Final Project Except 2

Though it’s not necessarily something I look for or appreciate when I hear sampled music, I think sampling also offers an added dimension of meaning in a very “meta”, self-aware kind of way. Just by virtue of the way this music is constructed, the song being repurposed still retains some or all of its original meaning (especially if it’s a relatively well-known piece of music). This is especially true of sampled vocals, where the meaning is very literal. Depending on what kind of messaging is intended for the song being pieced together, samples can be used to reaffirm that message or ironically contradict it (the most immediate example of both that comes to mind is the Boris Gardiner sample that opens Kendrick Lamar’s album, To Pimp a Butterfly). Opportunities exist for humor as well. MF DOOM’s “Hoe Cakes” (excuse the misogyny) uses an interjecting vocal sample in a very literal way that is both clever and funny. Though I haven’t listened to it, and it’s probably more an example of interpolation than sampling, comic musician Neil Cicierega is known to make some music relevant to the last point.

            Why I bring this “meta” facet of sampling up is because I feel it relates nicely to two of the texts we explored in class, Guy Debord’s detournement and John Berger’s Ways of Seeing. The former concept relates in that detournement is very much about the ironic repurposing of consumer media to distort the original meaning. From what I can tell these are often digs at capitalism. The latter, John Berger’s Ways of Seeing, is relevant because of the segment it features in which Berger is considering context. He offers a hypothetical in which someone is flipping from one channel to the next and how the content of the former channel informs the viewers interpretation of the subsequent one. Examples were provided of scenarios in which the messaging of the former reaffirmed or ran counter to that of the latter channel. Intrinsic in both the concept of detournement and the aforementioned thought experiment in Ways of Seeing is the notion that the original retains its meaning when placed in a new context, and that this meaning can be repurposed in very interesting ways.

            Sampling, as with any other artistic medium, exists along a continuum of quality. While the least imaginative of what sampling has to offer may be more overt than in other mediums (some may argue it’s synonymous with plagiarism), I have hopefully laid out a convincing enough argument attesting to its merits. Independent of sampling, I believe this to be a good credo to adopt in general.  Despite what reservations or preconceptions you have about the value of a particular medium, it’s still worth validating those biases yourself. Though I’d hate to end with a platitudal statement, it’s been my experience that every form of art – no matter how off-the-wall or unorthodox – has had something captivating to offer. The fact that this holds true either means I’ve been fortunate enough to avoid the strangest things art has to offer (probably true), but I think it’s still a valid and instructive sentiment.