When I listen to Radio 1 and hear five different tracks in a row using old disco samples, well that's plagiarism, that's taking other people's music.
Major labels don't play with samples not being cleared.
I know people who have sampled gospel music, and then they go to clear the sample, and it's like, 'You can't take the Lord's music and make this.'
Part of doing mash-ups is getting the legal rights to use the songs. If you're going to do a mash-up with five songs, you should probably find 10 songs, because you're only going to get half of them cleared. It's a real collaborative effort.
I work with any producer that brings me a hot beat, but you don't always know if it's a sample.
I had to realize that the use of samples has its rules, too.
With some of the samples that I chose to use, tracking down the person that owns the publishing has become a task.
I come from the school of hip-hop where you just buy records and sample records all the time. Doing that is tough sometimes, because if you get a placement on a major record, your record could get shelved because of clearance issues.
