Theses
Date of Award
2022
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Arts (MA)
Department
English
First Advisor
Dr. Vani Kannan
Second Advisor
Dhipinder Walia
Third Advisor
Dr. Deirdre Pettipiece
Abstract
This thesis demonstrates the importance of the producer and artist relationship in hip hop songwriting and sampling, focusing on producers The Alchemist, Madlib, Sounwave, and Terrace Martin, and artists Freddie Gibbs, MF DOOM, Prodigy, and Kendrick Lamar. Topics covered range from sampling lawsuits and their impact on producers and artists in songwriting; what a producer and artist relationship looks like and how they benefit from their relationship; and the quality of music that comes from a close relationship between a producer and artist. I build upon research about the effects of sampling on hip hop by musicologist Amanda Sewell; sampling history from musicologist Tom Perchard; beat-making from rhetoric and composition scholar Todd Craig; and the art of sample-based hip hop by hip hop scholar Joseph G. Schloss. This thesis also includes a video that incorporates interviews with producers about working with rappers, their bond with select rappers, and the music that grows from this bond
Recommended Citation
Castellanos, Elvin M., "“Every Beat You Make Has a Time of Day or Color”: How Producers and Rappers Changed the Course of Sampling Music" (2022). CUNY Academic Works.
https://academicworks.cuny.edu/le_etds/29
Included in
Communication Technology and New Media Commons, Liberal Studies Commons, Social Media Commons, Urban Studies and Planning Commons
Comments
*As of March 3rd, 2023, all of De La Soul’s records are on streaming services including 3 Feet High and Rising. This thesis was made before its release on streaming services.