Sampling: The Beautiful Lost Art
Jade Loricia
Art is eternal, and music as an art form, has the ability to transcend time through beholden ears and communal admiration. Part of this admiration is expressed through the secondary art of sampling: the use of a portion of a sound recording in another recording.
The art of sampling has been practiced in the music industry for decades. It is an act that keeps music timeless. The added beauty behind this art, is often how producers and artists flip recordings to make them unrecognisable from the original sound. Producers such as Timbaland and Kanye West are renowned for doing this.
Recently however, the use of samples in newly released music have become more patent and recurrent, and for lack of a better word, lazy. Musicians are no longer spending time to manipulate recordings to make samples sound original but, predominantly in rap music and its subgenres, artists merely sing/rap over preloved instrumentals. A piece of the beauty of music is lost when an arrangement is not authentic but is still packaged as new. It resonates as a karaoke rendition, or an unofficial remix.
The beauty in an original song is that, whilst the rhythm and melody can be copied, the aura of a song can never be replicated. I use the word aura, as synonymous with the vibe and energy of a song. This is formed through the combination of notes that sets the mood for a song, with lyrics that sit on the beat to illustrate a story. Whilst each person can interpret this aura different to the next, collectively, the story of a song can read as partnered with a particular type of weather or emotion.
Samples are often used to join audiences creating an avenue for older and younger listeners to unite. Where those that hold the aura of the original as a memory, can ask those that may have been too young to remember it: ‘what do you know about this tune?’
Nike’s all-white Low Air Force 1 is often considered as one of the best trainers ever created. A timeless classic that has been and continues to be adored by generations. The shoe has been released in various colourways, and multiple collaborations have seen the silhouette reinvented. Though the blueprint is well renowned, the all-white ‘originals’ remain undefeated.
The word ‘original’ is used by the author loosely here, just as it is in the fashion and music industry, as often what is regarded as ‘original’ is misinterpreted as the most popular.
Nike’s all-white Low Air Force 1 is not the original air force show, just as many popular songs do not use original instrumentals.
Diddy and Faith Evans’ 1997 single, “I’ll Be Missing You”, featuring 112, is the perfect example of the use of a sample that has given new life to an older song. The song is composed of a sample based on the 1983 track “Every Breath You Take”, by Police. Both songs are well admired, although in popular and urban culture, the rap-sung collaboration, performed in tribute to the late Notorious B.I.G, has become synonymous with losing a loved one, and is unknown to younger audiences as a sample due to its popularity. Despite the sample being clear, the aura the song exudes separates the connection between the Police single as it became a successful hit in its own right.
Nowadays, it appears as if artists today wish to obtain quick success with the instrumental of a popular song as their foundation. The paramotors of musical inspiration and simple copying, are distinct. The latter, removes the beauty from the art when new sounds are less frequently heard. It makes way for subpar music, that leaves the production of artistry stagnant, as we as listeners, are left to replay preloved music. The obsession with past eras in popular culture means that there is nothing to distinguish our current time from 90s gimmicks. A hole will be left in the 2020s by an influx of music that has tried to repeat what has already been done. This type of artistry, I protest is not only lazy, but insulting to the art of music.
