Hiphop-network.com: You talk about the "creative environment" in hip hop and equate the musical decline of the East Coast to "global warming."
In your opinion, what factor has contributed most to this decline?
Dj Prince Paul: Well first of all, it's not even a decline anymore, it's a demise. That east coast sound is dead man. And you know what, it ain't got sh*t to do with east coast artists falling off or getting lazy like most people want to believe. I'll tell you what killed east coast rap music, it's all the sampling laws..simple as that. And it's not like these laws are new, they've been around from day one, but the moment rap music became a billion dollar industry, almost every artist that's ever been sampled wanted their cut, so these laws are strictly enforced now and most labels won't even touch sample-based production because it doesn't make sense to them financially. I don't think people realize how essential the art of sampling was to that classic east coast sound. They hear an album like "De La Soul Is Dead" and ask why people don't make albums like that anymore. I'll tell you why, because that album was almost exclusively sample-based. Dave and I must have used over 100 samples on that album. Do you have any idea how much that album would cost in sample clearance today? Point is, that album would never get made today. Tommy Boy would laugh at us today if we tried to get that distributed. Who the hell is going to produce an album when half the profits would be going elsewhere? In fact, if it weren't for the statute of limitations the major labels finessed the courts into establishing on lawsuits, we'd all be broke today. I still get cease and desist orders to this day from lawyers representing artists we sampled in the past, to where I can't even play certain songs at major shows anymore. It's like a strangle hold on our sound man. Like, I can't play De La's "Ring Ring Ring" because The Whatnauts' publishing firm finally realized what their music is worth.
hiphop-network.com: Do you think it's a case of these artists not wanting their music used at all or that they just want to be compensated for it?
DJ Prince Paul: They want their cut. And I can respect that, but back in the day, you had artists that just wanted to be credited for their work. We sampled The Coasters and they just wanted their name in print. But like I said, once the music starting making money, the love was gone. Fact is, they don't love our music...it's not their music. I think rap fans would be real disappointed to know how many of those old school artists they worship can't stand rap music. I understand the need to make money, but this is black culture too. Wouldn't you want to foster this culture so that the younger generation could be exposed to the same quality we had? Now kids have to listen to the same synth chords over and over, the sound is dumbed down man, some of these kids probably don't know what an alto sax sounds like. You know, I got to meet Al Hirt at a Jazz festival back in '97, couple years before he passed actually, and here's this 70-something year old white man that we sampled on "Ego-Trippin" telling me how he loved the song, and how happy he was that his music would live on through us. It was a trip man. Al Hirt didn't charge us a nickel to use that sample. Meanwhile, you got black artists not much older than our father's telling us they don't want us touching their music for free. I understand everything's a business, but damn man, think of it as charity.
http://www.hiphop-network.com/articles/articles.asp
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Ops?
peace.
In your opinion, what factor has contributed most to this decline?
Dj Prince Paul: Well first of all, it's not even a decline anymore, it's a demise. That east coast sound is dead man. And you know what, it ain't got sh*t to do with east coast artists falling off or getting lazy like most people want to believe. I'll tell you what killed east coast rap music, it's all the sampling laws..simple as that. And it's not like these laws are new, they've been around from day one, but the moment rap music became a billion dollar industry, almost every artist that's ever been sampled wanted their cut, so these laws are strictly enforced now and most labels won't even touch sample-based production because it doesn't make sense to them financially. I don't think people realize how essential the art of sampling was to that classic east coast sound. They hear an album like "De La Soul Is Dead" and ask why people don't make albums like that anymore. I'll tell you why, because that album was almost exclusively sample-based. Dave and I must have used over 100 samples on that album. Do you have any idea how much that album would cost in sample clearance today? Point is, that album would never get made today. Tommy Boy would laugh at us today if we tried to get that distributed. Who the hell is going to produce an album when half the profits would be going elsewhere? In fact, if it weren't for the statute of limitations the major labels finessed the courts into establishing on lawsuits, we'd all be broke today. I still get cease and desist orders to this day from lawyers representing artists we sampled in the past, to where I can't even play certain songs at major shows anymore. It's like a strangle hold on our sound man. Like, I can't play De La's "Ring Ring Ring" because The Whatnauts' publishing firm finally realized what their music is worth.
hiphop-network.com: Do you think it's a case of these artists not wanting their music used at all or that they just want to be compensated for it?
DJ Prince Paul: They want their cut. And I can respect that, but back in the day, you had artists that just wanted to be credited for their work. We sampled The Coasters and they just wanted their name in print. But like I said, once the music starting making money, the love was gone. Fact is, they don't love our music...it's not their music. I think rap fans would be real disappointed to know how many of those old school artists they worship can't stand rap music. I understand the need to make money, but this is black culture too. Wouldn't you want to foster this culture so that the younger generation could be exposed to the same quality we had? Now kids have to listen to the same synth chords over and over, the sound is dumbed down man, some of these kids probably don't know what an alto sax sounds like. You know, I got to meet Al Hirt at a Jazz festival back in '97, couple years before he passed actually, and here's this 70-something year old white man that we sampled on "Ego-Trippin" telling me how he loved the song, and how happy he was that his music would live on through us. It was a trip man. Al Hirt didn't charge us a nickel to use that sample. Meanwhile, you got black artists not much older than our father's telling us they don't want us touching their music for free. I understand everything's a business, but damn man, think of it as charity.
http://www.hiphop-network.com/articles/articles.asp
----
Ops?
peace.
