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‘Jozi’, a hip-hop crew who are becoming popular for the style known as muthaland crunk, have a single in which they sample tat’uVusi Ximba’s song “wayethin’umame?” It’s a traditional song I used to listen to when I was just a little girl and now it’s been brought back to life by this young group. The million rand question I ask out of concern is whether these youngsters got permission to use the song from the original owner / composer. Isolezwe newspaper published an article in May this year where Vusi Ximba was saying that the negotiations between Jozi and himself were only verbal; there was nothing on paper regarding the rights of the song. He was also recorded saying that he told the boys to come back at a later stage to make the agreement more official, but according to the newspaper, Jozi never went back. Now Vusi Ximba has released a song asking the boys “How can you make my song into house when I stay emjondolo?” Trust Vusi Ximba and his sense of humor! Now all of this makes me wonder; is there a lack of respect amongst young artists? I took the liberty of contacting the group’s record label, asking for clarification on the matter and no one got back to me. Mystery still unsolved. In an interview with 24.com’s music site Amu, ‘SA’s Godfather of Hip-hop’ is quoted saying “We need to move forward but keep the old elements that make hip-hop, hip-hop. There's that x-factor in music that makes you know this is hip-hop. Sampling is hip-hop. It's the roots of hip-hop. But I hope we can come up with a distinct sound for each SA region. So in JHB we can have our sound, Cape Town can have a sound and Mafikeng can have a sound.” Some would argue that everyone involved in hip-hop samples to some degree. I mean cats bite music all the time, but why? I spoke to a couple of young and upcoming artists and producers to find out what their views are. Top Shayela, who produced Camagu’s SAMA nominated album “Uhambo” in 2005, says, “When I started producing music in 1997 I never used to sample, I played all the instruments live myself. I think that sampling depends on the creative process that the person is using, it is definitely another way of expressing one self and creating music, but at the same time it shouldn’t be done in a way that it limits growth as an artist, but there are times when you’re just doing a plain rendition of, say, maybe a soul song into a hip hop rendition in which case you will replay all those instruments like you are doing a remix. But don’t do it like it’s your own beat. It is best when used to enhance an idea and not copied as is without even getting permission from the original owner, I think that is just disrespectful.” According to local hip-hop hero, Zuluboy; “Sampling has been done since Motown baby, I mean it is okay when done correctly, I believe that it pays tribute to old music as long as the new song does not go astray from the original song, it should be done in such a way that it adds and compliments the original song. And cats should clear it with the owners of the music” Another respected Durban emcee, Raheem aka Childosylenz, believes that sampling extracts an element from those classics that bring an essence of quality to modern music, because old music has a certain truth in it that modern music does not. At the same time it could restrict growth for the producers who choose to sample. “I am all for originality and creativity, people should sample on the experimental side, get extracts of the song, sample a bit of it. It’s just plain laziness if someone samples the whole track as is. I think that most people identify more with old music because it’s made and still makes sense man, so people turn to it for some musical clarification, yeah?” Out of all of the people I spoke to, the core argument in regards to sampling has to do with creativity and ensuring that the song does not lose the original meaning. When it is done respectfully, in terms of going through the proper channels and getting permission, and when it is done in a unique and creative way, then sampling is not bad at all. Mam’uBusi Mhlongo once said to me “Uma sefika lo muntu owumnikazi wengoma usayiculela abantu, ungaqhubeka na uyicule usazi kahle ukuthi uyenza ngomgunyathi?” Copyright Fezisa Mdibi 2007. fez_prototype@yahoo.co.uk |
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