Syl Johnson recorded "Different Strokes" in 1967 for the Chicago-based Twinight Records label. Johnson was a blues and soul singer from Holly Springs, Mississippi, and the track is a raw, gritty piece of Chicago soul — all distorted guitar, punchy horns, and a driving drum groove. The song's title and hook — "different strokes for different folks" — would become a popular catchphrase.

Wu-Tang Clan's RZA built the instrumental for "Shame on a Nigga" around it, and that single usage alone cemented the track's place in hip-hop canon. The track's raw, lo-fi quality — a product of small-budget recording conditions — gave it an aesthetic that aligned perfectly with the gritty production style of 1990s East Coast rap.

Johnson was initially hostile to sampling, filing lawsuits against several hip-hop artists. He later came to terms with sampling culture and reportedly earned significant royalties from the hundreds of tracks that interpolated his work.