ESG were four sisters — Renee, Valerie, Deborah, and Marie Scroggins — from the South Bronx housing projects. In 1981, they recorded "UFO" at Factory Records in Manchester, England, with legendary producer Martin Hannett. The story goes that they were given only three spare minutes of studio time, and they used it to lay down a track of startling minimalism: a skeletal bass line, stripped-down percussion, and an otherworldly atmosphere inspired by the final scene of Close Encounters of the Third Kind.

"UFO" has been sampled over 500 times, making it one of the most sampled tracks in music history. Public Enemy, Nas, Gang Starr, Big Daddy Kane, TLC, Wu-Tang Clan, Nine Inch Nails, and J Dilla have all drawn from it. The track's extreme minimalism is its strength — there's so much space in the recording that producers can layer it with anything. Three minutes of studio time from four teenage sisters created a piece of music that would influence hip-hop, house, and electronic music for the next four decades.