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.
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 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.'
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.
