Saweetie: Sampling or a “Chart Quick” Scheme
As Bay Area rapper Saweetie recently dropped her new single “Tap In”, it seems that there is a running motif as of now with her singles sampling popular hip hop records of the 2000s. Starting with her breakthrough song “Icy Girl” in 2017, which had sample “My Neck, My Back” by Khia. 2 years after, in 2019 she released the track “My Type” for her EP, Icy. That track sampled the club hit “Freak-A-Leek” by Petey Pablo. Now it’s 2020, and her recent release, it samples legendary rapper Too $hort and his 2006 hit record “Blow the Whistle”. However, with Tap In, being that she is from the Bay as will, this sample can be as somewhat of a homage. On the other hand, it seems to become a noticeable trend with her singles.
While it’s necessarily bad or wrong to sample a poplar for your own music, because with this you’re putting your own fresh spin on something. In addition, you can bring the original song to a newer audience. Having this be a consistent thing and her not having a debut album yet, it gets to the point where you question her artistry. Is it a homage to her favorite records or is it an easy way to secure a hit due to the samples' recognition? Of course, I’m not trying to imply that the second reason is her intention when making these records. Yet, It’s interesing to note that, of her singles so far, her most popular are the songs that are sampling notable tracks, while her other singles such “Pissed" didn’t chart as well compared to “My Type”, which made it in Billboard Hot 100 at #21. To reiterate, it’s not a bad thing to sample these kinds of records, but there’s a right and wrong way to do so. Saweetie isn’t the first artist to do this and won’t be the last, Diddy is a good example of this situation.
Going back to prime Bad Boy days in the mid to late 90s, he had the habit to sample popular song for his artist The Notorious B.I.G. and himself. With Biggie sampling “Between the Sheets” by the Isley Brothers and “I’m Coming Out” by Diana Ross. Whereas Diddy for his 1997 album No Way Out, he sampled “Let’s Dance” by David Bowie and “Every Breath You Take” by The Police. While end up product of those samples are classics (I.e., Big Poppa, I’ll Be Missing You, Mo Money Mo Problems, Been Around the World), in retrospect, it can seem like a bit of cheating do this however, in Diddys defense in the case of Every Breath You Take he put his own spin on the record and turned a song about stalking into a tribute song for all the loved ones people have lost.
I digress, things can go awry if this keeps happening, it’ll seem that she is getting dependent on this type of niche and that she possibly couldn’t score a hit record without a notable sample. Compare it to mixtapes, it’d be ok to not only sample but use the original track to rap over since mixtapes usually don’t have intentions for a commercial record/single. Case in Point, any Lil Wayne mixtape or Logic “Young Sinatra” series. However in a recent in interview with Complex News, when asked about her habit of sampling big records and if she’ll keep doing in the near future, she responded: “It goes back to it, if it ain’t broke then don’t fix it. I flip songs very well, it’s my specialty, that’s what I’m good at. So I will continue to keep taking big hits and making them mine and I will continue to make my own hits". As Saweetie forges on as one of the leading women in hip-hop, this shouldn’t take away her talent as a MC. With her debut album set to release later this year and more to come from her, hopefully she’ll ease with this habit and score a big hit without a notable sample (If she does keep doing this, I want her to sample “Wipe Me Down”, that’ll be dope).
