Sampling in music is a curious phenomenon. The term “sampling” describes using another piece of music - usually just a snippet - in one’s song; it’s used for a variety of reasons, including as a pop reference to another popular work or simply because it’s a good musical idea that warranted expansion and/or revising.
Sampling is most notable in hip-hop music, where pioneers in the 90’s began using cutting bits of popular songs and choruses to serve as hooks for a rap. Jay-Z, for example, was noted - and acclaimed - for much of his sampling work, including the 1998 “Hard Knock Life (Ghetto Anthem),” which took the hook from the Broadway musical Annie.
But sampling also brings up a bevy of ethical questions about how and why one uses other pieces of music in a supposedly original work.
A recent single released by Miami-area rapper Flo Rida, for instance, features a prominent sample from electronic dance music artist Tim Bergling, more commonly known as Avicii. “Levels,” the Bergling song in question, was an undeniable hit over the summer, not only with EDM fans but with the greater mainstream music scene. “Levels” played - and still plays - everywhere, and became an emblem for growing mainstream acceptance of EDM genres of music.
Sampling is most notable in hip-hop music, where pioneers in the 90’s began using cutting bits of popular songs and choruses to serve as hooks for a rap. Jay-Z, for example, was noted - and acclaimed - for much of his sampling work, including the 1998 “Hard Knock Life (Ghetto Anthem),” which took the hook from the Broadway musical Annie.
But sampling also brings up a bevy of ethical questions about how and why one uses other pieces of music in a supposedly original work.
A recent single released by Miami-area rapper Flo Rida, for instance, features a prominent sample from electronic dance music artist Tim Bergling, more commonly known as Avicii. “Levels,” the Bergling song in question, was an undeniable hit over the summer, not only with EDM fans but with the greater mainstream music scene. “Levels” played - and still plays - everywhere, and became an emblem for growing mainstream acceptance of EDM genres of music.
Flo Rida’s “Good Feeling” is a strong track on its own, but as a huge supporter of EDM, I can’t help but feel that it smacks of piggybacking. It’s been a while since Flo Rida has a legitimate superstar hit on the radio charts - his David Guetta collaboration “Club Can’t Handle Me” was arguably his last big track - and to come back with a lead single that very heavily samples “Levels”? This isn’t a throwback Broadway sample we’re talking about.
Where do we draw the line between ingenuity and originality? Clearly, it was a brilliant move from a support standpoint to sample “Levels”; it’s an intensely popular track that many listeners would recognize, and does mate well with Flo Rida’s bombastic Miami-swag-party style of hip-hop. But how much of it was motivated by genuine artistry, as opposed to inspiration from a moneymaking standpoint?
Using an obvious sample, as Flo Rida does, is one issue. Another, though, is much more low-key - using largely unrecognizable tracks as the source material, for instance. This is something that Kanye West does brilliantly, but it also brings up questions of musical ethics.
After all, what’s worse - blatantly “ripping off” a popular track, or using so much sampled material - much of it difficult to identify upon listening - that it’s hard to identify whose musical idea a song features? Upon first thought, it seems to be the former. But I’d be willing to say that the latter can be more insidious, as most people will believe the music to be solely of the artist, such as Kanye West himself.
Going forward, artists are going to have to struggle with how to protect their integrity while using others’ musical ideas. It’s clear that sampling is an accepted, and often ingenious, technique in songwriting. But a fine line does exist, and we need to question intent behind such decisions.
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