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Exclusive analysis of and insight to music sampling, copyright law, and more from The Art of Sampling.
Source Material: Gladys Knight & The Pips – “Make Yours A Happy Home”
This song brings me back to all the times I watched 'Claudine' as a kid.
The music and video below is presented here for the purpose of scholarship.
Gladys Knight & The Pips – “Make Yours A Happy Home”…
Kanye West Flipped “Strange Fruit” for “Blood On The Leaves;” And There’s Nothing Wrong With That
First, it was “Blood on the Leaves.” Outrage from everywhere for how Kanye West used a sample of Nina Simone’s heart-wrenching rendition of “Strange Fruit,” a 1939 song about lynching written by teacher Abel Meeropol and first popularized…
Sample Flips: Wiz Khalifa & Curren$y – “Landing”
Live in Concert produced a slew of Jazz-infused songs, but one stands out above the rest.
Wiz Khalifa and Curren$y have always blended their styles well. Starting in 2009 with How Fly, the two MC’s have produced projects together ever…
Sample Flips: Screwball – “Who Shot Rudy?” (Prod. By K. Jones)
Menacing Queensbridge crew details fictional assassination of former New York Mayor.
The Queensbridge hip hop tradition is well-documented. From Marley Marl to Nas to Cormega to Mobb Deep, Queensbridge (the largest housing project in…
BeatTips List Of Great Records For Drum Sounds, Vol. 1
Record gems with open drum sounds.
I’m a strong advocate for using custom drum sounds. Although I have no issue with stock drum sounds (I’ve used stock drums in the past, and I have no problem with using them in the future), I believe…
Little Children, All Grown Up: Exploring the Ways A Kool & The Gang Album Cut Was Flipped
Kool & The Gang’s “Little Children” is an obscure prayer for the youth of the ‘70s, wishing them godspeed in their pursuit of a better world. In the hands of the titular children - namely, Buckwild, Ez Elpee, Ghetto Professionals and…
Sample Flips: A$AP Rocky – “Praise The Lord (Da Shine)” Ft. Skepta
The demise of sampling has been greatly exaggerated. We continue to see the art of sampling power many of the hits of today. Whether it's trap or a trap-blend, sampling still remains a go-to for its sound and flavor. And what stands out…
Check This: Saga & Thelonious Martin – “Mongolian Cashmere” (Prod. By Thelonious Martin)
Brooklyn MC Saga and Chicago producer Thelonious Martin rock out on their collaborative LP, Molotov. This LP features most of Martin’s traditional sample-based beat style and Saga’s smooth rhyme flow. They clearly found a winning formula on…
Beat Breakdown: Prodigy – “Keep It Thoro” (Prod. By Alchemist)
A menacing apparatus, “Keep It Thoro” personifies how light and heavy textures co-mingle and combine, giving a beat a powerful sonic impression
When certain names in beatmaking get tossed around with praise, it’s not always easy to…
Check This: Ghostface Killah – “Guest House” Feat. Fabolous & Shareefa
I gotta admit, 10 years ago when it was first announced that Ghost was doing an "R&B" flavored album called Wizard of Poetry In Emerald City, I had serious concerns about. But after hearing "Guest House," I was longer worried. The…