From Vinyl to Hip-Hop Samples: Mapping the Visual Evolution and Impact of 'The Way It Is'

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By the mid-1990s, Hornsby’s composition found an entirely new audience through hip-hop sampling history. Producers recognized that the melancholy warmth of the original piano run created an ideal backdrop for street-level realism.

Bay Area pioneer E-40 made the first prominent leap. On his 1996 album The Hall of Game, E-40 released "Things'll Never Change", interpolating the melody and inviting Hornsby to contribute re-recorded elements and background vocals. The track demonstrated that Hornsby's chord structure resonated deeply with West Coast rap storytelling.

Two years later came the defining cross-genre moment. In 1998, two years after the fatal shooting of Tupac Shakur, Amaru Entertainment and Interscope released "Changes" on Shakur’s Greatest Hits compilation. Produced by Deon Evans (Big D the Impossible), the track lifted Hornsby’s piano hook directly, pairing it with Shakur’s reflections on urban poverty, police brutality, and gang violence.

The thematic alignment was seamless. Shakur took Hornsby’s 1986 critique of structural racism and updated it for post-civil rights inner-city America. "Changes" peaked at number 32 on the Billboard Hot 100, earned a posthumous Grammy nomination for Best Rap Solo Performance in 2000, and turned Hornsby’s piano riff into an instantly recognizable cultural signifier for a generation that had never owned an RCA vinyl record.