"Rise" is an instrumental written by Andy Armer and Randy 'Badazz' Alpert, first recorded in 1979 by trumpeter Herb Alpert. Released as a single from Alpert's solo album Rise, the song reached #1 on the Billboard charts. It is the instrumental sample for The Notorious B.I.G. hit "Hypnotize".

Background

"Rise" was written by Herb Alpert's nephew Randy, in collaboration with Andy Armer. The A&R representative at A&M Records, Chip Cohen, knew Randy Alpert was into funk and disco music. He asked Randy to rework Tijuana Brass hits as funk tracks.^[3] Herb Alpert recalls, "I think we started by playing ‘A Taste of Honey’ or ‘Tijuana Taxi'. And it just felt like the wrong approach. I didn’t feel comfortable playing that way."^[4]

As Alpert and Armer were working on Cohen's assignment, they decided to write an original song for Herb as well. The result was "Rise". “Rise” was originally recorded as an uptempo dance number, however, while recording the master at A&M studios, the drummer on the session, Steve Schaeffer, strongly suggested that Herb and Randy try slowing the tempo down to 100bpm.^[3]

It reached number one on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 in October of that year and remained in the top position for two weeks. Herb Alpert thus became the first artist to reach the top of the Hot 100 with a vocal performance ("This Guy's in Love with You", 1968) as well as an instrumental performance. "Rise" was also successful on other charts, peaking at number four on the R&B chart,^[5] number 17 on the disco chart ^[6] and spending one week atop the adult contemporary chart.^[7] The recording also received a Grammy Award for Best Pop Instrumental Performance.^[8] Songwriters Armer and Alpert were nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Instrumental Composition.^[8]

"Rise" has been frequently requested as a sample by various artists. Randy Alpert declined most of them. When he heard the tape of Notorious B.I.G. rapping over "Rise" he was wildly enthusiastic about it and immediately approved the sample. He later gave Bell Biv DeVoe permission to sample the song, because he was a fan of the group. He declined to let The Sopranos use the song during a scene where someone was being beaten. Alpert also refused to let Pfizer use "Rise" in a campaign for Viagra which would have relied on the double entendre implied by the song's title.^[3]

In October 2016 the "Rise Remix EP" was released on the Herb Alpert Presents label. It has seven selections with six remixes as well as the original track.

Personnel

• Herb Alpert – trumpet
• Tim May & Chris Pinnick – guitars
• Abe Laboriel – bass guitar
• Mike Lang – acoustic piano
• Andy Armer – Fender Rhodes electric piano
• Julius Wechter – marimba
• Steve Schaeffer – drums
• Don Hahn & Don Koldon – engineers

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Covers and samples

• A sample of "Rise" is the entire musical groove of the 1997 song "Hypnotize", recorded by The Notorious B.I.G. and co-produced by Sean "Puffy" Combs.^{[citation needed]}
• Bel Biv DeVoe sampled "Rise" in their 2016 song "Run". The song's lyrics also quote The Notorious B.I.G.'s "Hypnotize".^{[citation needed]}
• "Rise" was recreated in the style of nu jazz by New York City producer Jonathan Hay and Worcester, Massachusetts artist Atlas Jenkins for the album Wish You Were Brooklyn.^[14]