The Sampler as Host

Some readers of literary criticism may notice the debt that the title of this essay owes to a classic piece of Yale School deconstructive criticism, J. Hillis Miller’s “The Critic as Host,” and that debt is not altogether unintentional. Indeed, in that piece, using his trademark late-period hypnotic style to reveal the undecidability of texts, the binaries that the critic reveals, and the constant reformation of context around the “univocal reading.” But the role of the critic is central to pointing this out, and I think this paradigm can translate well to a particular artistic version of musical piracy that has emerged since the 1970s: sampling. Simply put, this is the use of a phrase or motif from a previously written song to use as a base for new lyrics, as in hip-hop, or the creation of an entirely new composition. To sketch a brief, essentializing genealogy of the popularity and artistic horizons of sampling, one can start with the whole history of hip-hop, starting from the Bronx block-party ciphers, to Run-D.M.C.’s rap-rock fusion, EPMD, the Bomb Squad, and the Beastie Boys via the Dust Brothers visionary cut-and-paste techniques, D.J. Shadow’s groundbreaking completely sample based epics (which are still not fully realized or appreciated today) to the proliferation of mash-ups and remixes that has flooded the internet recently (and college campuses with Girl Talk). But I would like to focus on a mainstream hit single that uses sampling within the legal frameworks of copyright law, but nonetheless opens up new possibilities for the medium: Alicia Keys’ 2007 song, “Teenage Love Affair.” Taking a simple riff from The Temprees’ 1972 song “Girl, I Love You,” Keys, along with her team of producers/songwriters (especially Jack Splash; he’s worked with Estelle and Solange Knowles too) construct an absolutely majestic pop single. The original, somewhat limpid, riff undergoes such a radical reanimation in the hands of Keys and her cohorts; a staggeringly catchy melody of teenage romance weaves throughout the verse, releasing into an orgiastic chorus of released inhibitions, with the climax of the song coming in its Madonna/Whore-themed bridge: Keys coos to her youthful lover, leading him through the metaphorical bases until the brakes have to be slammed: she has to go home. If this doesn’t recall the glory days of Motown (think Supremes mixed with a killer Stax-cum-hip-hop feel), I don’t know what does. But the thing is, the sample absolutely revives the original, unpacks it, brings it into its true light. The production and Keys’ performance just kills it. As noted professor/music journalist/blogger Oliver Wang (of NPR, Vibe, and Soul Sides) puts it: "[Jack Splash] gives the original loop a boost that makes this a rare case where the progeny >>> progenitor. Specifically, the way he makes the guitar even more prominent and milks the keys are what help give Alicia's song such a memorable musical hook…Some have accused Keys of going too far towards the 'big diva' vocal over-singing…I found her performance here more nuanced." Certainly, it is an impressive performance, as I have not been so transfixed by a contemporary pop song in a long time, and this is no doubt due to the horizons that Keys and Splash have opened through the sample. A parasitic relationship, of course, with the original feeding its host, but one that produces something above and beyond its foundation. The ability to write one of the best pop songs off of a simple sampled musical phrase shows sampling’s profound possibilities, and something that goes beyond hip-hop’s already astonishing achievements in the medium. Now, the question must be raised of copyright laws and the like, and frankly, this is not the area that I am an expert in or carry any weighted opinions about (see Jake’s post below for a great take on the problematic of piracy and suggested solutions). What I can say, however, is that Keys followed the rules: she gave The Temprees’ full credit and their half of the royalty check. But the lines are blurred with acts such as Girl Talk, who does not operate through this framework, but rather sees his own creations as artistic achievements in their own right, and perhaps he is right. What I can say for sure is that sampling opens up an infinite amount possibilities that exceed any context the progenitor might exist within. The sampler becomes the host, the host that allows the song to be seen as more than a unique circumstance, but as a singular artistic statement; such is the case with “Teenage Love Affair.” The questions of piracy must wait until after the event.