Sample Snitching - did the term start here?!

[mannybolone]

Hey everyone, it's been a minute.

I'm working on a possible paper on the ethics of "sample snitching" and as part of the research into this, I was trying to locate where/when the term first came into use.

And lo and behold, as I was digging around, one of the earliest mentions I could find brought me back here, March 2006:

Sample snitching - Fishscale

http://xxlmag.com/online/?p=739Posting the original samples to two uncleared tracks seems quite wack for Hip hop journalist to do.

community.soulstrut.com

I found another mention of the term on the Gearspace forums, also from 2006, but not until May (and I seriously wonder if that person was all on Strut): https://gearspace.com/board/rap-hip-hop-engineering-and-production/58615-j-dilla-drums.html

Personally, I assume the term existed earlier than 2006; after all, Blaine Armstred's original Rap Sample FAQ (which WhoSampled 100% took from) dates back to frickin' USENET groups from 1994. But nonetheless, I'd love to find earlier uses of the term on the off chance that anyone here has suggestions on where to search.

(On Strut, it doesn't exist earlier than 2006 from what I can tell, using the search engine.)

Thanks fam! :Hello:

 

[klezmer electro-thug beats]

Broccoli Bonzai 180 gram Pressing Posts: 886 From:Closer To The Source Registered: Jan 2003

posted 09-02-2003 08:49 AM quote: Originally posted by Bsides88: Okay, you guys are getting retarded. Are you sure you guys have real jobs? You seem to be on the board berating people all day. What are you so god damn bitter about? I like you guys but you need to chill and stop posting more jpegs than 15 year olds. Now down to buisiness. I thought this was a totally legit question. Have you heard the track? First of all its bangin. Secondly it starts with alchemist playing a bit from the original record and then rewinding back the sample, the first time I heard it the first thing I thought was, man, whats that? And third, its a really weird sample, It makes me wonder what kind of music sounds like that. So is it so bad to ask what it is?And I know you guys are too O.G. and big shit to admit this, but I'll say for myself that most of my interest in crate digging was all about finding the samples to the rap songs I grew up with and loved. Plus thats about all we talked about here back in the day!Im sorry I dont have time to read the bulk of this drivvel, but how the fuck did this turn into a dick stroking contest? We're record nerds. remember? Please, give us kids a break. Bitter old men go back to your desk jobs, quit slacking off at work. Im sorry if I sound harsh, cause Im not trying to diss anyone, and I dont want to meet you with a bat in flatbush or something, you know I gots love for soulstrut fam. But please, lets be cordial. And for god sakes, what the fuck is that damn sample? No offense man, but spend one day in either my or Zvi's shoes (or many of the folks on here who "have real jobs")... you'd want to go back to college. Understand that on the other side of my alt+tab is a 30 page loss run, a pile of research on new clients, and ten underwriters that want my time. And I don't get summers off. Let me explain why I've got a right to be hostile: it ticks me off when someone comes onto the site and is like, "what's this sample", and when nobody knows, is like "man, I thought this was a crate-digging site". No contribution, nothing. You know, fuck off. People come on here (and lurk) so that they can hopefully do a fraction of the work that most people here do and still get the goods. I'm no elitist, but I'm not any of the following either: a) sample snitch, b) live and in person sample faq, or c) record digging instructor. Speak for yourself with regard to what it's all about. The first records I bought were the Beatles and Michael Jackson, and it was because I liked the music. This still guides what I buy, and I don't give a rat's ass about what Al or Primo or someone else sampled. That said, all the fighting and shit is nonsense, and I'll have no part of it. My tongue is firmly in my cheek any time I even log in here! Dudes know I'm cool as an otter pop.

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[klezmer electro-thug beats]

Topic was "1st Infantry feat. Mobb Deep - Backwards (sample)"

That's a random copy-paste (9-2-2003) from the HTMLs of the old board that Raj, in his archivist tendency, put up for download some years back. "The Board 01-03". I've got several other results for "sample snitch" when I search it in my finder, so that's probably not the first one.

 

[klezmer electro-thug beats]

 

[klezmer electro-thug beats]

Appropriately enough as you can see user "rajmahal" seems to be the first result. 2002.
In the archive it's "001102.html", so I imagine prior to that there was only about a thousand pages of posts, so quite early on in the board's life, probably when there were not so many users. I probably didn't start lurking till 03-04, though I was on the site/mixes from the rip, so I can't say.

 

[Yemsky]

…from the HTMLs of the old board that Raj, in his archivist tendency, put up for download some years back….

What?!?!?!!!

 

[klezmer electro-thug beats]

 

[klezmer electro-thug beats]

As I remember it, he had '01-'03 saved, lost '04-'05 in a migration or crash or something, and '06-now are live. Dunno. Someone should ask him if that's right. If you want it it's a 55MB zip file, I'll hook you up.

 

[Duderonomy]

For some reason I’m thinking DJ Premier if not an originator at least used the term either in an interview (Big Daddy etc) or on a skit (maybe that mixtape he did NY Reality Check 101?).

The other place I’d check would be Phil Soulman archives (if they exist). I’m sure I’ve read him pondering the ethics of sample snitchin. He’d be a very good person to ask.

 

[Electrode]

Duderonomy said:

For some reason I’m thinking DJ Premier if not an originator at least used the term either in an interview (Big Daddy etc) or on a skit




You might be referring to the rant about the Strictly Breaks compilations at the end of "Royalty"https://youtu.be/IQvlDBXA0gw?si=a5p4WVlPNqLLVOZp4:41

 

[kicks79]

Nice to see you back O'Dub.
I co-sign on the DJ Premier angle. That was the first time I heard someone openly discuss sample snitching. So 98 right?

 

[mannybolone]

klezmer electro-thug beats said:

Appropriately enough as you can see user "rajmahal" seems to be the first result. 2002.
In the archive it's "001102.html", so I imagine prior to that there was only about a thousand pages of posts, so quite early on in the board's life, probably when there were not so many users. I probably didn't start lurking till 03-04, though I was on the site/mixes from the rip, so I can't say.



Much thanks for going through the archives!

 

[mannybolone]

Electrode said:



Duderonomy said:

For some reason I’m thinking DJ Premier if not an originator at least used the term either in an interview (Big Daddy etc) or on a skit




You might be referring to the rant about the Strictly Breaks compilations at the end of "Royalty"https://youtu.be/IQvlDBXA0gw?si=a5p4WVlPNqLLVOZp4:41




Ha, somehow, not surprising it might have started with Preem! But yeah, this is from 1998 so we've set the timeline back far earlier now. Thanks for the reminder.

"Ya'll Violating" might as be the name of our article

 

[mannybolone]

kicks79 said:

Nice to see you back O'Dub.
I co-sign on the DJ Premier angle. That was the first time I heard someone openly discuss sample snitching. So 98 right?



My guess is that folks were using the term prior to that but it's hard to imagine a more public forum to introduce the term than how Premier did it.

As I'm often reminded: the UBB series could have sparked off a very similar debate at some point in time, way earlier. But part of the problem is that unless it's a phrase written down in some kind of archived source, finding an "original" source for the phrase will always be fuzzy.