Hip-Hop: Scruples for Samples (Part 2)

In the last segment, we established that producers who sample are justified in sampling as long they can manipulate the sample into something different. Now the question is, are producers really doing that? Are they being thorough about it?

In an interview, DJ 'Scribe,' founder of the DJ Collective, and the I Love Vinyl New York dance party tradition, tells journalist William "Upski" Wimsatt (Bomb the Suburbs) what he enjoys about being a hip-hop producer:

"...the creative part of hip-hop production is to take music from different genres...and fuse them into a new piece of music, a new whole - something distinct from the sum of its parts - something with a soul all on its own." (Wimsatt, 2001)

As a pianist, composer, and up-and-coming hip-hop artist, I've become increasingly concerned about how hip-hop producers seem to ignore the idea of their music being 'distinct from the sum of its parts;' that samples are not being chopped, mixed, rearranged, and experimented with enough to sound like a truly new song. I just feel that stretching one's creative boundaries through sampling is more than just adding a new drum beat or changing the key of the sample. A lot of samples today can be easily recognized from the original song with a little digital crate digging. The internet makes it easy to track down the source of a sample. (i.e.: YouTube)

A lot of hip-hop heads (myself included) are still wishing and reminiscing about how great hip-hop was in the 90's, both from a lyrical and musical standpoint (I touched on this issue in my post about why hip-hop is not dead). Strangely enough, many examples that I have found of easily recognizable samples were from 90's hip hop albums.* That doesn't go to say that hip-hop songs of today don't have the same problem, but it suggests that the music people are craving may NOT be as inventive as we believe it to be.

What can be most conflicting about this issue for me is that many examples that I can think of are some really nice-sounding beats; the music from the original song sounds so good that it almost makes me want to forget that the sample has not been manipulated very much.

*I have many specific examples in mind, but I think this is one of those times in which it would be better for you to find examples on your own; many of you probably already have certain cases in mind.

Have we been doing enough to push our own musical creativity in hip-hop?

YOU to be the judge.

Quote Source:

Wimsatt, William 'Upski,' Bomb the Suburbs, Softskull Press, 2001

Hip-Hop: Scruples for Samples (Part 1)

Are producers truly making new music, or are they just stealing?

It's been a tradition since the early days of hip-hop; taking different pieces of music and putting them together to make a new song. Sampling stems partially from the ideals of Africa Bambaataa, one of hip-hop's original pioneers of the 1970's, and founder of the hip-hop movement known as Zulu Nation. Determined to stop violence amongst rival gangs in the Bronx, he mixed music from different communities during his dj party sets, uniting people and cultures all over the city. He is described by journalist Jeff Chang (whom I referenced in my previous post) as "break-centered." In other words, he would use his favorite part of a song, and mix it with portions of other songs. He "...pulled out what was precious and tossed the rest." Today, hip-hop continues to be very break-centered, sampling different records from different walks of life, worldwide.

Unfortunately, the ethical issues that come into play with sampling are nearly as old as the tradition itself. In the late 80's, the group De La Soul was sued for using a sample from the turtles for their debut album "3 Feet High and Rising." In a 2010 blog post from Benz & a Backpack Timbaland is said to have been accused of sampling music from Egyptian artist Hossam Ramzy without permission for Jay-Z's "Big Pimpin'." In both cases, the sampled material sounded too similar to the original material. These are just a few instances that compromise the morality of hip-hop.

One of my favorite artists, Count Bass D has a t-shirt that summarizes the production aspect of sampling ethics in one sentence:

"Sampling ain't biting*, as long as you flip it fresh."

*Biting: to copy or mimic

Put in layman's terms, if you can take a sample and change it, mix it, and chop it to the point where it is unrecognizable, where it becomes a new sound, it's acceptable.

Consider this. All musicians, hip-hop or not, gain inspiration from the music of others. In order to compose, one must be familiar with music on a certain level. It is hard to create a full composition without having some musical knowledge, and inspiration from music that already exists; it is your foundation for composition. With your knowledge of music, you imagine how you might change and evolve a sound you have already heard. You experiment in your mind and with your instrument based on your foundation. After you are satisfied, a song is born.

Now, imagine a person who uses samples for hip-hop music. They have a foundation just like any other musician. They are able to experiment, try out new ways of implementing that foundation by mixing, cutting, etc. The difference is that having a sample allows one to directly reference the original record; to reference their foundation. So inspiration from samples can be molded into any new form of music via turntables physically, just as musical knowledge and inspiration from a song you remember in your head can be molded and shaped mentally.

End of Part 1

Part 2 coming soon!