Skull Snaps were a funk trio from Newark, New Jersey whose 1973 self-titled album became one of the most crate-dug records in hip-hop history. "It's a New Day" opens the album with a drum break so clean and punchy that producers could loop it straight off the record with minimal processing.

The band never achieved commercial success, but their recordings became essential source material for golden-age hip-hop. DJ Premier, Pete Rock, and Large Professor all used Skull Snaps breaks extensively — the trio's crisp, no-frills production aesthetic was perfectly suited to boom-bap sampling.