The Champ

"The Champ" by the Mohawks came out on Pama in 1968 backed with "Sound of the Witchdoctors" (A-side 2:42, B-side 2:50). Wikipedia credits Harry Palmer as writer and producer; Stereogum and the obituaries say Hawkshaw wrote the Hammond organ riff, which he played with Les Hurdle on bass and Byron Davis on drums. It is based on Lowell Fulson's "Tramp" (1966 or 1967), and Otis Redding and Carla Thomas covered "Tramp" for Stax about four months after the Mohawks' record; the shouted word is "tramp", not "champ". It did not chart on release; a 1987 re-release reached number 58 in the UK, and a gold vinyl reissue came out for Record Store Day 2018.

It is on Ultimate Breaks and Beats, on the same volume as James Brown's "Funky Drummer", and was sampled by Afrika Bambaataa, Afrika Islam and Jazzy Jay on Fusion Beats Vol. 2 (c. 1980-81), DJ Chuck Chillout (1984), Eric B. and Rakim on "Eric B. Is President" (1986), Miles Davis on "Fantasy" (Doo-Bop, 1992) and Migos on "Stir Fry" (2018), among many others including Big Daddy Kane, EPMD, Salt-N-Pepa and De La Soul. Wise Music, citing WhoSampled, counts more than 600 tracks, and another source over 750. Our upload carries the song under Hawkshaw's name, and it was not inspected to confirm it is the Mohawks' original.