Can You Feel It?

Recorded in 1986 by Original Concept, the Long Island hip-hop group that grew out of WBAU-FM’s “The Operating Room.” The single was produced by Original Concept and Rick Rubin for Def Jam Recordings. The track was the B-side of the group’s 1986 “Knowledge Me” single and quickly became the release that defined Original Concept’s name. It emerged as a classic underground rap record and a source of heavily mined breaks and samples. “Can You Feel It?” remains one of the most sampled records from early Def Jam, with later artists repeatedly lifting its drums and musical phrases. It is still cited as a key underground hip-hop source record from the genre’s mid-1980s boom.