For The Love of Sampling.
“Back when they thought pink polos would hurt to rock, before Cam got the sh*t to pop, the doors was closed”
I was 12 years old the first I heard Kanye and Lupe triumphantly rapping over those horns and getting cursed out by Nia Long and Tracee Ellis Ross. While the video was certainly spectacle-ridden, it was the horns that stuck with me. In my mind, the best part of that song, aside from it being my first time hearing Lupe, were the horns. It honestly was all about the horns and percussion for me, it was the first time that instrumentation stuck out to me like that.
After hearing it for the first time, I went home and downloaded Touch the Sky and once it finished, I listened to it for a solid hour straight. After awhile, I played it for my mom and she told me that it was one of her favorite songs as a kid. Confused, I told her that this was impossible since Kanye just dropped the song. She smiled, took me to living room and played Move On Up by Curtis Mayfield for me. This would be the first time I’d ever identify a sample.
The practice of sampling records is as old as hip-hop itself. Back when hip-hop was purely emcees, djs and b-boys, most of the records that were scratched and used were old James Brown tunes. The Big Payback being one of the most popular and frequently used. See, hip-hop’s origins, similar to black people in America, were derived from taken what was given and innovating on it.
The world of dj’ing and producing was forever changed when Stevie Wonder appeared on the Cosby show on February 20th, 1986. Stevie brought the entire Huxtable family (minus Cliff) into the studio with him. He had each member of the family say/sing something and then he’d use his keyboard to play it back; to their surprise and delight. After everyone’d been recorded, he put their voices together to make a song on the spot. In Quest Love’s autobiography, Mo Meta Blues, he cites this as the first time any rap producer saw sampling used. Quest says the machine Stevie used was at the top of every rap producer’s Christmas list (Dilla, Madlib, Dre, etc.) including his.
Today sampling music is as commonplace as being black and being followed in the store; it happens every day. Take a look at any current rap album and I guarantee you can probably find a sample or melody borrowed from something in the past. Some argue that sampling music is similar to the movie industry’s current obsession with remakes and sequels. I’d argue that most songs don’t use their samples the exact same way as they are intended. For example, Rich Boy sampled Switch’s “I Call Your Name” on his song “Throw Some D’s.” I Call Your Name is a passionate love song about pursuing the woman you love, and on the other hand, Throw Some D’s is quite the opposite.
This is probably the shorter version of what I want to say about sampling, I’ll let my playlists do the rest of my talking. I’ve taken a real liking to finding more samples than the ones that’re listed above. In the past I’ve created and released two sample playlists that’re linked below. With these, you’ll find the brand spanking new For the Love of Sampling 3. I tried to cut it down from being 10+ hours long and just barely got it to 9 hours and 59 minutes (oops). Take a listen and shoot me a message on IG or Twitter for your faves or maybe some that I missed!
Apple Music: https://music.apple.com/us/playlist/3/pl.u-yZyVqZxFYqpo9g
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/1VmpA17JrhSghfgszdqDr1?si=g7iU5dt1RY2JkYk79hssOA