{"id":754,"date":"2013-09-19T08:13:56","date_gmt":"2013-09-19T13:13:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/enielson\/?p=754"},"modified":"2013-12-27T11:44:34","modified_gmt":"2013-12-27T16:44:34","slug":"did-samplings-decline-help-kill-political-rap","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/enielson\/2013\/09\/19\/did-samplings-decline-help-kill-political-rap\/","title":{"rendered":"Did Sampling’s Decline Help Kill Political Rap?"},"content":{"rendered":"

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I wrote this piece<\/span><\/a><\/span> for\u00a0The Atlantic\u00a0<\/em>and it went live yesterday afternoon. \u00a0Unlike many of my other articles, this is one that asks as many questions as it answers. \u00a0In particular, I am interested in whether the decline of sample-based hip hop, which was weakened by ridiculous copyright rules, was at least partly responsible for the concomitant decline in socially conscious mainstream rap. (Not dealing with the “underground” here, where artists like Immortal Technique, dead prez, Jasiri X, Rebel Diaz, Brother Ali, and others are clearly doing political work with their music.) \u00a0My idea is that sampling provided a crucial connection to a musical and political past, reminding rappers and audiences alike that they were part of a broader creative tradition. \u00a0Without this mindset–the sense that you’re part of something bigger than yourself–I wonder if it’s easier to revel in mindless self-aggrandizement the way many mainstream rappers do.<\/p>\n

I’ve already gotten a lot of feedback on this, almost all positive. \u00a0However, some people have accused me of trashing today’s music based on my old-person nostalgia for “golden age” rap. \u00a0There might be a grain (just one) of truth to that. \u00a0But at least I’ve got good people backing me up–I interviewed legendary producers Hank Shocklee (of the Bomb Squad) and Pete Rock for this.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I wrote this piece for\u00a0The Atlantic\u00a0and it went live yesterday afternoon. \u00a0Unlike many of my other articles, this is one that asks as many questions as it answers. \u00a0In particular, I am interested in whether the decline of sample-based hip hop, which was weakened by ridiculous copyright rules, was at least partly responsible for the … Continue reading Did Sampling’s Decline Help Kill Political Rap?<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1656,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-754","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/enielson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/754","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/enielson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/enielson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/enielson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1656"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/enielson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=754"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/enielson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/754\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/enielson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=754"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/enielson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=754"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/enielson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=754"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}