Pete Rock is a perfectionist. Everyone in the hip-hop world knows it, but you don't really feel it until you pull apart the layers of the reminisce over you sample. It’s arguably the most emotive piece of music in the history of the genre. When "T.R.O.Y. (They Reminisce Over You)" dropped in 1992, it didn't just climb the charts; it basically redefined what a "tribute" song could sound like.
The track was a mourning ritual for Trouble T Roy, a dancer for Heavy D & The Boyz who died in a tragic accident. But the music? The music feels like sunlight hitting a dusty record player.
Most people recognize that soaring, mournful saxophone right away. It’s iconic. It’s the kind of sound that makes you feel nostalgic for a childhood you might not even have had. But where did it come from? It wasn't a loop Pete Rock just found and left alone. He dug. He filtered. He chopped.
The Tom Scott Connection: More Than Just a Sax Loop
The backbone of the reminisce over you sample is a 1974 cover of Jefferson Airplane’s "Today" by Tom Scott and The California Dreamers. If you listen to the original Tom Scott version, it’s a bit... airy. It’s very much of its time—a jazz-fusion interpretation that leans heavily into that mid-70s California atmosphere.
Pete Rock saw something else in it.
He didn't just take the intro. He looked for the specific texture of the bass and the way the horns interacted with the space between the notes. To get that signature sound, Pete used the E-mu SP-1200. That machine is legendary for a reason. It has a specific 12-bit "grit" that makes everything sound warmer, thicker, and more alive.
It’s about the layers
Honestly, the genius isn't just the sax. It's the "overlay." Pete took the bassline from "Today" but then he also layered in elements from a different record entirely. He used "When She Made Me Promise" by The Beginning of the End to give the drums that specific, snapping crack.
Think about the technicality for a second. In 1992, you didn't have FL Studio or Ableton. You had limited sampling time—seconds, really. You had to pitch records up to save memory and then pitch them back down to get the right tempo, which created that beautiful, muffled distortion on the low end. That’s why the reminisce over you sample sounds so heavy. It’s literally compressed by the limitations of the technology of the era.
Why the Saxophone Almost Didn't Work
There is a famous bit of hip-hop lore about this track. Pete Rock has mentioned in various interviews, including deep dives with Red Bull Music Academy, that he was actually crying while making the beat. He was mourning his friend.
The sax melody—that descending line—felt like a literal sigh.
But here’s the thing: jazz covers of rock songs can be incredibly cheesy. If a lesser producer had grabbed that Tom Scott record, it might have ended up sounding like elevator music. Pete Rock avoided this by "filtering." He rolled off the high-end frequencies on certain parts of the sample to make it feel "underwater," then let the lead horn cut through the mix like a sharp memory.
The Nuance of the "Today" Cover
Interestingly, the Jefferson Airplane original (written by Marty Balin and Paul Kantner) is a psychedelic folk-rock ballad. It’s slow and brooding. When Tom Scott covered it, he turned it into a jazz piece. When Pete Rock sampled Scott, he turned it into a street anthem.
It’s a three-generation evolution of a single melody.
- 1967: Jefferson Airplane releases "Today."
- 1974: Tom Scott records the jazz cover.
- 1992: Pete Rock & CL Smooth release "T.R.O.Y."
That’s a long road for a few bars of music.
The Secret Ingredient: The Bassline
If you're a producer, you know that the reminisce over you sample is a masterclass in bass layering. Pete Rock is known for his "heavy" bottom end. He didn't just let the Tom Scott bassline sit there. He reinforced it.
He used a technique where he would sample the bass from one record, filter out all the melody, and then play a new rhythm over the top or layer it with a cleaner sine wave. This gives the song its "thump." It’s why you can play this song in a club today, thirty years later, and the floor still shakes.
It’s sort of incredible when you think about it. Most songs from the early 90s sound "thin" by modern production standards. Not this one.
Common Misconceptions About the Sample
People often think the entire song is just one loop. It’s not.
Pete Rock actually used about five different records to build the final track. You’ve got the Tom Scott horns and bass, the Beginning of the End drums, and then there are the "hidden" bits. There are vocal grunts and tiny percussion hits tucked into the corners of the mix that come from James Brown records (because, of course, it’s 90s hip-hop).
