I hate that phrase.

You know what phrase I hate when referring to a hip-hop group?

"They don't rely on samples."

Generally, this is meant to let you know that the group in question plays with live musicians. But the message with that particular wording is that sampling is inferior and that groups that sample wouldn't be able to exist without samples... they "rely" on them to survive.

Was I alone in thinking that we, as a collective, had moved past the arcane idea that sampling is just lifting an eight-bar section of a song and hitting "loop?" Apparently, I was.

I used to play an instrument and have a small bit of music theory background. Admittedly, the experience dates back to high school, but I can say that working with samples and playing music with live instruments a.) do not have to be mutually exclusive and b.) are neither better nor worse than each other. Creative sampling requires a deep knowledge of music history and different genres of music as well as a good sense of rhythm, technology (for the infinite tweaking), and basic engineering ideals (certain sounds just don't go well together). And to set the record straight: it ain't easy. Sure, if you use nothing but presets on your MPC and dig only as far as your Ultimate Beats and Breaks collection, there's not too much involved, but if you're well-versed in the art of digging (not just for records, but specific sounds on those records), the results can be as complex as any standard music composition.

I remember reading an interview with The Roots a long time ago asking them why they played live instruments rather than sampling. Their response was essentially, "It's easier." I don't necessarily agree with that, but I see where they're coming from... getting a sample to "fit" a track can be a real pain in the ass, whereas creating a riff from scratch gives you full control over the sound rather than practicing the self-imposed constriction involved in sampling. But as we saw with The Grey Album, those constrictions can bring out some amazing creativity.

Comments

[Yumanti]

the way dj premier samples and creates beats blows my quarter-length socks off. he basically makes the beat up in his head, then goes a-spelunking through stacks to find those sounds.