List of Samples

Here is just a small list of songs that have been sampled and the hip hop songs that sampled them.
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Herb Alpert - Rise --- Notorious B.I.G. - Hypnotise
James Brown - the Boss --- Nas - Get Down
Luis Bonfa, Maria Toledo & Stan Getz - Saudade Vem Correndo --- Pharcyde - Can't Keep Runnin' Away
Stevie w. Past time Paradise --- Gangsta's Paradise - Coolio
Din Daa Daa (Georgehttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif Kranz)---Shake (ft. Pitbull)http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=7723970912338514032&postID=1146240950830579211#
Clear (Cybotron)---Lose Control (Missy and Ciara)
The Payback (James Brown)---Can't You See (Total ft. Notorious B.I.G.)
Tender Love (Force M.D.'s)---Days of Our Lives (Bone Thugs N' Harmony)
Human Nature (Michael Jackson)---Right Here (SWV)

Patrice Rushen "Forget Me Nots"--- Will Smith "Men In Black"
Shirley Bassey "Diamonds Are Forevever"--- Kanye West "Diamonds from Sierra Leone"
Super Freak (Rick James)---U Can't Touch This (MC Hammer)
Bobby Caldwell - Open your Eyes --- Common - The Light
Dr. Buzzard's Original Savannah Band - Cherchez la femme --- Ghostface Killer's Cherchez LaGhost

Afro Rock Band - Darkest Light ---- Wrecks In Effect - Rump Shaker, Public Enemy - Show 'Em Whatcha Got , Jay-Z "Show me What u Got"
The Emotions - Blind Alley --- AMG - Jiggable Pie, Trilogy - Good times, Big Daddy Kane - Ain't no Half Steppin, and as Mascarawand just reminded me....Mariah Carey - Dreamlover

As it can clearly be seen sampling is a huge part of the hip hop/r&b movement and is not simply some way of stealing ideas but is an art form that is connecting many different genres of music.

Links to Examples of Sampling

Here is a tutorial by Just Blaze on how to use Logic to mix samples. This video shows just a few of the technical elements needed to mix samples.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TzDEvZ7aaKA

Here is an example of Kanye West creating a sampled track(Viewer Discretion advised).
The sample is a small clip of another song sped up. How the clips are arranged, the drums, and all other elements of the final track are the ideas of Kanye West.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=irb335ThCdo

Here is a great video that plays the original song and then it plays how Kanye West used each sample in his own mix.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AJcGyW_bVyU&NR=1

The Creativity/Cost of Sampling

Earlier in this blog it was said that a reason that one might sample another’s work is because “it eliminates the need to produce background and accompaniment music for vocals.” It was also said that sampling, “lowers entry costs and overall production costs, and means that music can be created more quickly.” This in my opinion somehow insinuates that sampling simplifies music production and lowers cost.

However, if this is true then why do record labels and hip hop/rap artist pay producers such as Kanye West, Just Blaze, and Rza hundreds of thousands of dollars for beats (instruments that are used as background tracks) that sample music? Kanye West who is arguably one of the most prominent hip hop artist and producer used a sample track for every single song on his first three albums, and heavily used samples in the production of one of Jay-Z’s multi-platinum album, The Blueprint. If one were to search for Just Blaze in Wikipedia it can be seen that under the list of instruments that he is proficient in is the sampler.

What is Bridgeport’s true aim in pursuing so many copyright infringement lawsuits, and what are the possible repercussions that their actions can have the hip hop industry? As Heather said in a previous blog entry, it would seem that Bridgeport’s aim would be to simply hold the copyright to numerous works. It appears that they simply attempt to collect on technical copyright infringements with no real desire to benefit the artist that originally created the music. The effect that these types of actions would have on the hip hop industry if broadly applied and heavily enforced would be to hinder a very creative and shifting artistic movement.

The concept that music producers and to a lesser degree the hip hop artists are simply taking an old song and trying to use someone's creativity for free is a very narrow and ignorant way of thinking about music production. This is not to say however that there is not some sort of limit to the amount of sampling that a producer or artist can do without giving/paying credit to the original creator, because there definitely is. What should be clear is that there is a gradient and companies such as Bridgeport are at times extreme in their pursuit of lawsuits and may in the future greatly hinder the creative evolution of the hip hop movement.

a slippery slope

The US Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit ruled that sampling was in violation of copyright law - "Get a license or do not sample."

If sampling is illegal, what about other comparable uses of copyrighted materials? Does the five words above -in violation of copyright law- without citations constitute copyright infringement? Is the documentary film "Super Size Me" totally illegal since the director did not have McDonald's written permission to feature them in the film?

"Get a license or do not sample" is a dangerous tipping point on a slippery slop. Such a court decision invites a flood of new cases that challenge accepted standards in the fair use clause.

We live in a world infused with copyrighted works. What kind of a society would it be if we were not allowed to take pictures with any copyrighted logos in the background without first getting a license? Should street performers in NYC be required to get licenses before singing in the subways? This could be the death of parodies, too! Where would it end? What are the boundaries?

I leave you with some word from the Chief Judge in the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, Alex Kozinski:



“Overprotecting intellectual property is as harmful as underprotecting it. Culture is impossible without a rich public domain. Nothing today, likely nothing since we tamed fire, is genuinely new: Culture, like science and technology, grows by accretion, each new creator building on the works of those who came before. Overprotection stifles the very creative forces it’s supposed to nurture.”


* Dissenting in the White v. Samsung Elec. Am., Inc., 989 F.2d 1512 (9th Cir. 1993) ruling.