Comments on: Crate Digging and Sampling Ethics… Who Heard of Such A Thing???

By: Rob Almaguer

Rob Almaguer — Mon, 07 Feb 2011 07:53:30 +0000

Word!

By: Rob Almaguer

Rob Almaguer — Mon, 07 Feb 2011 07:51:48 +0000

Bottom line, whether you play it from scratch, loop it, sample it. It’s all music. We all have different forms of creating and that’s exactly what sampling is. It’s an entirely new creation of music, however you went about it and if it sounds good it is good!

By: Isr

Isr — Wed, 19 Jan 2011 14:52:38 +0000

Why is it wrong to sample, but bands like Oasis can blatantly rip off the Beatles? Not a logical argument. As long as the music is good, who cares?

By: gak daniels

gak daniels — Thu, 16 Dec 2010 17:01:58 +0000

I have had this argument with myself time and time again,but I think the way you release the song has a lot to do with it.say daddy was unknown when he sampled the police song and instead of it being a big production it was just on some old plastic Maxwell tape and he was like I was just fuckin around and put this together.I love takin overuse shit and putting my spin on it but I’m the same as the writer if I heard the sample before its a wrap,which was hard in the golden age cause unfortunately it applied to drums as well I absolutely hated hearing synthetic substitution to this day for some weird reason that drum haunts me I will not even chop it.and then john this site is about digging and sampling shouldn’t you be on a boat site complaining about water

By: KingZu

KingZu — Tue, 11 May 2010 13:57:17 +0000

I talked about that a few days ago, with a pair of only-rock-listener. The point was that sampling, or whatever a DJ can do, is not music. Because DJs don’t create anything by sampling. I told them that when they bought a Fender Jagstang guitar because they like Kurt Cobain and then after they play some chords, they’re sampling. They play with a sound they like.
I think a lot of people confuse samples with loops.

By the way, heart of DJing is mixing songs together. You play songs you like to make people party on it. Grandmaster Flash explain it very well: when he started mixing, his only goal was to be able to convert a 10 or 5 seconds (or less) parts that he likes into a 5 min songs. That’s sampling (and looping). And I think (and I’m sure) that GMF is an artist. A real one.

So John, I’m agree with you when you say that many people in hiphop have very little musical talent, but nowadays many people in music in general have very little musical talent. In France, we have a turn of phrase : “Don’t put everybody in the same bag”. So don’t talk about hip hop if you think P Diddy do the same job as Primo or Pete Rock.

By: Mike Double D

Mike Double D — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 21:58:08 +0000

I have to justify sampling about as much as a guitarist justifies strumming metal strings.

By: AKtion

AKtion — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 20:58:53 +0000

For the moment im going to ignore the whole argument with john and address the original post. There are times where songs are just looped and drums are added and it gets called hip hop, and this is usually something that I hate. However, if your going to say that “Hip Hop is Dead” sucks because the sample is obvious then you’re pretentious. Obviously when Salaam Remi originally sampled it for “Thief’s Theme or when will.i.am recreated it they had no intention of fooling anyone. Sometimes there is no reason to chop the song to hell. The point is that “In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida” would make an awesome hip hop track and you should be glad that a deserving artist like Nas did it before someone like Wayne or Gucci got to it and the producer ruined the song by adding pitched snare rolls and other dime-a-dozen current production fads.

Was it a violation of your Sampling Ethics when A Tribe Called Quest sampled “Take A Walk On The Wild Side”?

Heres my Sampling Ethics:

“Don’t sample anything that you can’t do justice.”

Thats about it.

By: free sampler

free sampler — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 02:42:38 +0000

1. when you actually sample, and not just loop part of a song, you are taking ELEMENTS and combining them in an original way. to fools like john, i ask: is it “unoriginal” to use elements that you didn’t create (frequencies, notes, rhythms, words, instruments, instrumentalists, etc) when composing “original” music as opposed to composing sample-based music? Where do you draw the line?

All artists use elements that they did not invent. Originality lies in HOW one uses the elements, since everyone has the same elements to work with as everyone else in their artform.

2. there are lazy jackasses who contribute nothing original in EVERY single genre. hell, in every single artform. why single out Hip Hop?

3. it may shock and discredit you to learn that i, along with untold numbers of other sample-based musicians, CAN play instruments and compose music and even (gasp!) know a thing or two about music theory! yet for some unfathomable (to you) reason we choose sampling as our primary creative vehicle over instrumentation. so i guess my question is… are we musicians yet?

By: Carlos

Carlos — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 06:53:50 +0000

Dude it’s music, if you feel that some people have no creativity so be it. It’s all about respect. Just don’t hate. Other people have ideas too. Even if they are not so creative. If I recognize the sample I don’t care. All I care is if I can rock to the song. Peace.

By: element

element — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 16:16:37 +0000

My beatdigging ears were already trained to detect hundreds of samples & breaks. I just had to train them to identify notes, intervals & chords & then learn to play an instrument.
sampling has resurrected the profile & directed me to discover many forgotten artists , musicians , labels etc.Its also influenced groups like portishead but in many situations its simpler & more rewarding if you can play because sampling as it’s limitations. we also have to put something back for future generations. Because soul , rnb ,club & dnb producers are also sampling the past.