Hip hop beat sampling is art too

CHRISTIAN CARRION, STAFF WRITER:
The art of sampling, as it relates to hip-hop, is the practice of using previously recorded sounds as instruments in a new recording. The word “new” itself has sparked considerable debate among music fans, musicians and scholars when discussing sampling.
Opponents deride sampling as simply a lazy, sneaky way of repackaging older (and sometimes in their opinion, superior) music as new material for the masses to devour. Supporters of the sampling aesthetic disagree, often acknowledging its deep roots in what we now recognize to be the hip-hop culture. Make no mistake, however: sampling is, and always has been, crucial to the development of hip-hop, not just in terms of the music, but in terms of the culture as a whole.
Sampling has always been a major brick in the foundation of urban music, from the early 70s, when DJ Kool Herc first began playing extended loops of soul breaks at New York City parties and picnics, to the present day, when artists like Kanye West turn short, obscure clips of psychedelic rock records into intricate orchestral compositions, The creativity involved in discovering a sometimes-forgotten
record from years past, listening to the record in a subjective manner, extrapolating a sound, and creating an entire song built around that particular sound is unique to very few genres of music. It is a process that has the unusual power to breathe life into a record that otherwise may have been limited in its initial exposure, whether by then-limiting factors
such as access to stereo equipment or limited availability of the record itself. The proliferation of sampling in hip-hop has introduced younger generations
of fans to such names as Harold Melvin