The sampling and remaking of songs from yesteryear have accounted for some of the greatest music Hip-Hop and R&B have to offer. A number of artists have gleaned inspiration from their predecessors to create new music that helps bridge the gap between generations. However, listeners have heard and witnessed an uptick in this trend as of late, with artists in both genres drawing from releases from as recently as a decade ago to repackage tunes for their own fans. While this has resulted in a number of buzz-worthy offerings from fresher faces, a segment of music fans has decried this practice, arguing that the records sampled haven’t had enough of a shelf-life to be rehashed at this point in time.
Rap-singer Tory Lanez, whose claim to fame was made in part by his propensity to rehash classic R&B jams into modern hits, has credited himself with popularizing sampling among today’s artists and (in many cases) making it a formula that has led to their most successful songs.
Lanez took to social media to make the proclamation, recalling the backlash he took for his incessant sample usage on projects like his Chixtape mixtape series.
“It’s crazy… 6 years ago n****s got mad at me cuz I would SAMPLE all the records that it Was NOT OKAY TO SAMPLE on the CHIXTAPES!,” the Canadian artist tweeted with an extended ellipsis. “Now I look up to a whole Generation of artist doing EXACTLY what I was doin .. chopping old Rnb/Pop samples and updating it to NOW sound.”
It’s crazy … 6 years ago niggas got mad at me cuz I would SAMPLE all the records that it Was NOT OKAY TO SAMPLE on the CHIXTAPES ! …… now I look up to a whole Generation of artist doing EXACTLY what I was doin .. chopping old Rnb/Pop samples and updating it to NOW sound . ??
— Tory Lanez (@torylanez) May 31, 2022
Lanez’s most recent project, Alone at Prom, was released in December 2020 and was inspired by ’80s pop anthems. His first hit, “Say It,” samples R&B trio Brownstone’s 1994 hit, “If You Love Me” and peaked at No. 23 on the Billboard Hot 100.