Sampling has shaped some of the most influential music of the last 50 years — and Questlove has been there for much of its evolution. The musician and music historian joins Billboard’s Kristin Robinson on Billboard On The Record for a conversation about his Earth, Wind & Fire documentary — Earth, Wind & Fire (To Be Celestial vs. That’s the Weight of the World) — the history of sampling and his work as a music historian. From the lawsuit against Biz Markie, which made sampling more difficult and expensive, to AI-generated crate digging and the surge of catalog sales, Questlove shares his insight into sampling’s evolution and how it changed the music business.
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Billboard On The Record is a podcast in partnership with SickBird Productions.
Host:
Kristin Robinson
Executive Producers:
Diona DaCosta
Jade Watson
Produced By:
Kayla Forman
Mateo Vergara
Edited By:
Rachel Derbyshire
00:00:00 Sampling: Big Ideas Tease
00:01:12 Show Intro & Questlove
00:02:42 Questlove’s Historian Origin
00:04:03 “Summer of Soul” Pitch
00:05:46 Building the EWF Documentary
00:08:32 Why Sampling Endures
00:10:54 Early Sampling Tech Timeline
00:14:14 When Sampling Went Mainstream
00:17:00 Biz Markie Lawsuit Fallout
00:21:18 Sampling Revives Catalogs
00:23:03 Production Tech Turning Points
00:26:41 Did Lawsuits Kill Records?
00:30:12 Blurred Lines & “Vibe” Rights
00:32:25 Drummer’s Approach to Sampling
00:35:03 The Amen Break Explained
00:40:00 Catalog Owners & “Outlaw” Appeal
00:43:04 Micro-Chopping’s New Wave
00:46:06 Social Media as New Radio
00:48:15 AI Sampling & Copyright
00:50:32 Fixing Creator Compensation
00:53:29 Questlove on His Legacy
00:57:20 Game: Spin the Record
01:00:05 Favorite Music Docs
01:01:34 Sample Clearance Nightmares
01:05:51 Game: What Would You Cue
01:10:48 Closing & Where to Follow
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Questlove on Sampling, Earth, Wind & Fire and the Evolution of Hip-Hop | Billboard On The Record
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Gratitude.
Peace to the first hip hop/rap super producer Larry Smith.
Peace to DJ Disco Mario.
No doubt that’s definitely true about the drum and bass just like New Orleans with the Showboys out of New York with that Drag Rap ” triggaman break” used as the backbone of bounce music.
There’s a difference in bringing the record back and forth and sampling. If anything Dj’s like Kool Herc were manually ‘sampling’ in an analog way however that wasn’t sampling, technically
Can We Pretend by Bill Withers. One of the greatest songs ever. Jose Feliciano on the guitar too. Magic! If you have not heard it go listen. You will never stop listening to that.
What up Paul C🎉🌌
Great interview!😊