Hi All,

I would like to know your point of view on sampling.
I am often quite upset when I hear a modern artist sampling another, mind you some new sampled versions sometimes offer another creative dimension to a track.
Unfortunately It does not happen too often.
I often find that sampling is a bit too easy and disrespectful. I truly admire artists who work very hard to be unique and creative.
Most of the time the original artist does not get any credits or financial compensation. I wish there was a rule stating if a track has been sampled and quoting the original performer. The original composer is stated but no trace of the original performer.
I can't help thinking of artists in the 60's and 70's struggling to make it and fighting to get known, touring extensively and working very hard and definitely not earning as much as artists nowadays.
When I listening to their music, I feel the passion and the authenticity.
I had this conversation many times in real life and people don't seem to care where the original track comes from. Music is another form to get educated and it is essential for me to question it and research it.
What do you think?

samples should be used carefully and creativly . not just to create your sound on an already 3 or 4 hit songs per song and put a beat over it. learn how to play drums , and bass guitar and create your own damn song because sampling is getting anoying

It is disrespectful a lot of the time, and illegal a lot of the time also. Timbaland comes to mind. He has no respect for the artists he samples.

It is one thing when you are at least given credit for the sample... but when an artist has his work ripped off without any credit, and left to prove that he was indeed ripped off... the damage done there is more than just the monetary losses.
[Edited 3/10/08 3:18am]

Nice post, Suzie! I agree with you mostly; I hate it when people just lift entire tracks from somewhere else and thicken the beat.

I love sampling artists, though, that use ONE building block of a melody and twists it around into somthing else, like J Dilla.

Some producers, like Puff Daddy, even though some tracks were dope, just stole too much and became lazy becuz of it.

I love the peeps of De La Soul and Jurrasic 5 for making the kinda beats and using the kinda samples that are fun to track down. They make it fun to listen to samples.

A tool, like any other, that can be used or misused and whose quality can become as heated/questionable/subjective as whether someone can sing, play, write or has left an original enough imprint to be considered worthy of their ears.

Thank you for your comments guys
It is nice to know that I am not the only one feeling upset about this issue.

I had a conversation with a group of people and they did not seem to mind at all the overuse of sampling and passively told me that this is what the new generation wants... which I do not agree as the music industry is dictating which music is supposed to be cool. So I played Ray Charles I've got a woman to show them how Kanye used it and their reply was: "..but Ray Charles is old stuff, people are not interested in this". I found it quite sad.
I understand that we all have different musical tastes but good music ages well.
I will always admire previous or current musicians, artists and composers who can translate their respect and passion into music. I don't take music for granted and enjoy researching about it

Well, if you get the sampler platter at TGIF or whatever, what do you get? "Samples" of three or four different types of food - teasers. The same principle is at work in sampling music - many rap songs often incorporate more than one sample when they "lace the track." But how many songs that have become so popular (made so much money) in the last ten years that used sampling will be remembered like the golden oldies? I think it's a good tease, but does it really deserve the same "hype" as songs by the Beatles? And before I hear "the Beatles copied other artists, too", I'd like to point out that it's one thing to use elements of another music form, but it's another to copy a part of a song identically.

I don't like it. If you can't create your own music you shouldn't be in the business. It doesn't take any talent to steal someone else's music and attempt to pass it off as something new.

It's kind of like a new version of covering someone else's song. I never liked that much either. Covers are ok once in a while but I think too often they are overdone.

(lazily sampling Brendan's whole post)

Brendan said:

I agree with the whole point of view that sees sampling as just another tool to aid creativity. If it is used as a starting block to something new, then that's fine. Using a drumbeat that comes from another record is no worse than playing a guitar intro that sounds like a million other songs cos the lazy songwriter couldn't come up with something fresh, don't you think?

I think when Hip Hop started and it was young, amateur rappers using beats as a backing for their raps, that's clever, innovative. When it's Kanye West who has access to professional equipment, and who has the time and the money to go into a studio and create something fresh from nothing and he just slows down a Curtis Mayfield record and raps over that, it gets a bit zzzzz for me.

rialb said:

9 out of 10 times the kids think that their artists/producers are some "geniuses" that created this music!
As a high school teacher, it upsets me that a lot of times these kids are not being exposed to anything creative or new. (Although some argue that cutting up someone else's music is creative!)
When I hear them listening to something particularly blatant, I try to find the original to let them hear where that sample came from, and tell them a little bit about the original artist. I love the looks on their faces when I hit play!

Well, since you asked...

It's for people with no talent.

"chocolate1 said
I try to find the original to let them hear where that sample came from, and tell them a little bit about the original artist. I love the looks on their faces when I hit play! "

Oh I know what you mean! when I research stuff and I discover an original track, I feel like I have been cheated and I am sure I have the same look on my face

sampling is not only done in music its also gone to commewrcial ads
example
target stores uses "hello goodbye"(beatles tune)in there ads
beer commercials sample music from the phila international labels(im sure theyre getting a fee from gamble and huff)
sampling is ok as long as you dont use it on every record your making because it just shows a lack of creativity and gets boring...

Personally.....I wish it were ILLEGAL.

Graycap23 said:

It is.

Cinnie said:

It is? Since when? It's 98% of Rap music.

It's disgusting.

those who can't, sample

I just think it is overused by people who have nothing to do with hip hop. ie. young pop sensation Jojo had a record looping "Africa" by Toto... a #1 hit from 1983. That's when sampling is all sorts of wrong.

Graycap23 said:

C'mon, you can't sample these days without giving away 100% of your publishing and paying a huge amount just to compensate. I don't think that's fair either.

Every single old school artist should put their foot down and refuse to give the new artists permission to sample their work no matter how much money is offered to them. Shit hop is never going to die until people are forced to come up with music of their own or get the hell out of the business.

The old artists also need to stop performing on the same stage with these new artists at the awards shows. They need to view the shit hoppers as the enemy that is keeping old artists like them and the new and upcoming musicians from getting record deals and airplay. Peforming with the new artists is just helping the new artists' careers to grow, as well as shit hop. All ties with the shit hoppers need to be cut in order to run the shit out of style where it belongs.
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[Edited 3/10/08 12:23pm]

vainandy said:

Most of them don't own the rights to their publishing, so they have no say-so as to who uses their music or not.

vainandy said:

They also need to fight the trash "artists" that don't sample, but that water down their songs and straight steal the whole damn thing.

All the artists that are taking synths and claiming to come up with original tracks are doing that.

I would love to see bitches like Pharret get destroyed in court.

Dance said:

With the exception of a few, most of the older artists aren't as business-savy as the newer ones are, either. They didn't have to be. All they had to do was create music. The game has changed. Its the Business of music, not the music business anymore.

Cinnie said:

its all in what you do with it right cee? even if its freakin juicy fruit(sampled more times than we know)..you freak it right and

chocolate1 said:

ooohhh. i feel u! I agree w/that. I do that with my lil' nieces and nephews etc. I feel it's important that they know where it came from orginaly. I'm that way by default and being from a family whose always apprectiated good music and art. The kids need 2 know the history.

Dance said:

I'd co-sign that.....Pharret(lol)

I hadn't thought of that but I bet you are right. They need to start raising hell then and bad mouthing not only the record label but the new artists also. Every little bit helps in killing it and it would be a pure orgasm to me to see shit hop die.