Blog
Sampling: Art Form or Form of Stealing?
May
Sampling: Art Form or Form of Stealing?
What up MM? How many of you out there sample? Have you ever been told that you are unoriginal because of doing so? I have, but it comes from “musicians” that have no clue of what sampling is all about.
They are under the assumption that we take another composers work (the Ski Mask way) record it, then call it our own. How I wish it was that simple. I remember when I first got into producing and started making “original material”. They were ok but I would get to some parts when I wanted a change but being I couldn’t play, I got stuck. So I thought to myself, I will start sampling because thats easier. You just take what someone else has done and make it your own. Wrong! Come to find out it was way more difficult than I expected.
The reason I say this is even though you may sample a specific piece because you like it, chances are it will contain parts that you don’t like. This is where the fun comes into play. Chopping, slicing, time stretching , pitch shifting, eq-ing, filtering whatever you got to do to get it to sound the way you want. Its like putting together a puzzle. But it doesn’t stop there. Some of us add original elements as well. Like playing basslines, keys, percussion and please don’t forget the knocking drums! All these things give the original song an entirely different feel, vibe or groove if you would say.
Sampling has come a long way from the days of dubbing and tape splicing. So for those of you that think sampling is stealing I encourage you to try it in the way mentioned above and I’m pretty sure you will change your mind. If David Axelrod can be impressed by the way Diamond D sampled and rearranged his work, I’m more inclined to say Sampling is an Art form. Peep the @DiamondDITC interview by our homies @ScratchMagTV and drop a comment below. Until next time catch me everywhere @AGgotBeats
PEACE
AGGOTBEATS
Sampling is the graffiti of music. It’s pure ART. Graffiti is often called garbage and not art, but once you try it you instantly see that it much harder than it appears. Good post AG… Peace
Aww fuckem we just gotta do what we gotta do and make good music its a painter calling out a photographer and saying his shit is wack
I couldn’t have said it better.
School Boy Q Man of the Year joint is a straight loop with drums on top – that’s it. Is it a rip-off, or a true production? You be the judge.
S