Sampling & its Influence in the Music Industry
A couple of weeks ago, I was listening to yet another Spotify playlist, full of 70s music - much of which I’ve never heard before. While listening, I sort of fell down a rabbit hole which led me to sift through tons of song radios full of music that artists like Tyler, the Creator and Kanye West have sampled from. I remember I clicked on one song, ‘My Song’, and noticed it was from Kanye’s ‘I Wonder’. This made me realize that the songs I thought I had “never heard of before” were actually familiar to me but just received in a different way. So, I went through all of my favorite songs that incorporate samples to show how music can be reinterpreted and transformed to stay present, no matter how old a song may be.
Here are some of my favorite songs and their samples for you to enjoy, too.
GONE, GONE / THANK YOU - Tyler, the Creator
I can’t even begin to explain how important this song is to me because I’ve already dedicated a previous essay on my love for IGOR, which you can read here. In the song ‘GONE, GONE / THANK YOU’, during the second chorus that starts, “Thank you for the love / Thank you for the joy…” Tyler samples the melody from Tatsuro Yamashita’s ‘Fragile’. This is an interesting comparison because both of these songs have a similar tone. We can see how the melody in ‘Fragile’ reflects the overall tone of “IGOR.”
A BOY IS A GUN* - Tyler, the Creator
Another song from IGOR that uses a popular song for sampling is ‘A BOY IS A GUN*’. Ponderosa Twins Plus One’s song ‘Bound’ is where we find the opening lyrics: “You started with a mere hello” that Tyler uses before going into the first verse. “Bound” has been sampled in songs ranging from Hip Hop to R&B, and even Electronic/Dance music. This brings us to the most popular sample of the song by Kanye West.
Bound - Kanye West
The last song on Yeezus, ‘Bound 2’ uses a different part of the original, emphasizing the lyrics, “Bound to fall in love” before going into Kanye’s first verse. Comparing both Tyler and Kanye’s songs, we can see a similar style between the two artists through the way they chose to sample. In ‘Bound 2’, Kayne records his verses over the original song, directly incorporating it into his lyrics and we can see how Tyler takes a similar approach to this as he raps over the original repeating line in “Bound” as well.
Sleepyhead - Passion Pit
This is probably my favorite sample from all the songs I found because the original song, ‘Oro Mo Bhaidin’ by Mary O’Hara is not only a different genre from ‘Sleepyhead’ but it’s also in a completely different language – Irish Gaelic. Listening to the original, I never would’ve thought that an electro-pop song would be able to come from it, which is what makes the idea of sampling so interesting to me. It not only shows how music can be reinterpreted, but it shows how talented artists like Michael Angelakos are able to take a song and rework it to his style of music.
Forbidden Fruit - J. Cole (Featuring Kendrick Lamar)
Coming from the original song released in 1972, J. Cole tracks his and Kendrick’s voice over Ronnie Foster’s, ‘Mystic Brew’. J. Cole chose to sample an instrumental song, different from Kanye and Tyler, which I took as his approach to showcase his voice along with Kendrick’s in ‘Forbidden Fruit’.
Sampling music acts as a window into the artist’s creative process. It allows us to think about why our favorite creators choose a specific verse of a song and how it could resonate with their lyrics or stylistic techniques. Not only does it create depth in an artist’s song, but it also broadens our taste in music.
From this little project I set up for myself, I was able to discover so many new artists that I’ve never heard of or listened to before. Artists like The Isley Brothers and The Ponderosa Twins Plus One have given me some of my favorite songs and I never would have known about them if it weren’t for samples. So, the next time you come across an artist using a sample you like, find the original and fall down the same rabbit hole I did!