Nautilus

The record

“Nautilus” is the sixth and final track on One, the first album Bob James made for Creed Taylor's CTI label. It was recorded between February and April 1974 at Van Gelder Studio in Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, and the album was released on June 4, 1974. The core trio was James on Fender Rhodes and keyboards, Gary King on bass and Idris Muhammad on drums, with an uncredited string section. Steve Gadd drums on the album's first four tracks, and Muhammad plays on the last two. James has said he brought in a sketchy, untitled piece to fill out the second side of the LP. Taylor named it after a sound in the synthesizer intro that reminded him of a submerging submarine. One reached number 2 on the Billboard Jazz Albums chart, and “Nautilus” was never released as a single.

The break

Producers have drawn on three parts of the recording: the opening synthesizer figure and stuttering keyboard refrain, Gary King's bassline, and Idris Muhammad's drums, which are left exposed after the 3:30 mark. James later credited the track's appeal to the simplicity of its groove and to an intro that loops easily, set against a mysterious, atmospheric arrangement.

Into hip hop

“Nautilus” was a staple at block parties and in DJ sets before samplers were common. Dr. Jeckyll & Mr. Hyde's “Doing the Do” (1982) and Rockmaster Scott & the Dynamic Three's “It's Life (You Gotta Think Twice)” (1983) replayed parts of it. Once sampling took hold, it was used on Ultramagnetic MC's “Bait”, officially released in 1987, Lord Shafiyq's “My Mic Is on Fire” and Ice-T's “409” the same year. In 1988 it appeared on Eric B. & Rakim's “Follow the Leader”, Run-DMC's “Beats to the Rhyme”, the Geto Boys' “Snitches” and Slick Rick's “Children's Story”. Main Source used it on “Live at the Barbeque” in 1991, the posse cut that introduced Nas.

Legacy

RZA's production of Ghostface Killah's “Daytona 500”, from Ironman (1996), is one of the best known uses, and James has been filmed reacting to it. WhoSampled lists more than 400 records drawing on “Nautilus”, from Houston and Memphis tapes to later work by Maxo Kream, whose “Go” appeared on Punken in 2018. The track shows how a late addition to a jazz LP became a basic building block of hip hop production across several decades and regions.