TwoCents | SAMPLE!!! EKWE!!! - by Queensley Okon

Oh how I have missed writing about music🤗🎭 It is my first love after all💟💟💟💟💟 Okay this is all to distract you from the interesting caption. Don't ask me how it came up. If you know the song, fine and if you don't, Google is your baby boo. But as you can try to tell , because I know I have confused you, today we would be talking about sampling in music. Yes, that Drake record didn't exactly have original words and that Halsey line is familiar for a reason. The word has been thrown around but do you really understand the concept? What goes into sampling? How is a sample record cleared? What percentage goes to the originator? Are there legal ramifications? Let's find out What is sampling? It is the recreation or use of elements in a song for another recording. This could be lyrics, beat, sound, any element that was present in a previous recording and is now found or used in a new one is called a sample. I believe you must have listened to a song and heard something familiar and thought, "woah, that's familiar" It shows you are a good music head and let me see if you recognize any samples here For example, Fivio Foreign ft Queen Naija and Coi Leray's "What's My Name" sampled Destiny Child's "Say My Name" You can hear some elements of the sound bites, the chorus of the previous jam and the beat fused along with the new creation. For those of you familiar with Burns Boy's "Last Last" , what you don't know is the song sampled the beat from Toni Braxton's "He Wasn't Man Enough For Me". This is one you might like; "Tap In" by Saweetie sampled the energetic beat from Too Short's "Blow The Whistle". If you pay attention, you can hear the whistle tome and overall flow of the beat mixed in with Saweetie's lyrics. P-Square and Wizkid are also great examples of people who have sampled earlier records of artistes. Sampling can also be done with lyrics and this is called interpolation, although the difference is you only need permission from the owner of the lyrics, especially since approving samples goes through a more complicated process. It's the reason I mentioned Drake and Halsey, but most especially Drake because he does it a lot in his tracks and shows how in tune he is with his musical roots. For example, "Worst Behavior" sampled lyrics from "Mo Money Mo Problems" by Notorious B.I.G where Mase is rapping "who's hot, who's not, who sellouts the stores...." I'm sure my rap fans probably missed it like I did it too. In his "Nice for What" track, he samples lyrics from Lauryn Hill's "Ex-Factor, on his verse for " Fxxxx Problems" with A$ap Rocky, he samples lyrics from "Flap your wings" by Nelly, on "For Free", he samples lyrics from "Blow The Whistle" by Too Short and so much more. Halsey interpolated lyrics from Justin Timberlake's "Cry Me A River" in her track "Without Me". Jay Z, the late Pop Smoke are also some artistes who interpolate. In order to use someone's work, you need to obtain rights from the licencing company, the record label and finally the artiste. It pays to go through sites like ASCAP, BMI, COSON , MCSN and more(do your research) When you don't obtain the necessary approval, it could spell serious legal consequences. Dua Lipa is always in court for using stuff that isn't hers. Nicki Minaj almost got fined for using elements from Tracy Morgan's "Sorry" to make a track, but that turned out to not be the case as the song was not released. Turns out, she does what most artistes do which is create something in the studio and get people to hear it to see if it works, before you decide to go for license approval, which actually is the way it works. I mean, we know she is a writer!!! Now when your sample is cleared, there also exists agreements like paying a percentage of streaming fees, paying outright and the original owner getting a percentage of royalties from the sale of the song. An example is Burna, who pays 60 percent of the streaming fees to Toni Braxton for sampling her track. Sampling may sometimes be seen as stealing, most especially Interpolation because some artistes may decide not to clear the track to be used. I see it as both appreciation for the art when done rightly and stealing when done wrongly. Oh, before I forget, Latto's "Big Energy" sampled Mariah Carey's hit song "Fantasy" and she even features her on the remix. Next time, we would examine Covers and I am sure you would love it. Hope you enjoyed reading this? Tell me which one surprised you and which one I missed What samples do you know?

Other insights from Queensley Okon