Is Sampling All That Bad?
“You know they bit that part off Kraftwerk,” I said.
“Bit what off who?” Marcus asked.
“That part right there.” I hummed along. “Kraftwek is this German band that pretended to be robots. They have this song, ‘Trans-Europe Express,’ that has that ‘Da Dah Da’ part.”
“Afrika Bambaataa didn’t steal anything. This is their song” (Whitehead 75-76).
This conversation was one reminiscent of many I’ve seen online in comment sections. To a lot of people, the idea that an artist ripped part of another person’s song can come off as a bit shocking, and as seen in Marcus’s reaction, an insult to Afrika Bambaataa’s artistic integrity. But in most cases, I’d disagree, and I feel like having a more robust understanding of what sampling entailed helped shape my opinion. After initially reading this scene, and then hearing the clips in class, I wanted to dive a little bit deeper into the history between Afrika Bambaataa and Kraftwerk and how sampling worked in their case.
But what is sampling to begin with? Sampling is when an artist takes bits of other sound recordings and incorporates them into their own track. While some samples are just used in their raw form, producers will often alter the sample to better fit into the rest of the song, usually by pitching the sample to match the song’s key and changing its speed. Although samples are sometimes viewed as lazy, they definitely have their purpose, and they shouldn’t be viewed as such especially if significantly altered. Sampling has a multitude of uses, but especially in its usage today, it can save a lot of time and money. I have an example below of one of the most widely used samples ever: Think (About It) by Lyn Collins. I featured an example of NewJeans using the vocal chops from the break in the song and Michael Jackson using its tambourine. I also made a video of Tyler, The Creator using Penny Goodwin’s song Slow Hot Wind, but he didn’t really change much besides adding some extra drum sounds.The synth used in Afrika Bambaataa’s Planet Rock compared to Kraftwerk’s Trans-Europa Express sounds quite a lot different. Its tone is brighter and it has a lot of reverb. The note timings in Afrika Bambaataa’s song are also quite loose (quite a few notes aren’t really on beat), which wouldn’t really happen if it was a direct sample. Bambaataa himself also stated that the song wasn’t sampled, “A lot of people think we sampled Kraftwerk but it’s just not true… [his synth player] was just so good in playing stuff, that it sounded like they sampled the record. At that time there was no such thing as sampling” (Broughton). Planet Rock’s synth and Bambaataa’s word both point towards the synth being interpolated rather than sampled.
Afrika Bambaataa’s choice to interpolate Kraftwerk’s song wasn’t a bad thing, though, even if Marcus seemed to take it as an insult. Sampling and interpolation are both common and widely accepted parts of music production, and they aren’t a sign of laziness or lack of integrity, especially if they were substantially changed for the song. (but even if not, I wouldn’t consider most cases lazy anyway).
I also recognized that the Roxanne’s Revenge rap that was played in class was sampled in TV Girl’s song, Song About Me!
Broughton, Frank. “Interview: Afrika Bambaataa.” Red Bull Music Academy Daily, 7 Apr. 2017, daily.redbullmusicacademy.com/2017/04/afrika-bambaataa-interview.
Whitehead, Colson. Sag Harbor. Anchor Books, 2009.
Thanks for the music producing lesson! I feel so knowledgeable now. It's understandable that this was a point of conflict for Benji and his friends since they'd heard Afrika Bambaataa's song first. It's really interesting to think of this in the coming of age context as Benji notes that sampling was seen as stealing instead of an art technique, which reminds me of how Benji felt like he needed to create a completely new identity vs understanding his without changing it.
ReplyDeleteThis was such an interesting post to read. I love all the effort you put into compiling these examples of samples, and songs they were used in. I absolutely agree with you that sampling is a good thing, and overall helps build the culture. When I'm listening to music, it's always exciting when I recognize a sample; I never feel like a sample takes away from a song, or the merit of the artist. Additionally, one reason samples are so important in hip hop, and in Sag Harbor is because they allow you to make high quality music without access to live instrumentation. I loved thinking about samples, and reading this post. Great job, Sandaru!
ReplyDeleteHi Sandaru! I think this was a really cool blog post that explained sampling. I also liked that you explained that the "sample" in the book was actually interpolation, which was something I didn't know about. I think it's interesting that sampling is so popular but I think it's fun to figure out that a part of a song is from an entirely different artist. Great post!
ReplyDeleteHey Sandaru, I really enjoyed how you broke down the difference between sampling and interpolation, it made the music discussion in the book feel much richer. Your examples from modern artists like Tyler, The Creator and PinkPantheress were such a fun touch and helped connect the topic to today’s music. I also liked how you challenged Marcus’s reaction and showed that borrowing or reworking sounds doesn’t take away from an artist’s creativity.
ReplyDeleteHi Sandaru! This is really interesting, and I liked how you provided insight on the definition of sampling, and included real examples for us to listen to. I agree with what you said about how sampling is an art of its own and isn't actually stealing from the original artist, rather making something new from it. Great post!
ReplyDeleteThis was such an interesting direction to take with your blog! I really enjoyed learning about sampling and what actually goes into it. I think it's interesting that this is still a discussion being had (the morality/honesty of sampling) because it feels like something that's become so normalized in today's music, and for good reason. This was super interesting!
ReplyDeleteThe conversation on the beach about originality and sampling is already a little anachronistic within the context of the novel: Ben depicts his younger self as somewhat "ahead of his time" with his casual attitude toward sampling and/or interpolation. As he points out, 1985 is a period in hip-hop history where originality and style are of utmost importance, and it's true that roughly 25% of rap songs at the time accused other MCs of "biting" rhymes, flows, and styles. (Fun fact: UTFO's debut album, which I got for my 13th bday in May 1995, features a song call "Bite It" where the narrator is so sick of fools biting his rhymes that he offers some up for free--an open invitation to bite THESE rhymes.) So when Afrika Bambaataa is accused of "biting" Kraftwerk, that's a very serious accusation. But Ben is right (with the benefit of hindsight) that hip-hop more generally is about to move in precisely the direction he advocates: the "golden era" of sampling, before copyright requirements and royalty payments made sampling expensive, was from around 1987 to 1991. So this argument itself is a bit of a "time capsule," in that the debate was long over by the time Whitehead was writing. There are still issues around originality in rap lyrics and production--there are good, creative, surprising samples, and there are boring and uninspired rehashes of entire songs.
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