Mississippi producer/emcee Big K.R.I.T. recently sat down with US Rap News as a part of their “#1on1” video series while in France. During the interview, the Def Jam artist discussed the use of samples in modern Hip Hop and how the legal issues inherent to sampling have affected his own music.
K.R.I.T. said that he has yet to completely wrap his head around the issue, as sampling tip-toes a line between between art and theft. He added that the definition of sampling is murky, as many artists sample other individuals’ ideas without enduring the legal ramifications of sampling an actual song. Still, he said that he feels that the art of sampling may soon disappear from Hip Hop due to the legal risk producers face.
“Sampling is an interesting [art]; it’s a difficult thing to say, because you use something [older] in order to create something new,” he explained. “In everyday life, we do that anyway…technically, there’s people that I’ve had conversations with that have given me thoughts or ideas and I’ve used them, so technically, they could also be offended by me using some of these ideas. But it’s like in everyday life, you take from something in order to create something brand new. The difference with music is that it’s documented. My album was a situation where I was running out of time and I was dealing with sample clearances and you’re not just gonna use a sample and not clear it if you’re talking about your retail album – that’s just crazy. So we pushed it back in order for me to clear these samples, get ’em taken care of, or just scrap the sample and re-play something brand new, which is better than getting sued.”
He added, “Mixtapes have always been a free thing just for the general public as far as I was concerned. Growing up, there was mad mixtapes that I listened to – I’m not gonna call ’em out – but there were artists rapping over over peoples’ instrumentals, or mad samples…and the fact that it was free was like, ‘Aw, it’s okay.’ Nowadays, it’s coming to the point where it’s not okay at all, and creatively, I think it does take away from music just a tad bit because ever since Muddy Waters and before then, people were replaying gospel records…and turning them into [popular R&B records]…music has always been re-created and re-sampled, but I think more than ever with technology, you can really tell what you sampled and where it came from and people want to get paid for it.”
Check out the full interview below.
I see where he’s coming from with the legal issues, but I believe sampling will always be part of hip hop.
Agree
it always will be, it’s just gonna be more of a hassle but them niggas who really want it, will get the copyrights taken care of and do it
it’s true what he’s sayin tho, everything is looked over now in music cause of the sales going down, everybody wants to get paid
true…but u got some of these old heads charging so much to clear the sample that from a business perspective its not even profitable to put the music out. especially when the person clearing the sample is making more money off the new record than the ngga who actually created it. and there are alot of artist that just wont clear the samples at all
sad but true
Smart dude here. This won’t stop me from sampling, but I see where he’s coming from.
fuck the haters that say live from the underground was dispointing. if it was a mix tape they bitch ass would say “another great mixtape that should of been a album”
true that. definitely my fav project by krit. return of 4eva is a close second tho
What does that have to do with the post?
i dont know i feel like some doing it better then ever so its either going to reach perfection or fall off completly
fuck it im gone make NEW SCHOOL beats , but im not gone stop digging , kanye west is a prime example of keeping sampling alive and doing it in a new way
yeah be he has the funds and a big and strong enough machine behind him to get them cleared
This is indeed a sad dilema plaguing Hip-Hop right now…
Sampling is hip hop. if the beat dont have a sample it aint hip hop. anybody could slap together a couple shitty synths like that lil jon song [who i like] or yung jocs its goin down and have a hit. try crafting some schoolly d/dj premier type shit with a sample. hip hop is like basketball. poor people started playing basketball in da hood cause its afforable to shoot a ball in the park than it is to purchase expensive skates/hockey equipment. if hockey was affordable people in the hood would play it. hip hop was affordable because you didnt need to pay an orchestra or buy expensive synths when you could loop up breaks with a turn table. hip hop is some rich kid shit now. look at all these rappers of today, all rich kids with mac books. try turning roger zapp’s more bounce to the ounce into low profile’s ”pay ya dues” like dj aladdin did back in 1989. these producers of today aint shit. lets get that clear. i do however understand that these clowns have to do the dumb shitty beats they do in order to eat nowadays. you little kids dont know that hip hop has no samples because of the gilbert o sullivan law which started in 1991. clown ass gilbert o sullivan was a shitty singer who heard his piano in biz markies song alone again. he sued biz and now everybody in rap has to pay for samples because the judge declared the law the gilbert o sullivan law. you know who else who was a real sampling beast? dr dre. also on ice cube’s song the nigga ya love to hate, which is track one on his first lp, has the atomic dog and steve arringtons ”weak in the knees” simultaneously playing at once. to create a masterpiece like that today, not a dollar would be earned. big krit still samples, because he loves the music.
