The 37th Chamber 04.16.08: Defending Hip-Hop Part 2

Posted by Patrick Robinson on 04.16.2008

The second part of defending hip-hop! This time we look at sampling vs. original compositions, how production has changed over the years and HOW you should rap about money in hip-hop.

Ah…can you hear that? It's the sound of sweet satisfaction because last Friday something awesome happened. It's something that I've been mentioning a lot since December and it's something that I had pretty much given up hope on a while back.

Anyway, I got home from work and checked the mail. I noticed there was a small piece of card paper, which was from the Post Office that said "Uncollected Mail – Final Notice". Since I hadn't even gotten a first notice, I thought that it was a bit of a cheek to say that but after I had my lunch, I headed off to the Post Office. The woman was quite helpful, but had BEEN quite useless as you see; the package in question had been waiting at the Post Office since March 12. Why wasn't the situation addressed sooner you may ask? Well, she went on holidays and forgot to tell somebody to take care of the aforementioned package, amongst other packages I imagine.

Needless to say, this has nothing to do with hip-hop but I shall leave you with a somewhat accurate video of what my reaction was to opening the parcel.



Except replace "Nintendo 64" with "NINTENDO FUCKING WII". ABOUT DAMN TIME, YOU KNOW!

Reader Feedback Ft. The Rant
(May be edited for grammar, spelling etc.)

"While I respect that you've taken this time to answer certain arguments regarding rap and hip-hop music against some detractive arguments, there are still others that need to be addressed.

-Musical credibility
-Sampling vs. composition

As a non-rap fan, those are the two biggest issues I have with rap and hip-hop. It annoys me that most people of my generation and younger believe that the music used for "Let's Go" (Trick Daddy, Twista, and Lil Jon) was original when anybody with a common knowledge of musical history over the last 50 years or so could tell you that it samples "Crazy Train" (Ozzy Osbourne). There are people older than I am that I work with that believed Nas wrote the music behind "Hip Hop Is Dead" until I played Iron Butterfly for them.

To be perfectly honest, there are only three rappers I can really stand these days, and of the three one is dead (and legendary), one has moved away from music for family-friendly comedies, and the other is an underground white rapper that raps in a mocking manner about all things nerdy: Tupac Shakur, Ice Cube, and MC Lars.

Regarding the sampling argument that you should address, keep in mind that many MUSICIANS hold that against rap and hip-hop, not just necessarily fans. It can take sometimes a full year for a musician or a group of musicians to flesh out a full 5-minute song, sometimes longer, just by trying to figure out the perfect form and flow of the song. It annoys me when I hear rap songs that just lazily take a classic song and throw rap over it without any acknowledgment of the original artist.

That said, Necro sucks." - AndrewCrow

In my defense of last week, I didn't want to put up too many arguments as I thought the piece was already quite long but those two points you mention are definitely worth talking about, which I shall do so in a bit.

Firstly, I completely agree on your stance of sampling where people hear a track, and immediately credit the new producer as a genius, not realizing the essence of the beat is a sample. I'm surprised that people didn't recognize the Nas sample though. Even me, with my fairly limited (genre-wise) scope of listening realized it was a sample from somewhere else and not an original production.

You'd be surprised how often it actually happens amongst hip-hop fans. One of the most famous samples I think is the bells from Run-D.M.C.'s "Peter Piper" track. One recent use was in will.i.am's "I Got It From My Mama" or whatever that horrid song is called and naturally, many of today's hip-hop fans don't realize that the bells of that beat are over 20 yrs (!) old.

Another was City High's sampling of "The Next Episode" in that "What Would You Do" track. Again, people didn't realize that that part of the beat had been sampled elsewhere (and is indeed, a sample in itself).

Don't be so quick to write Cube off though. While Laugh Now, Cry Later wasn't a classic by any means, it was some of the best work he's put out in years and shows that he can still blaze a mic on occasion. He's meant to be releasing a new album sometime this year or early next depending on how many times it gets pushed back. I'd also check out "Race Card" if you can find it. It was the music for the Black. White. show that he was involved with and it was pretty good.

The fact that musicians themselves often view hip-hop as a lesser art form is one that didn't initially cross my mind. I think these days, it would be especially grating for somebody who slaves away for a year trying to create a perfect melody to hear producers such as Swizz Beatz say they can produce an entire track in under 30 minutes. I imagine it would be even MORE annoying to see artists such as Dem Franchize Boyz and D4L get on when they don't even have a respect for the genre they're partaking in! (This pisses me off too). If anybody's wondering, the group with the stupider name made a song called "We F*****' Up Hip-Hop" because naturally, they're proud of such an achievement.

"For a producer to sample one has to go through the proper legal channels. If Ozzy Osborne didn't want his music to be used in another form then he has the rights to do that. BUT if he says its ok for the sample to be cleared then it's all good.

