It's a New Day

The record

Skull Snaps were a New York soul trio made up of Samm Culley on bass, Ervan Waters on guitar and George “Buzzy” Bragg on drums, with all three singing. Until 1970 the group recorded as The Diplomats. In 1973 they released the album, Skull Snaps, on GSF Records. It was produced by George Kerr and arranged by Bert Keyes together with the band, with a young Ed Stasium working as engineer. GSF also issued “It's a New Day” as the B-side of the single “My Hang Up Is You”, catalog 6891 in the United States. The song runs about three minutes, and it was this B-side, not the A-side, that later drew producers. The group was active only until the mid-1970s.

The break

“It's a New Day” opens with a two-measure drum break by Bragg: a heavy kick, a fat, ringing snare and a loose hi-hat, recorded with plenty of room around it. Its weight and space set it apart from the brighter funk breaks that had dominated 1980s rap production.

Into hip hop

Unlike most of the classic breaks, “It's a New Day” was never included on Ultimate Breaks and Beats, so it circulated through diggers who found the original record. Stezo was among the first, using it on “It's My Turn” in 1989, and Eric B. & Rakim used it on “Step Back” in 1990. In the early 1990s it became one of the defining drum sounds of East Coast rap: Tim Dog and Organized Konfusion used it in 1991, and The Pharcyde's “Passin' Me By”, Das EFX's “Mic Checka” and Onyx's “Throw Ya Gunz” followed. Das EFX leaned on it more than once, including “East Coast” and “Straight Out the Sewer”. Ol' Dirty Bastard, Big L and Mobb Deep kept it going into 1995, and later producers including MF Doom and Kaytranada, on Chance the Rapper's “All Night”, returned to it.

Legacy

The break was later used outside hip hop by acts including The Prodigy and Linkin Park, and one count puts its uses at more than 500 songs. Common and Digable Planets are among the other rap acts that sampled it. The album was reissued in 1995 by Charley Records, and in 2005 Culley, Waters and Bragg reunited to record again. Original GSF copies of Skull Snaps are prized by breakbeat collectors.