10 Rap Songs That Sampled Classical Music
9. Blue Flowers - Dr. Octagon (1996)
Sample: Violin Concerto N°2 by Béla Bartók
Producer: Dan The Automator
Search “Surgery lamps” on Google Images. Most pics will feature a sort of bending floor lamp ending in a thick disc, with blue-ish LED light bulbs placed circularly along its outline, like the petals of a flower. Dr. Octagon, the deranged surgeon that is but one of Kool Keith’s many aliases, must’ve found the inspiration to this song maniacally wandering in his lab, scribbling lyrics between two operations.
Dan The Automator, who earlier in the album had maliciously sampled Pachebel on the I Got To Tell You skit, crafts one of the most macabre-sounding tracks of an entire album that feels like a gloomy science-fiction novel. Dr Octagonecologyst is considered an underground classic, and rightfully so.
Think of it as a rap equivalent of The Velvet Underground & Nico: it wasn’t commercially successful, but everyone who did listen to it was inspired to become a rapper. The displays of sociopathy, the intricacy of internal rhymes, the glorification of weirdness and off-kilter aesthetics, Octagon's influence can be felt through the lyrics of hip hop titans like Eminem (specifically Slim Shady) and MF Doom (with whom he worked more than once).