In this day and age, it’s incredibly common to hear a sample of a song from yesteryear on today’s new hits. Many songs are prone to sampling. It’s creative. Artists take a piece of music they were influenced by and enhance it, making it their own. But, when an artist overuses a sample, the creativity fizzles. Local electronic act, The Kiffness, discovered an excessive piece of sampling in the production of Sheen Skaiz’s hit ‘Get Right’, produced by Sketchy Bongo. In a hilarious clip, Dave Scott of the group compares the local track to that of SM101 ‘Future Soul’ while wearing a stocking on his head – mimicking Sketchy and his signature balaclava look. Besides the hilarity, however, it’s shocking to see that the near-identical production appears on one of Sample Magic’s sample packs.
Now, as Luc Veermeer mentioned in the comments section, assuming Sketchy bought the rights to the sample, he isn’t doing anything wrong. “It’s more so ethically kinda wrong,” he says. “Those sample magic loops are mostly made to be used on video edits etc . Using it for a radio topping song is quite a different thing.”
Dave expresses that there is no bad blood between him and the local super-producer. “I dig Sketchy. He’s a kiff oke. As producers, we all use samples. Heck – most of my songs are laced with samples that I’ve ripped off YouTube,” he says. However, when asked if his samples are as identical, the star admits “not to that extent, no. But then again, I don’t have 5 singles simultaneously playing on high rotation.” Even the track’s vocalist Sheen Skaiz was left in the dark. “I did not know he used a sample pack,” he says. “I just wrote that song. All my bars and raps are original”.
One can’t deny that Sheen Skaiz’s hit is a banger, however, where does a producer draw the line? Should Sketchy have informed the artist about the excessive use of the sample or does he just get the beats he pays for? If he bought the sample, surely he can use it any way he wants? This, however, is not the first time Sketchy has done this. In fact, another Sample Magic beat was used in Locnville’s smash hit ‘Cold Shoulder’ which was also produced by Sketchy.
The discussion has many valid points around it and could be debated for hours. However, I’d like to know what you think. Let me know in the comments section below.
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If you found out that the cool guy holding a Vodacom SIM card in that magazine advert turns out to actually be a freelance model who actually uses Cell C, are you going to be pissed?
Fuck no.
Nothing was ripped off. It was legitimately sourced from a website that sells this stuff for commercial use.
It’s no different than the photos you see on almost every ad.
This is a clear case of young artists and noobs who have not yet learned the “no need to create the wheel again” lesson that artists learn in the latter years, and are actually mistaking it for the “artists faking it and taking credit” issue, which this is not.
Well done on the speedy post, enjoy the views and the ad revenue you get from this, which is ironically paying you.
He hasnt produced a single thing! Hes bought tracks and added peoples vocals to them. If you listen to both tracks, he didnt change a flipping thing! Not a thing. Slapped some vocals on and called it his own.
This is extremely frowned upon in the industry. Its the same as a person buying a wordpress website, putting a couple custom pictures on it and calling themselves a web developer. They’ll get laughed at.
Sketchy Bongo is a c**t
[…] The Kiffness Discovers Sketchy Bongo’s Excessive Sampling On Sheen Skaiz’s ‘Get Right’ […]
I have no problem with sampling, if done right, but this isn’t sampling, it piracy! and then selling it to Sheen Skaiz as your own original song.. that seems to me like fraud..
If you read on the kiffness’s original instagram post’s comments, they expose other songs the he also pirated…
Perhaps you should look at the dates of publication on these two youtube posts. Now join the dots and maybe you can draw a conclusion. As for the kiffness – jealousy maybe????
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qgQoBXMxpq4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I7fvmnbOUDY