It’s no secret to anyone that knows me that I love hip hop. It is an art form that originates from the use of audio collages and samples. My favorite albums are mostly 2010s hip hop or hip hop adjacent records. The first album I ever physically owned was The College Dropout, by Kanye West. My mother hated it. We had only been in the country for about a year or two, and my uncle took me to Best Buy and gave me $20 and said to buy whatever I wanted. I bought the one with the teddy bear on it, but was 11 at the time, so yeah. I still didn’t quite speak English very well, so when I first heard it, all I could hear was the music. It was magic. I didn’t really understand why I liked it, but I did, a lot.
I continued to consume hip hop music like crazy. Even rapped my damn self. That’s why I respect lyrical skill a lot. I listened to all the classics. From 2004 till now. However, there is a component from this genre that my ears almost instinctively pick up upon first listen. every. single. time.
THE SAMPLES.
Samples are widely recognizable nowadays. They’re pretty much an industry standard nowadays, especially in pop. Samples are parts or snippets from original recordings used to create a new recording. They usually alter it using different production techniques but it can also just be a loop of the original. This creates ‘’building blocks” upon which new works of art are “pieced together”. Here is a link to a YouTube video because there is a visual and audio component that can really help us understand this concept.
Watch this video about Kanye West’s “Graduation” Album samples to get a better idea of what I’m talking about.
I’m not sure why, but samples are, *chef’s kiss* to me. The idea of creating a body of work by using elements borrowed from other bodies of work is something that really speaks to me. It might have to do with the idea that there is “Nothing New Under The Sun”. A friend of mine told me this recently and I disagree, but only because I strongly agree. I really do believe that post modernism has us against the ropes when it comes to stuff like this and that “sampling” or in the case of visuals “collaging” can help us escape this paradigm.
If we can’t create fresh, new, “farm raised” ideas, I think that recombining them is a good way to evolve the creative world. It’s like Remy said in Ratatouille. “Now imagine every great taste in the world being combined into infinite combinations, tastes that no one has tried yet!! Discoveries to be made!” We can literally combine any aspect of art and collage it with other elements. Create new never before thought of works of art. It’s not just art. It’s reality itself, art is just the medium we use to kickstart a paradigm shift in culture.
Now, I can’t really write about collages and samples without addressing the bitchy derivative elephant in the room. “What about the original artist? Isn’t it stealing?”. There’s an ethical argument to be raised, but it mostly stems from a place of financial compensation. Most artists that get upset about getting sampled are usually so because it was used without payment. The only artist I’ve ever seen upset about her work being ruined through sampling is Ms. Chaka Kahn. That’s not to say that there are songs and works of art that aren’t lackluster or use sampling poorly. But it is like any other medium, there are hits and misses.
To answer the question, it’s an ethical thing. The borrowing artist can pay the original artist using systems already in place. As far as “just practice” or personal art, as long as you’re not desecrating the art work then go for it.
I really do believe that collages and samples can help us improve the way we look at our creative process. It doesn’t have to be a one to one direct sample. We can look at a work of art and question how we can replicate the technique or even the emotional impact that the piece transmits. Personally even though I don’t copy and paste other artist’s work I do question how I can achieve similar results. I then “reverse engineer it’’ and attempt replication. Then it becomes an element in my creative palette. That’s sampling to me.
Then there’s the application of collaboration. It’s basically sampling someone’s skill in real time in order to improve a work of art. We all now that music artist and entertainers do it. “So and so Featuring Drake, or “featuring lil whatever is cool this month on tik tok.’’ I like the idea of using features in visual mediums as well. Warhol and Basquiat did it back in the day. Critics hated it, but they fucking did it, and that’s a win in my book.
Collages and samples are something that I want to explore and experiment with as I grow as a creative. The idea of rearranging elements to fine tune the concept that I’m trying to explain seems too good to pass up. I also want to do it across platforms and mediums. Like a multi platform album. Use one concept across different mediums and present it as a congruent body of work. The “big’’ body of work would itself be a collage of smaller works of art collages together in order to explore one concept. That sounds cool af.
We will see what unfolds as I increase my skill level. I really just wanted to write this to share the magic of collages and samples (but mostly the samples). It’s fun to throw ideas around and see what sticks. It’s even more fun when those ideas stick close enough to collage and inspire us to create new things. Collages and samples don’t need to be the permanent future of the creative world, but they might be the best tools we currently have to arrange and rearrange our paths in new and exciting different ways so that our destinations become clearer.
10/12/23- Adam
BONUS
As a bonus, in the mean time, I thought it would be cool to give you a list of things you can look into if you liked this post. Very introductory stuff but if you want more hmu and I’ll point you to the J Dillas and Martha Rostlers.
- Music- All of Kanye West’s discography. It is quite interesting to see how his sampling skill goes from sampling nostalgic soul from his room circa The College Dropout, to the elegant and masterfully crafted and produced My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy and then to his hyper abstract futuristic evolution in Yeezus and The Life of Pablo. It’s a wiiiiilllld ride.
- Music- All of Daft Punk’s Discography. I told someone that The Funky Robots’ music was the perfect ADHD music and I meant it. Their sampling skill is god tier. Anyone interested in the art of sampling should carefully analyze and study Daft Punk’s craftsmanship. Random Access Memories is a master piece and is perfect to transcend your humanity and transfer your consciousness into the age of A.I. and robotics. Even the bonus tracks slap.
- Podcast.- Dissect Podcast. I literally never shut up about this podcast irl. It breaks down entire albums, note by note, word by word. It’s interesting af to hear how a song is broken apart, analyzed, then put back together as it re contextualizes our understanding of how modern music is made. It talks about samples in depth any time a sample shows up in a song. Lucky for me most seasons talk about albums that i never shut up about irl.
- Multi Platform- @tracklib . if you look for this on whatever social media you fancy most, you’ll find a long list of examples of samples, where they originate from and how they were altered to create new songs. It’s really magical and one of the few things I’ve spent hours doom scrolling social media that don’t feel like a complete waste of time.
- YouTube. Just look up collage artists and you’ll find a gazillion videos about the topic. It’s a fun rabbit hole to go down. Here’s a top 20 list of visual collage artists to get you started
- Artist. Pablo Picasso. The legend himself. This man could paint like DaVinci when he was like, 14 years old. He then decided that wasn’t artsy enough and created or contributed to the creation of a fuckton of ENTIRE NEW ART STYLES AND CURRENTS. One of them was collage art and the world is all the better for it.