Sampling Is Stealing!: 80's Mini-Doc Explores Song Creation In Hip Hop

(Photo via avforums.com)

If you're anything like Turnbull and me, you love samples in hip hop songs and exploring their origins. Digging through liner notes and Wikipedia, tracking down the original cut and finding the part that was used. It's become such a staple in this genre that it would be hard to picture hip hop without it.

The following YouTube vid is a mini-documentary, produced circa 1988, exploring samples in hip hop and the legalities surrounding their use. It features some well know names like DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince, De La Soul, Prince Paul, and the Beastie Boys to name a few. The mini-doc has clips with the "haters" from way back that believed sampling is stealing and that it is straight up wrong. Included in this "haters" group are Tom Petty, Lou Reed, and Debbie Gibson (!). This video is pure gold so check it out and let us know what you think!

-Paqman