A friend reads my criticism of D-Block’s "Take Everything You Got" and e-mails:

Is it really an unforced error to sample the theme from Cheers? Those lyrics are mediocre on their own. The song however stands out because it flips a cultural dog=whistle for white forty-somethings, who associate Cheers with this safe and witty retreat from the chaos of I don’t know the rodney king riots. Then these black hoodlums come along with an 808 machine and turn their show’s anthem–an anthem about creating a second family at a neighborhood bar–into an anthem about mugging someone’s fiance, who is on a diet involving salmon. It’s some worst nightmare shit. It’s actually kind of Viking.  

That’s expressed so well I don’t really want to argue with it. But I think it’s best as a general principle to avoid sampling TV theme songs. Remember when Mase used the "Welcome Back Carter Kotter" theme for his comeback?