i just heard mary j blige's - take me as i am and the beat sounds very familiar. I think the beat (the piano part i guess) is taken from somewhere but i'm not sure...anyone know where it's from?

here's the link to the song
http://youtube.com/watch?v=HcVcOWU-UuA

Garden of Peace by Lonnie Liston Smith from the album Dreams of Tomorrow released in 1979. Pretty much the whole song is "sampled," but its really prevalent at around 1:00 into the original song.

Dunno how I feel about that. Its kinda like how the Yin Yang Twins "sampled" Din Daa Daa by George Kranz, when they pretty much just rap over the track. Actually kinda pisses me off. Of course the original is much better, because its original (meaning more creative).