3 The Payback (1973)
Sampled 81 Times
Title track to an album by the same name, the Payback was supposed to be featured in Hell Up in Harlem, a blaxploitation film. The song was rejected for not being James Brown Enough. What? Nevertheless, The Payback was a #1 R&B hit and the 3rd most sampled JB song. First sampled in Whodini’s Be Yourself (1987) and most recently by Superstition in Bad Blood (2007). Honorable sample mentions also include R Kelley, Mary J Blige, The Notorious B.I.G. and Shaquille O’Neal.