Reply #281: sample-based hip-hop is in the tradition of the oldest western music

[j995]

again, the vast majority of hip-hop released in the last 15 years has NOT BEEN SAMPLE BASED so this argument is of limited relevance.

That being said, the very first polyphonic music derived from the process of taking a pre-existing Gregorian chant, and superimposing a new melody on top of it in a higher pitch. An there have been many musical traditions since then that used a similar creative process. The only thing that's different about hip-hop is that new technology allowed new methods of contrafact.

I challenge anyone to listen to a Prefuse 73 or J-Dilla album and then attempt to defend the notion that sample-based hip-hop requires no virtuosity or creativity.