sampling is just a way of composing nowadays. i was in the same camp as you about how it's blatent ripping of stuff....but you listen to these more sophisticated hardware producued beats the samples are pretty much just sound thats been reorded re used int a different context....really depends where you look from.

i personally use sampling to get a skeleton structure. to get a key, to get a rhythm or a style going then flesh it out with real music with chords and synths and a big of dub work.

if you listen to somone like j dilla who makes great beats out of a glissando or a loose riff then reverses it, pitches it, replays it, syncs it into the track....that is not what i would consider looping.

if your not comfortable with doing it then dont do it. listen to some sample compilations on youtube. almost always refirms my belif that sampling is possible the biggest single thign that hiphop has brought us.






also banksy once said "dont do somthing just to be famous....thats like eating food just so you can have a ****"