So blaming hip hop producers 100 of the time when it comes to sampling is unfair. Some of the blame goes on the original composer of said sample for being a sell out bitch.

I'm sure Ozzy used the money he made off that song to dry the tears when they didn't mention that it was a Ozzy sample." - SYC

This is also a good counter-point to the above argument. HOWEVER and this is a big however as you can see, back in the early days of hip-hop, you did not have to obtain permission to use a sample from another song. This may seem strange in today's highly law focused age, but back in the late 80s, sampling was running rampant. Check out Paul's Boutique by the Beastie Boys which uses a total of ONE HUNDRED AND FIVE songs as samples throughout their album. Keep in mind, the album only goes for around 53 minutes and you have quite a hectic listening experience.

When musicians realized that other artists shouldn't be able to sample their catalog whenever they felt like it, the lawsuits began to fly and hip-hop was forced to return to original creations unless you could afford the rising costs of royalty fees. Two occasions have occurred where an album has actually been pulled from the shelves that I can recall due to sampling issues. Ready To Die (the original edition, not the re-mastered version with a black cover) is no longer sold in stores as it contained a sample on the title track that Diddy did not secure the rights to use. Pharoahe Monch's Internal Affairs track, "Simon Says" illegally used the sample from the original Godzilla theme and hence, production has ceased. SYC is right in that nobody these days has any right to complain about a sample of their work being used as it cannot be used legally without their permission. However, I think the point AndrewCrow was trying to make was that it's the fans these days that don't realize that music has been sampled which causes frustration for other fans.

In regards to laziness, Diddy is the absolute worst culprit of them all. He almost single-handedly destroyed the credibility of sampling in hip-hop as an art form in itself, as, during the 90s, the man was so incredibly lazy behind the boards that he would often take entire beats and change say, 1% of the original beat to make a new one. One example that I've mentioned in the past was "Satisfy You" being a complete and utter knock-off of The Luniz' "I Got 5 On It"

So, in regards to sampling, it's a fine line between using it as a creative art form, and using it because you're too lazy to think up your own damn music. When it comes to sampling vs. composition, I think most people would agree that composition of original music is a lot harder, but sampling on the other hand, is just as hard to do WELL. People criticize Kanye West (they even mentioned it on Wild N Out) for his sampling in that he uses a sample in almost every track he does. But does he simply lift the beat from one track to another? No. Along with 9th Wonder, RZA and you could include Just Blaze, sampling has become part of their signature sound and rarely do any of them utilize more than a few lines or bars of music as part of their new beat. But again, it's an extremely fine line and arguments could go one way or another depending on that person's musical preference.

Personally, I quite like Kanye, 9th's and RZA's work behind the boards. Their beats utilize the samples quite well, using them to enhance the mood or message of the song. However, I know some people that can't stand the aforementioned three's work and would argue against sampling being a legitimate art form within hip-hop, despite being hip-hop fans themselves. I think you could liken the ability to that of a tennis player. Picture the world number one tennis player. They can serve at speeds close to 220km/h (approx. 137 miles/h), have an incredible forehand, a devastatingly accurate backhand, a mean cross-court slice, but can't volley at the net to save their life. The sooner that that player learns his weakness, and begins to focus on his strengths, the better his overall game will be. Now picture a hip-hop producer. They can make street anthems, songs for the clubs, slow jams, house party tracks, but they can't make a soulful sounding beat if their contract depended on it. Sampling is but one of the many tools in a Producer's arsenal, and the sooner producers that, for want of a better word, suck at sampling, realize that, the sooner we'll have respected sampling efforts in the hip-hop market and the sooner it will become accepted as a legitimate way of producing music.

"Great article! I was raised in the 80's during the days of Public Enemy, KRS-One, Whodini, and other artists whose music either made me listen to their message or having a good time.

In my youth group we have a lot of teens who are from urban areas, and they are fans of today's music. When I ask them why they enjoy it, they can't give me a straight up answer. I then play some of the old school and of course they think it's not as good because of the beats. I ask them to compare the lyrics and the content.

Hip hop is a great medium to provide a message of moving out of a negative situation into a better one. Unfortunately though our kids are subjected to crap that sells, and that's anything involving sex and money." - Orlando

Arg, the "old beats" problem. If you go back to the early 90s, there was an extremely limited scope of technology available to hip-hop producers (which could also explain a reliance on sampling). These days producers such as Scott Storch, Dr. Dre and Polow Da Don have access to a significantly greater range of not only synthesized sounds, but live instruments, and about 20 different types of drum kit programs. I think it's disappointing that kids these days aren't willing to listen to a track, simply because it doesn't ‘sound' good. I'll admit though, for a while, I was in the school of thought.