I’m not gonna read your novel, bitch. You should learn how to get your point across with just a few words.
^ i’m with this nigga…bout if it ain’t sampling it aint hip hop…u are a fucking retard
“if the beat dont have a sample it aint hip hop” – you’re a fucking retard
i agree with you mostly, but sir jinx and the bomb squad laced cube for that Amerikkka’s Most Wanted album. he had left dre and n.w.a. by then.
i hate that he bitched, but gilbet o sullivan is dope yo. i cant see how anybody who likes different kinds of music dont feel his shit. i just think some of the old heads didnt know what to make of rap and got offended without looking into what the music was about.
Hip hop is moving into a dangerous state now. Not only is it harder to sample, but if you break it down by region everything is sounding the same.
yep
yep i agree
epinz:
true…but u got some of these old heads charging so much to clear the sample that from a business perspective its not even profitable to put the music out. especially when the person clearing the sample is making more money off the new record than the ngga who actually created it. and there are alot of artist that just wont clear the samples at all
^ it’s always been like that….think of Biggie’s ‘Juicy’ & ‘One More Chance’…
The sad thing is is that some of the more cool old heads who actually own their masters will tell you it builds more business for them because once someone credits the sample used, people will research and look it up. Next thing you know, dudes getting phone calls to use his original song (and other music) in a commercial or do a major gig which eventually = $$$$ (example: Kanye’s use of “Dust A Soundboy” by Fuzzy Jones, I don’t even think Fuzzy charged him for it, he just wanted credit on the track for using it (don’t hold me to that though)
The stingier OGs are really missing out and only causing themselves headaches by going to court for nothing when they could be making even more dough if they let the artist use the track for free.
Man i’m not even sure if LYRICS will be in the future of hip hop. After hearing Slaughterhouse’s album and being highly dissapointed, I don’t know what to expect anymore
yo son LYRICS were the only thing that album had what you talking about! the problem was the production and hooks..
Agree. If Eminem don’t take the risk to put out a hardcore hiphop album for such a gifted group like Slaughterhouse, then who else would?
Fuck that, every true hip-hop head can name at least 10 producer to get material from, close Slaughterhouse to the studio for a week with those beats and let the fans decide the rest. No strings, no masters, no commercial pressure, just pure hip-hop. That’s what “Welcome To Our House” should have been …
I think on the commercial level we may see more producers actually play instruments as opposed to cats who can only sample. I think we need to broaden the sound anyway. We sample Jazz,Funk, Blues, Soul anyway why not get some live instrumentation and really make it authentic.
I don’t know if you like Southern rap or not but every time you hear guitar drums or bass on a UGK album that was played by pimp c aka Chad lemony butler in my opinion the best rapper/self producer ever even if his lyrics were half&half. He even plays piano on hthe song underground by UGK look it up if you want to hear mad talent on an instrument in a hip hop song
@Thomas, I read about that too. After knowing that, my respect level for Pimp went straight through the roof and I wasn’t even a big fan of his style of rapping.
RIP Pimp C
so many people are quick to brush pimp c off to the side because of his lyrical content. but dude was a straight musical genius. from track arrangment, to an exceptional vocal range for both singing and rapping, to his production and instrumentation.
the best part about it was that he barely gave himself credit throughout their albums for all his work, he just kept making quality southern music.
LONG LIVE THE PIMP!
FUCK UR SAMPLE!!!! I’LL STILL USE IT!!!
Maybe cause like everything else, greedy white guys dictate the music industry and legality of samples and hire squads of lawyers to crush you if you go against them. As soon as artists realize you don’t need a major label to enslave you and start learning the business side of things, you can avoid all of the soundscan BS and the industry rules and pave your own path. Ig the hip hop generation would empower themselves by creating their own videos, creating an entire team of creatives (designers, video producers, beat makers, promo guys,etc.) we could all avoid working for the “industry” and be your own industry. Technology can empower anyone these days. Look at the buzz KRIT built without a label. As soon as he signed, you get the “I had to eat” songs and way less samples. KRIT didn’t need them and neither do you. Fight the powers that be and crush the system! You don’t need Def Jam, Def Jam needs you!
IF THEIR ON A LABEL THEY HAVE ACCESS TO THAT LABEL’S PUBLISHING CATALOG
N!GGAS JUST GOT LAZY AND WANTED TO BLOW UP OFF A FREESTYLE ON THE LATEST BEAT INSTEAD OF PUTTING IN CREATIVE WORK
co-sign
the music industry is killing music all they want is their $$
that sampling shit is lazy
i guarantee any artist you listen too samples
R.I.P. Rap Music (1979-2004)
No Samples= No Hip Hop
co-sign
They expect nothin but trap?
