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January 24, 2005 7:39 AM   Subscribe

 
Sorry for the memepool cross-post, but this I found this really eye-opening. I knew many of the tracks listed here were sampled, but I found many that I had thought were original.
posted by cmicali at 7:41 AM on January 24, 2005


I saw this on memepool already.
posted by jsavimbi at 7:41 AM on January 24, 2005


You thought rap and modern R&B music were even remotely original??? Wow.
posted by j.p. Hung at 7:55 AM on January 24, 2005


Very cool. I've been listening to hip-hop since Eric B. and Rakim but a lot of those samples surprised me. Not that I didn't think all those songs used samples, but I had assumed the producers had done a lot more layering instead of just using entire tracks from older songs.
posted by gwint at 7:56 AM on January 24, 2005


Hardly comprehensive, either - I know it's difficult to do a comprehensive archive, but why only choose these few?

Two obvious things - Stetsasonic is listed as sampling Lonnie Liston Smith, but it also contains a huge sample of Banbarra's Shack Up. And if they're going to include Fat Boy Slim, why not mention that Gangster Trippin' contains an enormous sample of Freedom Now's Sissy Walk?

Still, interesting that they include the mp3s.
posted by nylon at 7:57 AM on January 24, 2005


Sample FAQ
posted by rxrfrx at 8:09 AM on January 24, 2005


I should add that the Sample FAQ used to have sound clips, but they were removed at some point, probably due to legal reasons.
posted by rxrfrx at 8:10 AM on January 24, 2005


rxrfrx - that's more like it :)
posted by nylon at 8:12 AM on January 24, 2005


j.p. hung - what sort of music do YOU find original?
posted by 31d1 at 9:00 AM on January 24, 2005


While I'm not surprised by 99% of the list, I have to say I'm a bit surprised at the Eminem "My Name Is" sample, only because I thought the melody was so durn simple that A) it could be written by whoever writes Eminem's music, and B) No bands would make a melody that simple to stand on its own.

And j.p. hung, why only single out the rap and R&B? What about the house and techno stuff on the site? Beneath even sniping, or above sniping?
posted by Bugbread at 9:18 AM on January 24, 2005


On a somewhat, unrelated note, Soul Sides is an epic audio blog with great mp3 clips.
posted by iamck at 9:41 AM on January 24, 2005


Memo to haters on remix culture that are familiar with the Internets:

Perhaps instead of complaining about "originality" look at remix-culture as analogous to what css does with html.

Some people like their html plain and unformatted, some people prefer a clean and organized layout, some people like bells and whistles and colors and fonts everywhere, and css allows to each their own. Sometimes you might not be able to stand the way one page looks (a kenny G song perhaps), but be totally blown over by creative application of css to basically the same data (dj premier samples kenny g lick to riotous effect.). For example, look at all the "styles of music" coming from the same "original work" here, or here.

It's fairly absurd claim that changing the css on a page is unoriginal, or that ones html layout is the true artistic ideal. maybe if YOU were the one that invented html you'd have a leg to stand on, but you're not.

And as far as the claim that playing things out oneself rather than sampling is at least more creative, you might as well say, copy/pasting html is unoriginal and amounts to stealing, but you typing it out yourself is better. It's like advocating building the wheel every time you want to use a car or something. and i think that's stupid :P

What about the content between the so called "original" html tags? Same deal. You might be puff daddy and pay a fee to copy someone's content word for word, but no one can freak out at you for paraphrasing information found on another site. It's nice to give respect/attribution to those you learn from though, but i don't see a lot of "original musicians" acknowledging that people picked up guitars before they did, and that the formulas and conventions they use are not exactly brand new to the world...
posted by 31d1 at 10:59 AM on January 24, 2005


As long as we're on the subject, does anyone know what that keyboard riff in Boogie Down Productions' "The Blueprint," is sampled from?
posted by jonmc at 11:47 AM on January 24, 2005


i have a secret for all of you. 99.9 percent of all hip hop songs come from samples.
posted by LouieLoco at 1:13 PM on January 24, 2005


what that keyboard riff in Boogie Down Productions' "The Blueprint," is sampled from?

from rxrfrx's link above ...

Rufus Featuring Chaka Khan: (ABC 1975)
* "Ooh I like Your Lovin'"
Boogie Down Productions's "The Blueprint"
posted by milnak at 1:25 PM on January 24, 2005


LouieLoco: I think you are misunderstanding the phrase "all of you" and the word "secret".
posted by Bugbread at 1:34 PM on January 24, 2005


Hell, that's a lot of the fun of hip hop, trainspotting the samples.

"Hey, this is the horn lick from 'Boogie Shoes' by KC and the Sunshine Band!"

and etc
posted by First Post at 1:36 PM on January 24, 2005


milnak: thanks. Sorry I missed that.
posted by jonmc at 1:49 PM on January 24, 2005


Now a reverse directory of sample inclusions is music related metadata would be something I could lose some serious time to.
posted by nanojath at 7:59 PM on February 23, 2005


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