Sampling: the great chain of hip hop

Hey guys, it's been a while, so this is going to be a long one.

In my search to find wonderful things to show you all (and maybe to entertain myself) I've been browsing websites looking for interesting art.  Examples are yayeveryday.com, booooooom.com, and ffffound.com.  There's some pretty cool stuff.  I found a trailer for a movie that I will be anxiously awaiting until september.  Notre jour viendra (Our Day Will Come).  1) it looks beautiful 2) it looks sexy 3) it's in French (I'm a huge french nerd).  So yes I will be impatiently awaiting it's release.

I also came across this video.  I really hope you watch it because most of this post is based on it, plus it's really cool.

A lot is said in this video essay, and I don't want to lessen it by trying to describe it (plus it goes a little over my head) but I will use it as a discussion point to explore some ideas of my own.

I've always loved recognizing the reuse of words and images and sounds because of the way they could anachronistically relate things, but I think I am most exposed to this in the context of hip hop.  I know, I know, just let me defend myself before you call me crazy for comparing visual art and roman sculpture to hip hop.  Good hip hop can be very self-referential.  I think it's best to explain with examples.

This is not at all exhaustive of these songs.  These are just a few connections I came up with off the top of my head and with a little help from the internet.

We'll start with Rapper's Delight by The Sugarhill Gang.  This an extremely well known song in hip hop and it's 7+ minutes long so it's not surprising that it has tons of well quoted lines.  Here are two quotes you'll probably recognize:

"Hotel, motel, holiday inn"

1. Findum, F***um & Flee- N.W.A.  
2. Holidae In- Chingy

(Which reminds me I need to talk about misogyny in hip hop but that's a topic for another day)

"on n n on n on on n on, the beat don't stop until the break of dawn"

1. La Di Da Di- Slick Rick
2. Scenario (remix)- A Tribe Called Quest

La Di Da Di by Doug E. Fresh and MC Ricky D aka Slick Rick was also a pretty classic song.  I recently found out about this song but it's a pretty big deal.  There's one killer:

"Ricky Ricky Ricky, can't you see
Somehow your words just hypnotize me
And I just love your jazzy ways
So MC Rick my love is here to stay"

1. Hypnotize- The Notorious B.I.G.  This was a huge hit single and the hook comes straight from Slick Rick.

I could go on for days about popular phrases in hip hop like "freak freak ya'll" or the popular cadence "... and ya don't stop.... and ya don't quit" and on and on and on on and on but I would never stop until I was really old.  Plus I'm getting way over my head in hip hop history, so maybe I'll return to this when I know more about the history of hip hop.

But anyway I was making a point about borrowing, remixing, and reusing someone else's creation and building off of it.  This is a huge topic and I definitely haven't managed to wrap my head around it entirely but I want to get down what I can.

It would ridiculous to be on the topic of borrowing/stealing and not talk about sampling.  Sampling is all about taking old music and chopping it up and reworking lots of different sounds to make an entirely new work.  Sometimes the samples are easily recognizable as a reference, Kanye's "Diamonds are Forever," but often they are very difficult to recognize, even if it's a very famous song:  e.g. Jay-z's "Izzo (H.O.V.A.)" (I want you back).  It becomes very difficult to discern between who is profiting off of rereleasing someone else's genius and who is being extremely creative and really deserves credit.

I present to you Exhibit A: RJD2.  Almost all of his best music is entirely composed of found sounds, but the songs he creates are like nothing anyone's ever heard before.  Most of his samples are completely unrecognizable, the only one I have ever caught has been from Elliott Smith (from "I didn't understand" on "Ghostwriter").  But his songs are really fresh.  Could the fact that I love RJD2's music have anything to do with my inability to question his originality?  Possibly.  But if you take any of the samples he uses and listen to them out of context, I think you'll appreciate how creative RJD2 really is.  For more information check out his interview on NPR here.  Among many interesting things, he mentions that he tries to find something that hasn't already been sampled or at least a different part of the song so he can have a fresh sound.  He says he likes taking something that doesn't work too well on its own and he tries to mix it together and turn it into something great. So while there's definitely still a trend of borrowing, the excessive use and reuse is an issue of contention.

Someone wise once said, "we stand on the shoulders of giants" and I couldn't agree more.  Maybe it's a little bit like we stand on the giant collective shoulders of all people.

So the important questions of this post are:

• Is recycling something less creative than creating something from scratch? or is there a distinctive talent in taking something good and reworking it to become great?  
• Do you need the original creator's permission to do so?
• Can an image, phrase or be used so much it loses it's meaning?
• Can it ever come back from that?
• Where is the line between stealing an idea and paying homage to the greats of the past?
• Can a canon of clichés increase or build upon its own meaning?
• Can it also lose it's meaning because of its ubiquitous use?

Most importantly: 

Which is better, to recognize and reorganize already existing beauty in a powerful way (photography)? or to create something entirely new and beautiful into the world (painting)?

Oh and here's your song:

La Di Da Di- Slick Rick