Old School Sampling in the 21st Century

If you're making Hip Hop then you're most likely sampling. You most likely crate dig and listen to music with the intent of sampling it. Today with the ability to find rare music all over the internet it's easy to find new samples. There are a lot of bloggers posting old out of print vinyl that have not been used in Hip Hop music. One of our current favorites is...

http://myjazzworld.blogspot.com/

Of course you have to get permission and pay royalties if you're going to use stuff like that but that's the reality of Hip Hop sampling in the 21st century.

There's a big difference between Hip Hop sampling today compared to the golden age of Hip Hop 20 years ago. Back in the late 80's and early 90's the legality of sampling had not come to the forefront of Hip Hop music because most of it was flying below radar. One of the main reasons that record labels didn't notice or care about Hip Hop music sampling was because initially Hip Hop music wasn't making much money. It wasn't until after albums from artists like Run DMC & Public Enemy started making big money from their sample based Hip Hop albums.

So, the bottom line is, whether you're using pre-made samples or doing it yourself; you have to be responsible for clearing your samples if you plan on making any money from your music. So be careful, that sample from modern beats could just be from a old record. If you use something that is obvious enough for a jury to pick out of the original recording then you could end up paying fines. There have even been cases where "free" websites have been asked to take down copyrighted samples and break beats.