There’s nothing new under the sun apparently. A concept that might ring true when looking at the projected landscape of UK drill. Don’t get me wrong, I love the scene with a passion, it has produced a goldmine of talent and opened up so many opportunities for working-class and underrepresented musicians to finally get paid and be seen.
But, as with everything that you love, it’s important to have a clear perspective on its meaning and where it’s going. So I think it’s only right that we address what has come to be known as the ‘Sample Wave’.
The ‘Sample Wave’ refers to a burgeoning trend in UK drill right now that sees musicians rework old hit songs with a drill twist. The formula is simple – take a popular song that is just old enough to be nostalgic (90s/Y2k works best), pull the hook or in some cases the entire song, turn up the pitch and spit some bars over the top and there you have it, the next drill song to break into the charts.
But is the ‘Sample Wave’ the best direction for UK drill?
Sample culture is an essential part of the music that we know now, even if a particular song doesn’t sample anything, the influence of other songs builds the foundation it stands on. Nothing exists in a vacuum and sampling at its bare bones is legacy preservation in action.
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Digga D killed it back in January (sampling 50 cent for ‘Pump 101’) and is definitely a big part of why so many drill artists have hopped on this trend in the past few months. A couple of other great examples include ‘Tugman Vacation’ by Unknown T (which samples ‘Sweet Lady’ by Tyrese) and ‘Home’ by Headie One (a brilliant reworking of Faith Evans’ ‘Soon As I Get Home’). It is possible to ride the ‘Sample Wave’ and ride it well. However, popularity of this technique pulls into question the artistry behind sampling.
The act of sampling is often incredibly competitive for producers, the more obscure or creative the sample is the better. From a puritans perspective, sampling a pop song that was huge ten years ago but only really changing the lyrics is so weak it can barely be considered sampling (I’m looking at you Liilz) and as much as I have a deep respect for ArrDee and his body of work – it’s monumental that any 19 year old can achieve the same things he has; ‘Flowers’ really was the remake nobody asked for.
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I don’t begrudge any of these drill artists who make the choice to flip and rework popular tunes, making music can be hard and getting by in life is even harder. Hell, if making what is essentially a drill cover of a pop song means you and yours can eat and get access to an industry that’s notably difficult to break into, more power to you. I respect the hustle but at the same time, I can’t act as though all of these tracks are pushing the genre forward creatively to the same levels as its predecessors.
What is most amazing about the UK music scene is that each generation has fed into each other, jungle fed grime, grime fed drill. Continually passing their sound on to be reworked and redefined until it’s something new. The ‘Sample Wave’ feels like a break in that chain, because what is produced at the end is almost exactly the same as before but with a little more drill. It begs the question how much are we growing if we’re eating off already cooked cuts?
Regardless of what chronic cynics would say, the endless reproduction that the internet and social media have helped realise does not spell out the doom of creative originality. Not a year has gone by where we have not had monumentally talented artists experimenting within their genres to great creative success. To pull two examples from last year Blanco’s ‘City of God’, where he infused his iconic drill style with Brazilian funk and Hazey’s ‘Packs and ‘Potions’, which started out as a cypher for an under 18s talent showcase.
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It’s kind of like the difference between a Banksy original and the reproductions you get on Etsy. Technically they’re both art, but one of them helped push out the boundaries of what the world considers ‘real art’ and the other is produced en masse to pad the pockets of artists who are trying to get by. Unfortunately in the same vein, this method can leave a genre oversaturated with a lack of creative originality.
To argue that someone doesn’t value their creative projects or has not honed their skill enough because it doesn’t conform to a set of characteristics that is each ultimately self-defined goes against the essence of what drives creativity and progressive change. And yet the question still begs to be answered, will these songs be remembered decades down the line with the same fervour as their sampled origins? Will they carry the same nostalgia and impact, or will we have a whole generation of drill musicians whose entire output can be traced back to their collection of ‘Now That’s What I Call Music’ CDs?
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Words: Naima Sutton // @naimasutton
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