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Paul's Boutique and Fear of a Black Planet: Digital Sampling and Musical Style in Hip Hop

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 March 2014

AMANDA SEWELL
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Abstract

The Beastie Boys’ Paul's Boutique (1989) and Public Enemy's Fear of a Black Planet (1990) often draw comparisons because of their profuse and eclectic use of digital sampling. These two hip hop albums, however, use sampling in markedly different ways, a fact that is obscured because no well-developed language exists to differentiate how and why their sampling styles differ. To account for these differences, this article proposes a typology for sample-based hip hop, a systematic terminological and conceptual approach to this repertory. Using these two classic albums by the Beastie Boys and Public Enemy as case studies, this typology offers a way to describe and distinguish in concrete terms the richly varied musical styles that make up sample-based hip hop.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of the Society for American Music , Volume 8 , Issue 1 , February 2014 , pp. 28 - 48
Copyright
Copyright © The Society for American Music 2014 

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References

References

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Burkholder, J. Peter. All Made of Tunes: Charles Ives and the Uses of Musical Borrowing. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1995.Google Scholar
Gracyk, Theodore. Rhythm and Noise: An Aesthetics of Rock. London: I. B. Tauris, 1996.Google Scholar
Grogger, Jeffrey, and Ridgeway, Greg. “Testing for Racial Profiling in Traffic Stops from Behind a Veil of Darkness.” Journal of the American Statistical Association 101/475 (2006): 878–87.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jah, Yusuf, and Chuck, D [Carlton Ridenhour]. Lyrics of a Rap Revolutionary: Times, Rhymes, and Mind of Chuck D. Beverly Hills, CA: Off Da Books, 2006.Google Scholar
Katz, Mark. Capturing Sound: How Technology Has Changed Music. 2nd ed.Berkeley: University of California Press, 2010.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
LeRoy, Dan. Paul's Boutique. New York: Continuum, 2006.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
“Librarian of Congress Names 50 Recordings to the 2004 National Recording Registry.” 5 April 2005. http://www.loc.gov/today/pr/2005/05-087.html.Google Scholar
Mahon, Maureen. Right to Rock: The Black Rock Coalition and the Cultural Politics of Race. Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2004.Google Scholar
McLeod, Kembrew. “Confessions of an Intellectual (Property): Danger Mouse, Mickey Mouse, Sonny Bono, and My Long and Winding Path as a Copyright Activist-Academic.” Popular Music and Society 28/1 (2005): 79–93.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McLeod, Kembrew, and DiCola, Peter. Creative License: The Law and Culture of Digital Sampling. Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2011.Google Scholar
Metzer, David. Quotation and Cultural Meaning in Twentieth-Century Music. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2003.Google Scholar
Miyakawa, Felicia. Five Percenter Rap: God Hop's Music, Message, and Black Muslim Mission. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2005.Google Scholar
Myrie, Russell. Don't Rhyme for the Sake of Riddlin’: The Authorized Story of Public Enemy. New York: Grove Press, 2008.Google Scholar
Rose, William. “Crimes of Color: Risk, Profiling, and the Contemporary Racialization of Social Control.” International Journal of Politics, Culture, and Society 16/2 (2002): 179–205.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schloss, Joseph G.Making Beats: The Art of Sample-Based Hip Hop. Middletown, CT: Wesleyan University Press, 2004.Google Scholar
Sewell, Amanda. “A Typology of Sampling in Hip Hop.” Ph.D. dissertation, Indiana University, 2013.Google Scholar
Walser, Robert. “Rhythm, Rhyme, and Rhetoric in the Music of Public Enemy.” Ethnomusicology 39/2 (1995): 193–217.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Williams, Justin. Rhymin’ and Stealin’: Musical Borrowing in Hip-Hop. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 2013.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
9th Wonder [Patrick Douthit]. Telephone interview with the author. 8 August 2012.Google Scholar
Apple Juice Kid [Stephen Levitin]. Telephone interview with the author. 25 August 2012.Google Scholar
DJ Bobcat [Bobby Ervin]. Telephone interview with the author. 24 August 2012.Google Scholar
DJ Jazzy Joyce [Joyce Spencer]. Telephone interview with the author. 20 August 2012.Google Scholar
Factory, Forest. Telephone interview with the author. 19 August 2012.Google Scholar
Vinroc [Vincent Punsalan]. Telephone interview with the author. 10 August 2012.Google Scholar
The 45 Kings. “The 900 Number.” Tuff City TUF 128028-R, 1990, 45 RPM.Google Scholar
The Beastie Boys. Licensed to Ill. Def Jam P2-27351, 1986. CD.Google Scholar
The Beastie Boys. Paul's Boutique. Capitol CDP 7 91743 2, 1989. CD.Google Scholar
The Beastie Boys. Polly Wog Stew. Rat Cage Records MOTR 21, 1982. 7” EP.Google Scholar
Brown, James. “Get Up, Get Into It, Get Involved.” King Records 45-6347, 1970. 7” single.Google Scholar
Cash, Johnny. “Folsom Prison Blues.” CBS 3549, 1968. 7” single.Google Scholar
De La, Soul. 3 Feet High and Rising. Tommy Boy TBCD 1019, 1989. CD.Google Scholar
De La, Soul. “Ring Ring (Ha Ha Hey).” Tommy Boy TB 965, 1991. 12” single.Google Scholar
Diana Ross and the Supremes. “Love Child.” From Love Child. Motown MS 670, 1968. LP.Google Scholar
Double Dee and Steinski. “Lesson 2: The James Brown Mix.” From Lesson 1, 2, & 3. Tommy Boy TB 867, 1985. 12” single.Google Scholar
Foxy. “Get Off Your Aahh and Dance.” From Foxy. Dash 30001, 1976. LP.Google Scholar
Parliament. “Flash Light.” Casablanca Records NB 20113 DJ, 1977. 12” single.Google Scholar
Public Enemy. Fear of a Black Planet. Def Jam 314 523 446-2, 1990. CD.Google Scholar
Public Enemy. It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back. Def Jam 527 358-1, 1988. CD.Google Scholar
Public Enemy. Yo! Bum Rush the Show. Def Jam CK 40658, 1987. CD.Google Scholar
A Tribe Called Quest. People's Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm. Jive 1331-2-J, 1990. CD.Google Scholar