's "Where Dey At" released in 1991. Tucker had bought Drag Rap at a Sam Goody during a trip to New York in 1986. After playing Drag Rap at parties back in New Orleans he claimed the song could be run for up to four hours straight at a time. DJ Irv would loop the song on two turntables while chants would be added by the MC. It was then recorded on cassettes known as "red tapes" and given to local radio stations being added into rotation.[10] DJ Jimi used the beat the following year in 1992 on "Where They At", a follow-up record of sorts, which helped to spread the popularity in the local bounce scene. Labels like Cash Money Records began releasing several recordings with the beat including Magnolia Shorty, U.N.L.V., DJ Jubilee, and Ms. Tee.[11]