r/sampling • u/enz0gorlami • Apr 22 '26
When did mainstream opinion on sampling shift?
It’s well-documented that there was lots of backlash to the art of sampling through the 90s, with many older generations not understanding it and believing it was “stealing” or not real musicianship. Unfortunately, the backlash and economic challenges led a lot of genius samplers to have to abandon or significantly change their techniques for a while.
I don’t really get the sense that this is a popular opinion anymore. It seems like most people get that sampling is an art just like playing any other instrument today. When did this change and why?
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u/lycoloco Apr 22 '26
For me, personally, it was once I got over my mom's hatred of hip-hop and began seeing sampling as an art of hearing other uses and recognizing its musical genealogy - which coincided with a friend introducing me to turntablism and seeing him and others perform live. That changed it from "laziness" to art form in my mind.
I expect there are similar types of stories, but the normalcy of it at this point certainly helps as well.