Like… soul samples peaked over 20 years ago. Mostly just chopping great music from the 70s. It’s an art form in itself ofcourse but there are only so many good records to chop. That’s why you hear so many records with samples that have been used before. I digress but anyway my point is I always looked at soul samples kinda as a beta version of where hip-hop wanted to go and figured that by now we’d be making our own soulful compositions and kinda having like a soul renaissance.

A good example of what I’m talking about is The Heart Part 5.

Also, this ain’t rap obviously but the song that made me think of this is Love is a Game by Adele

Like imagine someone rapping over that

Obviously I didn’t expect all rap to be like that but as far as the people who chase that soulful sound are concerned I’m surprised at the lack of original composition and over reliance on sample chops and loops. Budget constraints are a thing too and I get that but the guys at the top could totally afford (as Kendrick has demonstrated) so they could be setting themselves a part and really be getting into a bag that’s beyond what even previous generations like Kanye achieved with soulful rap. No one seems to be interested in taking it there though. Does this sound dumb or do y’all see what I’m saying here?

Edit: I know there are other examples of this but I dont feel like thinking of any rn so yeah

Adele as an example is crazy when there’s so many great contemporary jazz and soul artists to sample but I get your point.

It’s happening slowly. There’s a lot of room for producers and composers to be writing and recording “soul samples” themselves. Guys like Kamaal Williams and Slauson Malone are ahead of the curve. It’ll happen, wait on it

Inflo and phoelix been lacing rappers with soulful instrumentals

But yeah I do wish live instruments were more present in the rap scene now. It can still involve and build upon samples like The heart part 5 did.

The guy you’re using as an example made TPAB, indisputably a masterpiece of soulful hip hop production

Oh wait, are you using the Heart pt 5 as an example of beats that are more than just a sample? Because that beat is a Marvin Gaye instrumental track

Yeah I thought about that too but I felt like the sound of The Heart Part 5 was closer to emulating 70s soul than TPAB which was more Jazz and Funk inspired but yeah that too though I figured we’d be seeing more of that

Oh I see, well I feel ya on that

I thought the instrumentation was live and it was a Marvin interpolation, am i buggin?

they replayed “i want you”

Yeah that’s what I meant by interpolation

Maybe they re-played it in the studio live but I’m pretty sure it’s just the exact alternate jam version of I Want You

Yeah they (beach noise) replayed everything. You can see it in the stems that leaked

there’s so many classics untapped and can be tastefully sampled. dudes just aren’t creative and are scared to try something out of the predetermined box

Just Blaze's prime was the peak of Soul sampling tbh

I been on this too

Hitmen and even Ye were great at this

Justice League and Rick Ross too

This is mostly because if you wanna learn composition you probably have to go to school. Most rap producers are self taught

The Roots >>>>>>

They're too cheap and lazy

Keep in mind the albums like LR and MBDTF cost millions to produce

And that s*** dont cost money if niggas learned music theory

But why? Whats stopping someone from just producing sum like that by themselves? MBDTF is just samples and instruments, you cant pay some autistic guitar genius from ur local band like $500 to play guitar on a sample?

Well they usually pay for the samples, renting exotic instruments, synths, I/O gear, maybe some session players

They could attempt to do it all themselves, Kevin Parker basically does that for Tame Impala and it takes around 3-5 years to make an album

you cant pay some autistic guitar genius from ur local band like $500 to play guitar on a sample?

I thought about this than I realized there probably aint no real reason to wanna do it most rappers today do trap music and those groups of fans dont care about that

the musicality in hiphop is very unappreciated in this era so why tf would they care to put live instrumentals for an audience who largely dont care about it

it would be more "musical" but it doesn't indicate stronger music

Not only that, most music consumers dont care about it, the ones who do are just niche music fans. The average person just likes to hear a song over H&M or starbucks speakers