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21 Rap, R&B & Afrobeats Songs That Sample & Interpolate Sade 

Billboard rounded up rap, R&B and Afrobeats songs by Rema, MF DOOM, Snoop Dogg, Burna Boy, Ashanti, Nipsey Hussle and Queen Latifah that sample and interpolate Sade.

Rema‘s latest single “Baby (Is It a Crime)” made a lot of noise last November when the Afrobeats star first teased it with its super-recognizable sample of Sade‘s 1985 hit “Is It a Crime.” The English band, led by quiet storm icon Sade Adu, has been a source of inspiration (and sample material) for plenty of R&B singers, rappers and Afrobeats artists over the decades.

Rema isn’t the only Nigerian artist who’s paid homage to the British-Nigerian frontwoman (real name Helen Folasade Adu). Burna Boy interpolated the band’s 1985 classic “The Sweetest Taboo” 35 years later on his Sauti Sol-featuring track “Time Flies.”

While MF DOOM has sampled Sade’s timeless records like “Is It a Crime” and “Kiss of Life,” indie U.K. producer Seanh2k11 fused their brilliance on his 2016 mashup EP Sadevillain (à la MF Doom and Madlib’s 2004 joint album Madvillainy). Snoop Dogg, who has interpolated “Smooth Operator” in two different songs and was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame alongside Sade in 2023, said he “would love to smoke” with her and “hopefully get a record out of her, too” while appearing on Jimmy Kimmel Live! last month.

And even though Eminem never officially sampled Sade, he wrote in his 2000 book Angry Blonde that he originally wrote “I’m Shady” from his 1999 Grammy-winning album The Slim Shady LP to “one of Sade’s tracks [‘Turn My Back on You’]. I thought of the bassline and we made the song.”

Billboard rounded up 21 rap, R&B and Afrobeats songs that have sampled and interpolated Sade, in order from newest to oldest.

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