![]() I remember being 12 years old and proudly rapping along to Dr Jeckyll and Mr Hyde on my front stoop, “Wham Bam thank you Maam!” and my Dad caught my attention to ask me if I had understood what I had just said. If anything I was blind to it and had to have it pointed out to me a few times. I didn’t feel empowered by shouting obscenities in front of grown-ups. However, I honestly was never one of those kids that were attracted to the music simply because of that**. Don’t get me wrong, I found myself enjoying a lot music that had profane and/or offensive lyrics growing up. “Offensive Lyrics & Mannerisms*”: Honestly, this is the one topic where I have a hard time fully defending Hip Hop. However, to really use a Sampler effectively and to become a “great” producer in Hip Hop it is definitely more of a creative-trade than these musicians were giving it credit for. It’s far less likely you’ll pick up your first guitar and perform a decent guitar solo in that same time frame. The face that anyone can buy a computer program and pull off a decent beat in a couple weeks proves that. It’s certainly hard to say that learning to use a Sampler is as challenging as learning to play the guitar, piano, or just about any instrument. To be fair, another issue here was that Sampling was considered just an easy way out not to learn to play an instrument. In fact, Hip Hop artists and these opposing musicians had much in common. It was a struggle they encountered for the first couple decades of making records at least. This is the same position these early Hip Hop Pioneers were faced with. Yet, despite a history of bad deals and horrible terms many of these musicians of the 60s & 70s (and beyond) continued to make music and accept those terms because making any money, even significantly less than you are worth or should be entitled to, was still viewed as worth it just to be able to make music. Plus it is worth mentioning that when artists did start get paid for Sample usage, a key reason many of these artists still didn’t see a check was because they also had a career of bad business deals themselves, so they didn’t even own the rights to their music, which meant some executive or lawyer received that money. If these frustrated musicians could have looked at it with objective criticism they should have seen that and in turn directed that anger in the right place, the industry. Sampling was the first critical step in putting a fair percentage of that control back in the hands of those who deserved it. The live band was what Record Execs came up with to make it a product and they ultimately took control over the sound of Hip Hop out of the hands out of those who birthed the Culture in the first place once it was introduced to the masses. Hip Hop was best communicated by the raw form of the DJ on two turntables. Before that point, Hip Hop wasn’t commonly presented with a live band. Let’s not forget, the moment that Hip Hop first hit the Commercial vinyl format it had already lost control over the musical backdrop. It seems unlikely they were thinking, “Hey, let’s get over on these old dudes, steal their music and get rich!” It was an innocent attempt of evolving an artform and paying tribute to the music that initially inspired it. ![]() Hip Hop producers started Sampling these artists because they were fans. It was the same industry that since the beginning took advantage of Hip Hop artists at every possible turn. ![]() Hip Hop didn’t allow that to happen, that’s the result of the corporate world. I can understand that frustration, but not why that anger was directed at Hip Hop artists. Furthermore, these songs were gaining popularity, when many of these musicians weren’t able to get paying gigs or sustain recording careers. The other issue, perhaps the biggest issue, was these artists were hearing Rap songs on the radio Sampling their material and they weren’t being compensated. They only notable exception is not needing years of trained musicianship to Sample as you do with learning an instrument, but that deals more with a skilled trade rather then creative nature. At it’s most basic, it’s a simple loop, which is hardly much less "creative" than a straight Cover Song. ![]() At its best, Sampling is the culmination of several bits and pieces of different songs reconfigured together for a reinterpretation. Don’t get me wrong, there are countless Cover Songs that I love, but I find it strange that Covers are accepted, but Hip Hop was called uncreative for Sampling. This was a heavy practice in music that most of these musicians, who were so opposed to Hip Hop, were involved in. “Sampling”: Besides what I outlined previously, about the early Roots of music in any genre sounding similar, the other point I want to make is in regards to “Covers”. Continuing on from yesterdays, "Rap Music's Early Opposition Part One"! Read HERE.
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