Today, sampling is everywhere. From chart-topping hits to indie remixes on TikTok, artists are constantly reworking old songs into something new. But what started as a creative workaround became a revolutionary form of music-making, and it began with Black artists.
Sampling is the act of taking a portion of a sound recording — a drum break, a melody, a vocal — and using it to create something new. Think of it as a sonic collage: slicing up pieces of the past to build something original and current.
It’s not just recycling. It’s reimagining.
The idea of repurposing recorded sound didn’t begin with hip-hop. Experimental composers in the early 1900s — and later musique concrète artists in 1940s France — were splicing tape, manipulating found sound, and reusing audio in new contexts. Even in jazz, live improvisation often meant quoting, riffing on, or transforming familiar musical phrases. These were all early expressions of what we now call sampling.
But while those techniques were conceptually groundbreaking, they remained mostly academic or avant-garde — niche practices far from the mainstream.
Black Music changed that.
In the early 1970s, sampling emerged as a creative force at block parties in the Bronx. DJs like Kool Herc looped the funkiest breaks of records — often funk, soul, and disco — and MCs would rap over them in real time. This wasn’t a studio experiment. It was community-based, party-fuelled innovation — the foundation of hip-hop.
That live remixing evolved into recorded music by 1979, with some of the first commercially released hip-hop records:
These weren’t just songs — they were early examples of Black artists using existing recordings to build something new, now distributed on wax.
From there, sampling exploded: not just as a technique, but as a cultural tool. Hip-hop producers flipped jazz, soul, gospel, funk, and even classical — building layered, referential soundscapes that reshaped the possibilities of modern music.
Sampling culture isn’t just an American story. Canadian artists, especially those working in R&B, hip-hop, and experimental pop, have been shaped by and continue to contribute to this legacy:
These artists are continuing the sampling tradition by reframing sound to tell new stories, reflecting both Canadian identity and global Black culture.
From Beyoncé to SZA to Doja Cat, the lines between sample, interpolation, and remix are blurrier than ever. Pop is sample-driven. TikTok is a re-sample machine. Even Broadway and Netflix scores are starting to pull from this tradition.
But it all started with Black artists looping, flipping, and building something new out of what they had.
You can thank Black Music for that.
Featured image: Haviah Mighty. 2020. Photo Credit: Tania Heath
