Tuesday, March 18, 2008

Sample Sets: Hurting Hip-Hop?

Some things I just don't get...

Our ol' pal Kevin Nottingham of This Is Hip Hop hit me up today regarding a message he received by none other than Madlib. The message was written in response to Kevin's recent release of his (totally awesome) 'Madvillain - Madvillainy' sample set. Simply put: Madlib wanted the set to be taken down from Kev's site, download link and all. Kevin politely obliged. [Read more about it here!]

Now here's the question and matter at hand (which Kevin asked his readers as well): Is the act of compiling samples used on albums harmful to Hip-Hop? Our (Kev and I) reasoning and motivation is, quite simply, that we're just trying to learn about the artform (of sampling in particular) and spread it forth for everyone who shares our interests in this great music, culture and lifestyle we call Hip-Hop. Personally, I get a rush seeking out samples from some of my favorite emcees. But Madlib's response to this was the following: "Pages like this on the internet are no help at all to people like Doom, Madlib, and those that work with them."

Let's reason this one out, shall we? So let's assume that sites that delineate or list samples used on albums is harmful to Hip-Hop. How is this any different from the liner notes of the actual albums themselves? Liner notes often come along with a full or at least partial list of all the songs that were sampled or interpolated for the corresponding Hip-Hop record. Surely this isn't harming Hip-Hop. Right? Onward, we've got sites such as The Breaks, Discogs and Wikipedia; all of which supply an enormous wealth of sample info (many of which are used as sources for our very own sample sets). So the new question arises: Are the aforementioned sites (The Breaks, Discogs, Wikipedia) also harmful to Hip-Hop? Quite frankly, I think it'd be pretty bizarre to make that argument.

Essentially, Kevin and I are simply collecting the information and music, and compiling them into one enveloped and enjoyable package for y'all to dig in to and have fun with. It's all for the love of Hip-Hop, as well as the various genres and styles which emcees and producers alike draw their inspirations from. Hip-Hop wouldn't be what it is without the James Browns, Gil Scott-Herons and Bob James' of the world (and that's just scratching the surface). The driving force for our sample sets is to further highlight their contributions to Hip-Hop, in nuanced, album-by-album format.

The argument that Kevin and I are somehow belittling the great talents of producers such as Madlib and countless others by "exposing" their sources to the world and therefore hurting their ability to continue to make great music is, quite frankly, preposterous. Everybody knows that Kanye West sampled Chaka Khan's 'Through the Fire' on 'Ye's similarly-titled 'Through the Wire'. Does that make him any less of a producer? Absolutely not! Is Puffy any less of a producer because he sampled recognizable hits from the '80's? No! Not at all! We appreciate what these guys have done for Hip-Hop. Highlighting their efforts and showcasing their inspirations comes from our admiration of their achievements. No more, no less.

A couple weeks back, I got the idea to compile all the songs that influenced Madlib's jazzy 'Shades of Blue'. I was surprised to find out that there was in fact a sample collection set released officially by Blue Note Records. 'Untinted: Sources for Madlib's Shades of Blue', as it's called, was just that: The sources for all the tracks that were sampled, interpolated and covered on Madlib's 2003 album. Cool, I thought: I don't have to go for this one... it's been done. So here's a new question: How is that set any different from the set that Kevin prepared? Sure, Kevin and I don't have the c0pyr1ght on this music, but neither does Madlib. I can assure you that Madlib does not own the rights to Ronnie Foster's 'Mystic Brew', Horace Silver's 'Peace' or any other track flipped on 'Shades of Blue'. But back to the original premise: Madlib said that what Kevin did was harmful to artists such as himself, and overall detrimental to Hip-Hop as a whole. So how is the Blue Note release any different, aside from the fact that it was released by a label? None whatsoever! I smell a bit of hypocrisy... Just sayin'...

Now here's another issue which I found to be quite interesting. I was on Wikipedia about a month ago, scanning around for sample sets I'd like to complete in the (near) future. As I often do when I'm flipping through the web, I saved the interesting sites in my Bookmarks folder. At the moment, I've got over 50 albums in my 'Sample Sets' folder of sample compilations I aspire to complete. One of these was Madvillainy (Kevin beat me to the punch). When I checked it out back in February, it contained the full sample listing, just as Kevin presented it in his great post. Since then, the sample information has been wiped clean... completely! Thankfully however, Wikipedia maintains a function which allows you to check past versions of articles. Below I've got a screenshot of the version of the Madvillainy article from two weeks back with the full sample information (on the left side) as well as a screenshot of the current article, devoid of the sample listing (on the right side). Click the pictures to enlarge them:


What can I say? I like investigating... I just find it odd that the samples were recently wiped out from Wikipedia as recently as Kevin was told to shut down his set. Of course, this leads to a greater issue at hand: the accessibility of information on the internet. More specifically, it touches on the issue of information control. Under a totalitarian, fascist and paranoid rule of law, I'd understand. But we're just looking for Hip-Hop samples man... C'mon now...

I'd like to conclude this op-ed piece by affirming my love for all the work that Madlib puts in. Few producers match his musical IQ, and I've gotten hooked into his beat tapes, soundtracks and Mind Fusion mixes. We love the music that he crafts and we ask that he continue on. But we should make one thing perfectly clear: sample clearance is important. If you're already an established figure in the music scene, it should be expected that all the samples on your albums should be cleared or otherwise not used. The original artists deserve their shine as well. If someone were to make a beat using a sample from another artist, wouldn't you expect that person to be honest enough to admit that he or she used someone else's original work as their source of inspiration? I certainly would! So with that said, I feel that the sets that Kevin and I come up with are healthy for Hip-Hop. They take us back to a time where the appreciation for funk, jazz, soul, rock, reggae, electronic, house, blues (and everything in between) records mattered to Hip-Hop.

I expect to hear some positive as well as negative responses to this post. Please: Feel free to be as brutally honest as you possibly can. I really wanna hear what you think about this issue. Let's try to keep this civil and Socratic though. Aight?

- Ivan

EDIT: READ MY FOLLOW-UP ARTICLE "'Can Ya Dig It'? ... No, Seriously: Can You?" HERE!