I’ll say it like this:
Big K.R.I.T., just like any other Shouthern nigga, is a misinformed faggot. He doesn’t know shit about anything, and gets his money by making shitty (Southern) music that shitty (Southern) people enjoy. He doesn’t have any business talking about sampling, which is one of the most important things in Hip Hop.
Guess what? You’re retarded.
let me guess u only listened to his live from the underground huh? shit was hot but alll southern listen to his mixtapes before u say shit cuz then ull want to take that back
yo… Hold up, so, you think Big K.R.I.T. is shitty? LOL dude is one of the most skilled, real, and soulful artists in the rap game now. If you think the south has only had shitty rappers, then you just lost all your credibility in this convo bro. Outkast (Andre 3000 & Big Boi), UGK (Bun B & Pimp C), MJG & 8ball, Scarface, Wille D, Bushwack Bill, Mr. Mixx, the list goes on. Every part of the country has bad artists, but don’t get it twisted, Big K.R.I.T. is not one of them
You got it wrong, B. Ain’t no wack artists on the West Coast.
Stop feeding the troll people….
Asian countries for Asians
Black countries for Blacks
but White countries for Everybody ?
Nobody is flooding Asia with non-asians and telling everybody to ‘mix’
Nobody is flooding Black countries with non-blacks and telling everybody to ‘mix’
Every White country,and ONLY White countries are expected to flood themselves with 3rd Worlders and ‘assimilate’ (inter-marry) to create a mixed up ‘blended humanity’.
This is nothing but an attempt to Genocide White people.
‘Anti-racism’ is a codeword
for Anti-White
Thanks for letting us know….
wow……
South Africa has many whites who just moved in!!!!
America belonged to the Indians and whites just moved in.
Australia belonged to the Tasmanian tribes(blacks) and whites just moved in!!!
ANYTHING ELSE GAMER501????
you know this fool inhaled some “programming” and thought he was on to something. now that many of them are starting to feel the struggle, now all of a sudden it must be someone’s or somethings fault…as usual. sorry you are starting to see that you aren’t as “special” as your ass was led to believe. come have a seat on the bench with the rest of us, dipshit. smh
hahah these responses are bang on. gamer, you’re an embarassment to white people everywhere… shut the fuck up and keep on movin.
do your history whites invade and mixed with the locals every where they went
COSIGN ANON 1 1000%
ever since the biz markie lawsuit hip hop has gone to hell.
Hard Knock Life
Touch The Sky
California Love
Otis
T.R.O.Y.
and many more major songs with samples after Biz was sued
I hope you realised that every example you brought up were financed by wealthy labels with whole lawyer groups behind their back.
Point is sampling in hip-hop is far not the same what it was before the Gilbert O’Sullivan case. It went from the poor’s favourite (and only) tool for making music to the privilege of the top few percent. Ironic, huh … ?
Love Me Or Leave Me Alone
1999
Simon Says
Marcberg
many more sample based songs on labels period. Point is you want to sample, go thru the proper channels. End of story.
I’m gonna still sample,fuck it’s if dope im gonna use it flat out…On the other hand producers now of day’s don’t have too use samples too make a hit and that’s cool too..But imho I think it’s gonna hurt the original artist old school cat’s the most because they won’t let the new school artist use they music to reach the young head’s who ain’t never heard it before…!!1
Samplers record sounds. here’s a jewel for you producers, RECORDS ARE NOT THE ONLY SOURCE OF SOUND!
Actually, records are the only source of sampling. Sampling is the REUSE of an already recorded sound, whether you use the sample in its entirety or chop it down.
By what your saying a guitar player with a tape recorder would be sampling his own guitar playing, when infact he is simply recording it. If then a DJ dug up that recording, chopped and looped it, put it over a drum beat, THEN it would be sampling.
what im saying is fuck records! i’ll get shit from anywhere…shit i hear outside, tv, plays, cartoons, whatever…it aint just got to be some record.
ALL SAMPLES BESIDES OUTSIDE MUSIC
& RZA BEEN DOING THAT
LIKE SOMEONE SAID IF U WANNA SAMPLE GO THROUGH THE PROPER CHANNELS
THERE IS A SUCH THING AS ROYALTY FREE MUSIC OUT THERE
Krit is speakin true shit…i think the key now is to sample more abstact songs and be more creative with chops and trying to stay away from just looping a sample especialy from well known songs
Welcome to hip hops SECOND Golden Era!
Records are the sound of rap music you fuckzzzz Hip Hopz sound,
this is why my beautiful dark twisted fantasy was so exceptional… relatively unknown original samples made into amazing rap music.