Beastie Boys - Hey Ladies
Paul’s Boutique is one of my favorite hip hop albums of all time. I pulled it back out after putting together a screening for the PBS documentary Copyright Criminals. The documentary discusses the history of sampling laws and how they have changed music production forever. Point blank there will never be another Paul’s Boutique released commercially. The doc also interviews Clyde Stubblefield aka “The Funky Drummer”, James Brown’s drummer, who recorded one of the most sample riffs of all time. Check this link to see how many songs have sampled it. The shocking thing is Clyde has not received any money for his work. Clyde was a session musician so even though he was creating in the studio he was paid for his time in the studio not any future use.
Beastie Boys song Hey Ladies is a great example of creative sample use. It’s far from simply taking a couple second loop and adding drums. It is a musical collage. Below are some of the sample sources.
- “The Ballroom Blitz” by Sweet
- “Party Time” by Kurtis Blow
- “Holy Ghost” by the Bar-Kays
- “Shake Your Pants” by Cameo
- “Pumpin’ it Up” by P-Funk All Stars
- “Jungle Boogie” by Kool & the Gang
- “Machine Gun” by The Commodores
- “Jazzy Sensation” by Afrika Bambaataa
- “Change Le Beat/B-Side” by Fab 5 Freddy
- “Come Let Me Love You” by Jeanette “Lady” Day
- “Dance Floor”, & “So Ruff, So Tuff” by Zapp & Roger
- “Ain’t It Funky Now” & “Funky President” by James Brown
- “Hey DJ” by Malcolm McLaren & the World Famous Supreme Team
- “High Power Rap” by Crash Crew
Sampling laws are used and there use should be brought up for discussion. There are strong arguments for both sides, what are your thoughts?
