The founder and CEO of one of pioneering hip-hop label in Tommy Boy is coming back with a hip-hop compilation like no other. Instead of your run of the mill mix of various hip-hop artists, CEO Tom Silverman has personally selected and compiled twelve of the most sampled tracks in hip-hop's history.

Hits like Billy Squier's "The Big Beat" (most recently featured on Jay Z's "99 Problems"), Bob James' "Take Me to the Mardi Gras" (sampled by Run DMC for "Peter Piper" and LL Cool J on "Rock the Bells"), Cymande's "Bra" (most popularly used in DJ Kool's "Let Me Clear My Throat"), and David Bowie's Rock/Funk hit "Fame" (lifted by Public Enemy for "Night of the Living Baseheads") are among the records featured on Tommy Boy's compilation, entitled Hip-Hop Roots.

Remembering his hip-hop roots, Silverman recalls the days (in the '80s) at Downstairs Records "where one could buy vinyl by artists such as Dennis Coffey, Bob James, Jimmy Castor, The Eagles, Incredible Bongo Band, Herman Kelly and Life, The Monkees and so many more that seemingly had nothing to do with each other, except for the fact that the founding fathers of hip-hop were digging them up and rocking them in the Bronx."

"[At the legendary T-Connection in the Bronx, you see] Afrika Bambaataa working the turntables," Silverman recounts of the '80s. "To his left and right were Jazzy Jay and Red Alert waiting for their turn to mix. Some of the records had the label steamed off so other DJs would not know what he was playing. Evidently, his efforts were in vain because 25 years later, DJs and producers are still relying on the beats that he, Kool Herc and Grandmaster Flash discovered."

To add to the authenticity of bringing fans the "roots" of hip-hop, DJ Jazzy Jay was brought aboard to edit some tracks the way he would have done back in his heyday during the '80s at the T-Connection.

"Rather than be elitist or separatist, Hip Hop is accepting and absorbing of outside influences. African, Latin, Disco, Funk, or the corniest Pop or soundtracks were accepted and made the genre stronger just as America is made strong by its confluence of cultures and rainbow of peoples," Silver said.

Hip-Hop Roots is slated to drop August 9 on Tommy Boy Records.

Below is the final tracklisting:

"It's Just Begun" - The Jimmy Castor Bunch (RCA, 1972)
"The Big Beat" - Billy Squier (Capitol, 1980)
"Think (About It)" - Lyn Collins feat. the JB's (People, 1970)
"Take Me to the Mardi Gras" - Bob James (CTI, 1975)
"Fame" - David Bowie (RCA, 1975)
"Happy Music" - The Blackbyrds (Fantasy, 1975)
"Express Yourself" - Charles Wright & The Watts 103rd Street Rhythm Band (Warner, 1969)
"Bra" - Cymande (Janus, 1972)
"Mary Mary" - The Monkees (Colgems, 1967)
"Let a Woman Be a Woman, and Let a Man Be a Man" - Dyke and the Blazers (Original Sound, 1969)
"Give it Up or Turnit A Loose" - James Brown (King, 1970)
"UFO" - ESG (99 Records, 1981)

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..The Council..
7 Day Theory