Another mistake? People often credit the wrong Tom Scott song. He has a vast catalog, but "Today" is the one. The specific album is The Honeysuckle Breeze. If you try to find a physical copy of that vinyl today, good luck. Because of the reminisce over you sample, the price of that record skyrocketed among collectors. It’s a "holy grail" find for crate diggers.
Technical Breakdown: The SP-1200 Magic
The E-mu SP-1200 only has 10 seconds of sampling time. 10 seconds!
To make "T.R.O.Y.," Pete had to be incredibly efficient. He likely sampled the Tom Scott horn riff at 45 RPM (much faster than intended) to save space, then used the machine’s internal tuning to bring it back down to the original speed. This process creates "aliasing" noise—a technical flaw that hip-hop fans actually love because it adds a metallic, crunchier texture to the sound.
This is why modern remakes of the beat often feel "off." Digital software is too clean. It doesn't have the grit of a machine that was literally struggling to hold the data.
The "Drunken" Feel
There’s a slight swing to the drums in the reminisce over you sample. It’s not perfectly on the grid. Pete Rock didn't use "quantization" (the feature that snaps notes to a perfect beat) the way modern trap producers do. He played the pads by hand. That human touch—the slight imperfections in timing—is what gives the song its soul. It feels like a heartbeat.
Cultural Impact and Legacy
The reminisce over you sample changed how producers looked at jazz. Before this, a lot of hip-hop was built on P-Funk or James Brown breaks. Pete Rock (along with guys like Q-Tip and Large Professor) pushed the genre toward a more "sophisticated" jazz-influenced sound.
It paved the way for groups like The Roots and eventually the "Neo-Soul" movement.
But it’s more than just technical influence. It’s an emotional blueprint. When Lupe Fiasco used the same sample for his track "Around My Way (Freedom Ain't Free)" in 2012, it actually sparked a bit of a controversy. Pete Rock wasn't happy. He felt the sample was too sacred to be reused in that way without a deeper connection to the original's intent.
That tells you everything you need to know. This isn't just a "beat." It’s a monument.
How to Find Similar Vibes
If you're obsessed with the reminisce over you sample, you shouldn't just stop at "T.R.O.Y."
You have to look at the whole "Jazz Rap" era. Pete Rock’s Mecca and the Soul Brother album is obviously the starting point. But then you should look at what Diamond D was doing on Stunts, Blunts and Hip Hop. Check out the production on Nas’s Illmatic.
The way these producers treated samples wasn't just "copy and paste." They were like surgeons. They were taking the DNA of old records and cloning something entirely new.
Key Tracks to Listen To:
- "Today" by Tom Scott: The source material. Listen to the 2:10 mark to hear the familiar horn.
- "When She Made Me Promise" by The Beginning of the End: For the drum texture.
- "Around My Way" by Lupe Fiasco: To see how the sample was reinterpreted (and why it was controversial).
Practical Steps for Producers and Fans
If you want to truly appreciate the reminisce over you sample, or if you're a producer trying to capture that 90s essence, here is what you actually need to do:
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- Study the "Muffle": Stop trying to make your samples sound "high-def." Use a low-pass filter to cut out everything above 10kHz. This creates that "warm" 90s feeling.
- Layer Your Bass: Don't rely on the sample's original bassline. It’s usually too muddy. Filter the sample's low end and add a clean, sub-heavy kick drum or a separate bass synth to provide the "knock."
- Dig for Covers: Don't just sample the most famous version of a song. Pete Rock didn't sample Jefferson Airplane; he sampled a cover of them. Covers often have different instrumentation that is easier to loop or chop.
- Crate Digging is Key: Use sites like WhoSampled to find the origins, but then go listen to the entire original album. Often, the best sounds are in the "dead air" between songs or in the outro of a track nobody listens to.
The reminisce over you sample isn't just a piece of trivia. It’s a reminder that great music comes from a place of deep emotion and technical curiosity. Pete Rock took a tragic moment and turned it into a timeless piece of art by looking at a 1970s jazz record and hearing a heartbeat.
Next time you hear that saxophone, don't just nod your head. Listen to the grit. Listen to the 12-bit crunch. Listen to the way those drums snap against the mournful horn. That’s the sound of someone turning grief into gold.