After months and months of digging and speculating, interacting on different forums and with different people, it finally surfaces. Much to the chagrin of another producer who used the same sample for an unused instrumental, a kid who rarely posts at Philaflava dropped the name of the record just a little while ago. The poster fittingly goes by the name of Midnight Marauder and tonight he truly marauded for our ears and I would just like to extend a thorough thank you to the man who we don't know much about.
Now, for the last few months, this subject has brought about a bit of controversy. The main argument being about producers unveiling their sample sources. Of course, this phenomena goes way back to the late 70's, early 80's, when DJ's used to use different means to hide the names of records they spun. It was usually to make sure another DJ didn't bite and use the same record or to just stay being the only DJ with that record, rendering his material exclusive. Understandable, completely.
But nowadays, things done changed. The internet is a wonderful thing. You got blogs like Kevin Nottingham and Hip Hop Is Read releasing entire album sample sets. You got people over at The-Breaks listing samples for your favorite songs every day, in an easily navigable presentation. You got guys like myself and Roy Johnson doing their own unique sample sets, breakdowns, and challenges. It's a new world. Bask in it! You never know when things can change for the worse.
Some might say that asking what someone sampled is lazy and wack and against what this culture used to represent. Some people say that sharing and building on the information can only lead to good things. The one thing I can add here is that insulting and trying to belittle someone for requesting sample information is an uncalled for, wack move.
There really is no reason for me to get into the argument, I mean, to each his own. If someone doesn't want to give up a sample source, they don't have to. Especially if they are a pretty big name, they can face litigation. And if your name is recognized on a much, much smaller scale, you still don't owe anybody a sample source revelation. But it might help your career out by getting your name out there a little more. In these days, fans want that interactivity with artists.
There's nothing to debate. The credit goes to the writers, performers, producers, musicians, and engineers of the original record. Credit also goes to the hip hop producers for doing that magic that they do so well at turning a little old sample into a beautiful new hip hop joint.
Preview:
Thanks to leftright and everyone else from The-Breaks and Philaflava message boards. All you guys are some diggin'
fanatics. And your non stop work on uncovering this was and is appreciated.
--Verge
Few things in this world can compare to the hunt for a dope ass sample. Obviously I was unable to accomplish this search quickly enough, so thanks for the heads up!
ReplyDeleteFor those of us not up-to-date on the controversy this post is referencing, could you link the relevant forum/blog post (or whatever?). All I see above is a picture of MF DOOM and some hints at an argument between...producers? Anyway, glad whatever happened is now resolved, but I'd sure like to know what it was. :-)
ReplyDeleteI deleted that last comment obviously. It wasn't really that much controversy. Just people trying to get the sample out of someone who also used it, which ignited some back and forths about if producers should reveal their samples. No biggie.
ReplyDeleteverge, you kinda missed damu's point and put your own spin on what he said (he was talking directly to one person who even admitted himself that he was being obsessive and disrespectful with the way he was going about asking for this info). you painted him out to be a bad person because he chooses not to name the samples he used or that others used, and offered "advice" to get his name out. you said its "no biggie" meanwhile, you posted direct links to this blog on damu's website as well as on sites that featured his music with the news of this sample breaking. all good, you can post whatever you want, and i hope you achieve whatever your goal is. for the record "dj soares" posted it a few days in the comments section of one of damu's videos (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4bSkjLtJG-A). at the very least, this topic sparked a great discussion with a variety of thoughts and perspectives being spoken. me? i download all the "sample sets" and love compilations although i do understand why dj premier once refereed to it as "snitching and violating"
ReplyDeletepeace.
@JNOTA- If the case is that one person was hounding him like that for the sample, then I understand. That's not a good look, it must have been real annoying. Like I said in the write up, nobody is obligated to divulge sample sources. That's ludicrous.
ReplyDeleteI guess I misinterpreted what was going on there, because it looked to me like an attack on anyone asking what was sampled. And thinking that was the case was why I said what I said in the post. Not because he wouldn't reveal a sample.
I posted links in 3 places, all of which were looking for the sample. The-Breaks, Philaflava, and his site Wonkabeats. I did so to show people who were looking for the sample what it was. I guess that might have been low brow by leaving it on his blog, but I did include a link to his youtube video in this blog. Well, no disrespect intended.
Personally, I think it's cool to dig for loops and okay to reveal them. If it's a sample of someone who can possibly be sued and it hasn't been cleared, then no. But, you see what I did here, I didn't name the record that was sampled so that og artist or their lawyers can't find this on a google search. But if someone is interested and downloads, then they see who it is.
All's peace. Damu has some dope beats.
the vid you linked was a fanmade edit of something i shot and posted. no big deal, good to hear your feeling the beats. if anyone wants to check out more from damu and download some of his music you can grab a bunch of stuff at wonkabeats.com - id love to see what people would say if you asked them who flipped it better - damu or madlib? anyway, take care. if you're interested we have a bunch of stuff in the works for the summer and we'll be doing some nyc events as well if you wanna come through (i noticed youre in nj). later man
ReplyDeleteso there's a vague entry not naming names that doesn't make much sense to someone out-of-the-loop, then:
ReplyDelete"This is a private file.
Divshare staff disabled access to this file."
:(
Well, you can see from what's transpired in the comments on what I was referring to. There is now an extra link at the bottom of the page. When you download, you will see the original artist that was sampled. I did not mention names because I didn't want to cause any legal trouble for either of the producers who sampled it.
ReplyDeletePeace...Verge
I already posted this in the forum but this is going to end up on Metal Samples Vol's 6 & 7 that I've been compiling the last year or so. Thanks for the link!
ReplyDeleteI knew it was a brazilian song! Madlib started do the raw material for Madvillain here in São Paulo, back in 2002.
ReplyDelete