This is just another "stop sampling" forum. As far as the comment about sampling being the essence of hip hop, it is. Regardless of how you wanna take it, it is. It all started with that, and I don't care if the music evolves to full blown hip hop orchestras, you CANNOT ever take away from the fact that the classic records and breakbeats were the foundation for the sound. That's just the essence of the black man tied into music: making something out of nothing. The inner city youth didn't have the money for instruments and music schools, yet the still found a way to create a sound that they could rock to...deliver a message to, and dance too.
The fact that some producers who were more instrumentally inclined made their way into the game, enhances the music and adds to the possibilities, but that should in no way take away from those who keep the classic element of sampling. Just because a producer chooses to chop vinyl doesn't make him any less of a "musician." A musician should be defined by the music he/she creates, and that alone. If I choose to pull my car up a hill, and you choose to push yours, and another man chooses to drive his, NONE of us have the right to tell either of the others what we feel they should be doing. History has proven good and bad music can be made, sampling or not....so who's to judge the standards by which producers create?
it's all about the quality and appreciation of your art. if Picasso chose to paint with one brush and one color, who's to say his work would be any less artistic and beautiful than a Michaelangelo painting with every color of the spectrum? Again, this music started with the DJ and his records, and evolved into the sampling of these records, and eventually hip hop production introduced manual instrumentation.......and hip hop will continue to evolve. People who choose to stick to their own method, especially if it's the original method, are no better or worse than those who move on. It's like having a MPC2000, and then they release the 4000. Some people want the new 4000....but who are they to tell the 2000 owners that they need to upgrade, just because THEY feel the 4000 is the new standard?
Saying that sampling is not an art form is ridiculous. Because the same way someone can take time to get their pianos and strings right to play, another man can take the same amount of time (or more) to make sure his samples are in check. Who I don't respect, are the people who do it just to do it. THOSE are the "producers" you should be looking down on, because personally i dont respect any musicians who don't LOVE the music. THAT is why hip hop is suffering right now. We are dealing with young uneducated dudes who don't LOVE the music, they only love what it can bring them. The money, the fame, the women. So they treat it like a job. How many times have rappers (even some of your favorite artists) used the line "this is a business" ?
Jay-Z summed it up best when he said "....but my bills through the roof, can't do numbers like The Roots"
I have a keyboard player, a bass player, a DJ, and a drummer in my family, and they all love what they do beyond comparison. My uncle can play the keyboard for 10-12 hours a day. My cousin can play the bass or guitar all day long, day in and out. My other uncle used to play 4-5 hours a day on his drum set (where i learned to play......knowledge that has really shaped my drum programming). And my grandmother (rest her soul) and mother owned thousands and thousands of old records. They LOVED the music and used to both listen to records LITERALLY as many hours as possible.
And I can listen to those records all day. I can bang on the drums all day. I can chop samples and make beats all day.
All with the same undying love.
So who's to tell me that my way of production isn't "original or musical" enough?
(P.S. - I can play anything I want on the keyboard.......but i can't play for ****, if that makes sense
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