Sampleface is 6 years old today! On this day 6 years ago, the Sampleface.co.uk site was officially launched. When I started the site with Blaise Penny-Kirkwood aka 13e, I just wanted a blog to cover the music I listened to and share my experiences. 6 years later, with the help of so many people from around the world, it’s still here and still has those core…
White people should never say the N-word. Ever. Or any of its variants. This also includes non-black people. And if you want an elaboration on this opinion, go read the multitude of articles, books, and academic papers on the word, its use, and racism suffered by black people from at least the last 200 years. Or watch this video by Jay Smooth.
Fuck Kanye West. Seriously. Fuck Kanye and his fascist dragon friend in the White House.
The UK funk band are back this year with a new album and a visual glimpse into what’s in store. I would have written this article a few days ago but I wanted to be absolutely sure it was official. After 7 long years, Jamiroquai shall return with their eighth studio album in a few months time. It will be called “Automaton” and the band…
A heap of music from Prince’s vault will be sold and Purple Rain is set for a deluxe makeover in 2017. We don’t usually “waste time screaming who we’ve hated” but we’re making an exception for this foolishness. The Big 3 major labels – Universal, Sony and Warner – are in talks to buy the rights to Prince’s unreleased material. The vault is said to…
As our fourth year approaches, we have had a think about how Sampleface operates. Here is what we came up with. Sampleface has clocked just over 3.5 years of content, covering music and artists from across the globe and ocassionally other dimensions. This couldn’t have been achieved without the hard work of all our contributors and the founders. Unfortunately, Sampleface has remained more of a…
Sampleface is now 3 years old. They grow up so fast… So, it looks like we’re nearly three weeks late to our own party. On 1st October 2012, we officially launched the site and in those three years, we’ve achieved more than we could have imagined. We’ve spoken to the likes of Phife Dawg, Black Milk (twice!), AbJo and Tanya Morgan and even got a…
The late Saturn-born jazz musician receives some credit from Lady Gaga as she quotes Sun Ra on her track, Venus. Jazz avant-gardes often become playthings for the rich and artsy; the more eccentric the better. Whether that was the intention here or not is questionable (excuse my cynicism) but Lady Gaga gave a meat dress curtsy to Sun Ra on her single “Venus”, giving the…
The Queen of Pop Madonna wins her lawsuit for a hidden sample on her classic hit, Vogue. These lawsuits involving uncleared samples are still coming thick and fast and they aren’t exclusive to hip hop. Madonna and frequent collaborator Shep Pettibone recently won their case over a supposed “hidden” sample in their hit single, Vogue. The case was opened in July this year by VMG…
Good and bad news, Samplefacers: copyright law has been extended from 50 years to 70 years in the UK. Joining the bandwagon of the USA, the copyright law in the UK has been extended to 70 years after an author’s death or between 90 and 120 years in some cases. This is due in part to lobbying over the past few years with the stance…
