09-17-2009, 07:34 AM
Honestly, the only reason I haven't really said anything is because this would be like trying to explain the breastroke to an amputee. There's nothing really to "get" or "understand", you just have to not be an old man. Just gonna quote The Abbot and go to bed:
"A lot of people still don't recognize the sampler as a musical instrument. I can see why. A lot of rap hits over the years used the sampler more like a Xerox machine. If you take four whole bars that are identifiable, you're just biting that shit. But I've always been into using the sampler more like a painter's palette than a Xerox. Then again, I might use it as a Xerox if I find rare beats that nobody had in their crates yet. If I find a certain sample that's just incredible—like the one on 'Liquid Swords'—I have to zap that! That was from an old Willie Mitchell song that I was pretty sure most people didn't have. But on every album I try to make sure that I only have 20 to 25 percent [of that kind of] sampling. Everything else is going to be me putting together a synthesis of sounds. You listen to a song like "Knowledge God" by Raekwon: it took at least five to seven different records chopped up to make one two-bar phrase. That's how I usually work." —RZA, The Wu-Tang Manual, 2004
Also good:
"Cutting and pasting is the essence of what hip-hop culture is all about for me. It's about drawing from what's around you, and subverting it and de-contextualizing it." —DJ Shadow
Also, I can't stress enough how many artists sample. Taking "Let's Go", by Lil fucking Jon and making it the poster child of what sampling is just makes everyone in this thread look dumb. I'm not defending that the song doesn't suck, but it's definitely not stealing. If you think creatively it's being lazy, then yeah. But this is just one instance (of a few, I will admit) of a producer being a lameass and not putting forth a decent amount of effort.
If someone can explain to me how covers aren't 10 times worse, they get a free blowjob on the house.
"A lot of people still don't recognize the sampler as a musical instrument. I can see why. A lot of rap hits over the years used the sampler more like a Xerox machine. If you take four whole bars that are identifiable, you're just biting that shit. But I've always been into using the sampler more like a painter's palette than a Xerox. Then again, I might use it as a Xerox if I find rare beats that nobody had in their crates yet. If I find a certain sample that's just incredible—like the one on 'Liquid Swords'—I have to zap that! That was from an old Willie Mitchell song that I was pretty sure most people didn't have. But on every album I try to make sure that I only have 20 to 25 percent [of that kind of] sampling. Everything else is going to be me putting together a synthesis of sounds. You listen to a song like "Knowledge God" by Raekwon: it took at least five to seven different records chopped up to make one two-bar phrase. That's how I usually work." —RZA, The Wu-Tang Manual, 2004
Also good:
"Cutting and pasting is the essence of what hip-hop culture is all about for me. It's about drawing from what's around you, and subverting it and de-contextualizing it." —DJ Shadow
Also, I can't stress enough how many artists sample. Taking "Let's Go", by Lil fucking Jon and making it the poster child of what sampling is just makes everyone in this thread look dumb. I'm not defending that the song doesn't suck, but it's definitely not stealing. If you think creatively it's being lazy, then yeah. But this is just one instance (of a few, I will admit) of a producer being a lameass and not putting forth a decent amount of effort.
If someone can explain to me how covers aren't 10 times worse, they get a free blowjob on the house.
Quote: "for a quarter million a year growing weed, i'd fucking be gay. with dick on the side." - Laura, on mairjuana