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William Devaughn and Fo' Clips - Just Be Thankful:

Fo' Clips - Just Be Thankful

One of my favorite breaks is that "Diamond in the Back" break, which for years I had been under the mistaken impression was from a Curtis Mayfield song. For a while there it seemed to be a requirement that if you were a rapper from Compton you had to put out at least one song using the sample, with the most notable examples coming from King Tee and N.W.A.. I had never heard the above clip from fellow Comptonite Fo' Clips until someone posted it on Facebook. In fact I had never heard of Fo' Clips Eclipse at all before today, perhaps because Clips, a member of the Kelly Park Compton Crips, was killed in a drive-by shortly before the release of his one and only album.

Anyway, it seems I wasn't the only one mistaken as to the origin of the break, as one of the top google results for it is, On what album did Curtis Mayfield sing Diamond in the Back? The answer, as it turns out, is "none." The song is actually by William Devaughn, who put out two versions of it. Here's the original version from 1974 (you can listen to the more disco friendly version from 1980 over here):


William DeVaughn - Be Thankful For What You Got (Original Version)