Negroes Need Not Sample
One of the greatest crimes against the Black intellectual is devaluing any observations of racism as nonsensical conspiracy theories. But we don’t care — we’re going to point out racism wherever we see it since it is an integral part of the fabric of Western thought.
The form of racism at play here for our discussion is racial double standards which is manifested by Black criminalization. This criminalization manifest as early as pre-school age and as The Nation’s article “School to Prison Pipeline” points out, “black students are receiving the message — at younger and younger ages — that their behavior will be regarded differently, as inherently more disruptive and therefore more deserving of punishment.”
Behavior that is celebrated and justified when carried out by whites — boys will be boys, letting off steam, rebellious ‘streak’ — are viewed entirely different when that behavior is carried out by someone Black — problem child, troubled, a candidate for ADHD. There is no limits to the cases of this found in the Justice System — the Eric Garner case juxtaposed with Dylann Roof being a prime example.
Sampling While Black
This judgement is not just manifested in school situations or in criminal situations…it’s also exercised in the music industry. In our paper, “ The Devil Killed New York Rap”, we touched a bit on two of the early cases of Copyright Infringement — the Turtles’ vs De La Soul and briefly, the O’Sullivan v Biz Markie case. We kept it short there for length and clarity sake but there was one thing that stood out to me about the latter case — the words of the judge.
Biz Markie was following up his smash sophomore album, “The Biz Never Sleeps” when he dropped, “I Need a Haircut” in the Fall of 1991. Two months after the release, a suit was filed. One of the songs, “Alone Again,” had used an unauthorized sample from Gilbert O’Sullivan’s similarly titled, “Alone Again (Naturally).” O’Sullivan, a soft-rock Irish singer, was best known for “Alone” and sought immediate retribution.
And immediate retribution is what he got — less than a month after the case was filed, Warner Brothers and Biz Markie agreed to pay O’Sullivan an undisclosed but “substantial” amount. The presiding judge, Judge Kevin Thomas Duffy in his six page decision had this to say, “’Thou shalt not steal’ has been an admonition followed since the dawn of civilization, Unfortunately, in the modern world of business this admonition is not always followed.” Oh, the hypocrisy and condescension in those words. One of the attorneys from O’Sullivan’s firm took it one step further exclaiming, “Sampling is a euphemism that was developed by the music industry to mask what is obviously thievery, this represents the first judicial pronouncement that this practice is indeed theft.” This adversarial role was aimed at De La Soul, Biz Markie in the beginning and would go on to include artists from The Notorious BIG to Kanye West. The amount of Black artist using samples as the foundation of a track decreased drastically — mostly due to price — but even being able to pay rights didn’t stop one of the most notorious and ruthless Sample Hunters — the Bridgeport Music Inc.
“Garry Shider was on his deathbed and couldn’t make any kind of decisions. And to help his wife and kids, he signed all of his rights away to [Armen] and had the kids sign it too — At a time when he didn’t know what the hell he was doing. I was helping him at the time — trying to get him not to sign those things — but he was worried about his family. He signed away all his rights. And he had never been paid all those years in the first place for “Atomic Dog.” George Clinton; Flashlight 2013: Q&A Interview With George Clinton (A Concord Music Hall Concert Preview — George Clinton and Parliament Funkadelic — Friday, November 29, 2013)
This story doesn’t start with the samples — it starts with the deceptive publishing “deals” that predate them, in this case, Bridgeport Music Inc. the owner of Westbound Records and all of their publishing — which means all things George Clinton. Clinton has been in an ongoing fight against the founder, Armen Boladian, who, according to Clinton, not only practiced predatory tactics (like the ones mentioned above) also forged signatures and other unscrupulous tactics. Clinton has, in many cases, even come out in DEFENSE of the artist under attack by Bridgeport.
Bridgeport Music Inc. in 2001 alone filed over 500 sample based lawsuits which the media often portrayed as artist against artist — ie Madonna vs Jay Z when in reality, Madonna received no benefit from such a suit. All the coffers would go to Bridgeport. Not sure how all 500 of those cases ended up but one of them — Bridgeport v Dimension Films — in theory — would change the face of sampling forever.
In the Bridgeport v Dimension case the song in question, “100 Miles and Runnin’” (1990) is called into question for it’s two second, filtered, pitch altered, guitar swipe from Funkadelic’s “Get Off Your Ass and Jam.” The fact that the sample is unrecognizable…and again, two seconds is of no import — the decision still states, “Get a license or do not sample. We do not see this as stifling creativity in any significant way.” — that tone again.
Sampling, when done by Black artists, as shown by the above cases, is seen as a criminal act of thievery which lacks any creativity. Never mind the fact that, there would be no rock — or modern music at all were it not for the imitation and recreation of jump and rhythm and blues songs. (think: Led Zeppelin’s many forays into blues interpolation). This leads us into our next section — sampling while white.
Sampling While White
While De La Soul’s “3 Feet High & Rising” (1989) is remembered mostly for it’s suit brought on by The Turtles and it’s subsequent absence from online retailers, the Beastie Boys’ “Paul’s Boutique” — produced by The Dust Brothers — is hailed as “one of sampling’s greatest feats.” One critic deemed it a “dense, rap opera.”
DJ Shadows’ breakthrough debut, “Endtroducing” (1996) is celebrated as the first album created entirely by samples. It was considered one of the greatest albums of the decade and resides on the lists of many critics top Hip-Hop albums.
Girl Talk is renowned for his fair use stance in regards to sampling — seeking no clearance, and to date, having not been hit with any Copyright Infringement suits. His 2008 release, “Feed the Animals” is reported to have upwards of 320 uncleared samples. And despite his music not being on iTunes and withheld from sites such as YouTube, Girl Talk was able to quit his day job….as a BIOMEDICAL ENGINEER.
Are you seeing a pattern? I could continue on with the The Avalanches’ “Since I Left You” (2000) which claims over 3,500 samples…three thousand…five hundred samples — not one Copyright Infringement case, Panda Bear, Moby, Beck, etc. The fact remains that white artists are celebrated and rewarded for doing the same things that Black artist created and are criminalized for.
Marley Marl is known for isolating snares and kicks, sampling them individually, and creating patterns from those samples but if Paul C were alive today, the credit would surely be given to him. What Prince Paul did with De La Soul (and the Bomb Squad before him with PE) was groundbreaking — using samples as collages to form a complete song (“Bring the Noise” as an example, is comprised of 9 samples), but The Dust Brothers are not only treated with higher regard for their work with the Beasties, they were able to continue to work in the same manner and flourish.
The message this gives Black creatives is that “their behavior will be regarded differently, as inherently more disruptive and therefore more deserving of punishment.” The Black creative will never attempt at making an album comprised of 3,500 samples, much less 3 knowing that in doing so he or she could tie up their album release in court for eons or worst — it can be removed from sale all together.
We are often fooled into thinking that Hip-Hop has been a great equalizer in race relations — that because we can listen to the same music, that we view each other as one and the same. Sure, that may be true among fans, but once we’re elevated into the world of business where lawyers and contracts reign supreme that view no longer holds water. Black producers are not viewed by the judge as their son or daughter who needs guidance and a slap on the wrist — no — they are viewed as criminals who are not making a decent living but instead stealing the hard-earned labor of the artist that they have sampled. Thus, samples is a place for whites only — negroes need not apply.
