Think (About It)

The record

Lyn Collins was a singer in James Brown's revue, and “Think (About It)” was written and produced by Brown and cut with his band the J.B.'s, reportedly in a single take. People Records, Brown's own label, released it in June 1972 as catalog PE 608, with a cover of “Ain't No Sunshine” on the B-side. The single reached number 9 on Billboard's soul singles chart and number 66 on the Hot 100, and the song became the title track of Collins' debut album that year. On the single the song runs a little over three minutes. Its B-side, “Ain't No Sunshine”, was a cover of the Bill Withers song.

The break

The drums were played by John “Jabo” Starks. The arrangement is spare, a raw beat dressed with tambourine and layered background vocals, and it includes a section where the band thins out to the drums and the shouted “Yeah! Woo!” ad-libs. That combination of an open drum pattern and a vocal hook gave producers two usable pieces in one short passage.

Into hip hop

The song appeared on volume 16 of Ultimate Breaks and Beats, and the British duo Cookie Crew used it on “Females (Get On Up)”, produced by the Beatmasters, in 1987. Producers began working it into records as samplers such as the E-mu SP-1200 spread. Rob Base & DJ E-Z Rock's “It Takes Two” in 1988 was built almost entirely from it, looping the break and the “Yeah! Woo!” into a platinum-selling hit that made the break widely known. Slick Rick used it on “Kit (What's the Scoop)” that year, and it went on to records by Special Ed, Heavy D & the Boyz, Intelligent Hoodlum, Das EFX, Public Enemy, EPMD and Snoop Dogg. Kanye West returned to it on “So Appalled” in 2010.

Legacy

The “Think” break has been sampled thousands of times, with some estimates running above 3,000 uses, in hip hop, house, jungle and pop, and it is among the most recognizable drum loops in dance music. Its vocal shouts are as familiar as the drums; many listeners know them from “It Takes Two” long before they hear Collins' original. Pop acts reached for it too, among them Janet Jackson on “Alright”. The song has also appeared in video games including Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas and Street Fighter III: New Generation.