Rant: Blueprint's "An Example Of Why It's So Hard To Sample Anymore"

Hip-Hop's sound has changed....

Since I was a young kid bumpin' Run DMC to my days as a teenager who loved his Gangstarr, Biggie and Cypress Hill, to present day as a young adult who checks for newer and progressive acts like Fashawn and Sa Ra, I have witnessed Hip-Hop's production transform and experiment within itself many times over, and more recently against it's own will. One thing is undeniable; this genre's success and viability is rooted in the practice art of sampling; something that keeps getting harder and harder for artists to actually do legally...

It's no secret that ever since that landmark case when Biz Markie was sued by Gilbert O'Sullivan the amount of samples employed on records released by major and even Indie labels has begun to dwindle badly...It's sad...we went from getting to hear guys like Pete Rock wondrously integrate 5 samples together on one track to now basically dealing with guys barely even lifting off one record...Shiiet, guys are even scared to sample obscure shit now..

Listen up as Columbus, Ohio MC and underground force Blueprint details his latest experience in sample hatin' while he was attempting to get his latest project "Columbus Or Bust" pressed up....I like to call this the scary ass pressing plant employee...

-BIG D O




Blueprint:

So last week i turned in the CD master of the Columbus or Bust album to this pressing plant that we take a lot of CD duplication jobs too. They start processing the order and then the sales rep calls me and is like “i have a question about this master”

I say “sure, what is it?”, and she says “are all the samples on this cleared and do you have permission to use everything on this record”. I say “nah, not really, but what are you referring to”, and she says “i think i heard a vocal sample from an Officer and A Gentlemen on there”. I’m kind of off guard but I’m like “hmmm, well there are samples but that’s not what its from”, and she says that she thinks there’s going to be a problem with their “licensing department” with the samples and they might not be able to press the record. I basically say hey whatever y’all decide to do just let me know. I didn’t tell her any of the samples because really its none of her business and also if somebody is gonna catch me then they’re gonna have to do their homework. I’m not gonna do their job for them and narc on myself.

So a day or two later, she forwards me an e-mail from their “licensing department” that basically identifies a couple vocal samples on there correctly and says i need permission to use them or they cant press it. Wow.

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