It's sort of like a moment on Family Guy where the family are visiting an expo and there's an old man with a sign "The Miracle Of Electricity" who is turning a lamp, simply on and off. When people don't seem impressed he claims that he nearly "crapped his pants" when he first saw such a thing when he was a kid. I often like to imagine how today's hip-hop would be viewed 50 years from now by hip-hop fans in the future. I have no doubt that if my grandkids are hip-hop fans (and if I have any hand in it, they will be) will probably wonder why there were so many corny-ass dances accompanying songs and possibly why we worshipped this one guy "Rakim" who would appear positively ancient by their standards. I still hope some small part of me appreciates hip-hop 50 years from now and can look back and laugh at artists such as D4L and Soulja Boy instead of shaking my head in disappointment as I do now.

I 100% agree with your last statement. I often get frustrated trying to work out exactly WHY a song referencing topics such as violence and drug dealing in anything less than a negative light receives radio airplay and TV time and is known by millions across the world, when a song encouraging you to go out and get a job, have fun in life and treat women with respect is unknown except for say 20,000 people across the globe. Shouldn't it be the other way around? With censoring these days, it's almost comical how much is blanked out and you wonder how anybody can enjoy a song that's mostly beat and no vocals because the content is unsuitable for radio play. I remember catching a video for Prodigy's latest single on MTV, NO IDEA what it was because I changed the channel after 80% of a verse was blanked out and wondering what the point was of even making it a single in the first place.

Although, it's not necessarily the money rap that causes me annoyance. Eric B. and Rakim rapped about getting paid on "Paid In Full" but their reason for getting paid, was the fact that Rakim was RAPPING and Eric B. was PRODUCING with neither having anything to do with drug dealing, gang banging or pimping. So the money rap isn't necessarily bad, so long as the reason that the artist has the money is a result of them rapping, which is their career. If the reason they have money is that they deal and pimp hoes on the side, NOPE, no deal.

Pimping or pimpin' as it is affectionately referred to these days, is another thing which gets to me in that it's one step away from sexual trafficking or even sexual slavery which is a serious issue in many parts of the world. Children as young as TWELVE (which is completely disgusting…freaking sickos in the world) are being forced into sexual slavery by their parents because the parents can't afford to feed themselves or pay the rent, etc. Pimping in its bare essence is one man controlling the actions of his hoes, using them as sex toys for clients. Yet, the word these days, is being softened and misconstrued. Look at Pimp My Ride. I was looking after my baby cousins as they were watching (ugh…) Hannah Montana and they used the word pimp in that same context. What is it going to do to today's youth when they realize the origins of that word? I'll tell you, it's going to confuse the crap out of them.

News related comments!

"Buck was the only one worth listening to on G-unit...good luck to him...hopefully we can get a GOOD outlaws album." - SYC

Yeah, long time readers will know I had an epiphany of sorts with Buck this year and I was beginning to enjoy a lot of his work. His last album had extremely limited G-Unit influence and I think that really helped push his act as a solo artist. I agree on the Outlawz album too. Their last, 2005 A.P. (A.P. standing for "After ‘Pac") was pretty average…well borderline bad really.

"Wow Lil' Wayne. Nice try on being this generation's Illmatic/Ready To Die style cover but you still have Lil' Mama on your album. Album cred drops to zero with that alone." - Alex

I'm glad somebody else thought it was Illmaticesque. I didn't mention it as I thought in the end it was more "what would happen if we dressed the baby on Ready To Die in a suit?" than Illmatic, but Illmatic was actually my first thought. Great minds think alike you know. Yeah, Lil Mama may be flavor of the month but depending on how she's used, it probably will hurt the overall image of the album Wayne's going to present I imagine.

"I'm an AZ fan but if he did in fact get the "Go Getta" hook and beat for free, he shouldn't have any complaints about Ray J re-doing it for his album." - Bob

Yeah it all seems a little suspicious to be honest. You can easily imagine something like that going down, especially after the other testimony from Jha Jha, but if it DID go down like that, you would imagine they'd try to get AZ to shut up about it. Needless to say, I think Perry put it best when he said that not many people are going to buy both albums. 5.5k in his first week is good for AZ cause I was honestly expecting something a lot lower given today's stagnant market and buying habits of the average hip-hop consumer, but it's still a pretty terrible number.

Before We Go…

I know, I know, the column didn't really end up being a column but more like a lengthy "chopped and screwed" session of commentary combined with my own uh…'insight' but hopefully you've Part 2 of "Defending Hip-Hop". Next week, there's one (well it may be more if I think of any) more issue to tackle, that being profanity (something I covered in lesser detail last year) in hip-hop. Is it really necessary to sell rap records? We'll take a look at some of the biggest selling albums and see how it played into their creation and appeal.

Catch you tomorrow on the News side of things!