Impeach the President

The record

The Honey Drippers were a group of high school musicians from Jamaica, Queens, mentored by soul singer and producer Roy C. Hammond, known as Roy C, whose 1965 single “Shotgun Wedding” had been a hit. Roy C wrote and produced “Impeach the President” as a protest against Richard Nixon during the Watergate scandal, and the group recorded it in a basement in Jamaica, Queens. After Mercury Records turned the song down as too controversial, Roy C released it in 1973 on his own Alaga label, catalog AL-1017, with “Roy C's Theme Song” on the flip. It did not chart, and reportedly only about 100 copies were pressed.

The break

The record opens with the drummer alone, playing a tight, dry pattern with a hard snare, a punchy kick and open hi-hat accents near the end of the bar. The first four bars became the part producers wanted. Roy C later said the drummer was the weakest player in the group and that he had to coach him closely during the session, but the lean, uncluttered sound of those bars is exactly what made them useful.

Into hip hop

The song was collected on Ultimate Breaks and Beats, which spread it to DJs and producers. An early rap use came from the Force MCs, whose 1983 live recording was not released until 2007. Marley Marl's work in 1986 made it a standard: he reprogrammed the break with a Roland TR-808 and a Korg SDD-2000 sampler for MC Shan's “The Bridge”, and its snare appears on Eric B. & Rakim's “Eric B. Is President”. Biz Markie used it on “Make the Music with Your Mouth, Biz”, and Audio Two's “Top Billin'” in 1987 built almost its whole beat from it. LL Cool J (“Around the Way Girl”), EPMD, Digital Underground, Digable Planets and Nas all returned to it in later years, and it also appears on Biz Markie's 1991 “Alone Again”.

Legacy

Roy C did not collect royalties from the flood of samples. He later tried legal action, but the attempts did not succeed. Original Alaga pressings are scarce and expensive, and Tuff City Records reissued the single in 2017, with Alaga issuing its own reissue later. For many producers, the opening of “Impeach the President” remains the reference point for what a hip hop snare should sound like.