SAMPLED is a recurring column that examines the skeletal production of a contemporary Rap/R&B/Hip-Hop or Pop song. From what song did the loop, sample, or chopped up vocal providing the backbone for a new interpretation originate? SAMPLED looks at the original song with some historical context, and then presents the contemporary production that utilizes a sample from the original. For better or worse, this is the process by which a huge portion of contemporary pop music is assembled.

This week, the sample in question is from Long Island dream-pop outfit Twin Sister’s “Meet The Frownies,” which was recorded for a compilation organized by Shaking Through, a Philadelphia non-profit that benefits independent musicians. The song was later re-released on a split 7″ with The Luyas for Record Store Day 2011.

Twin Sister came up in the recent chillwave/glo-fi/dream-pop/whatever movement from a year or two ago, winning over audiences with their cutesy-meets-brainy lo-fi pop catalogue. Reverb-laden female vocals, shimmering twangy surf guitars, and strange sonic production characterize the sound of this 5-piece Long Island band. “Meet The Frownies” wouldn’t strike you as a typical song that might be sampled in a hip-hop beat, but as we know, nothing about Kendrick Lamar can be described as typical.

“Meet The Frownies” was recently sampled by Kendrick Lamar on his new single “The Recipe,” which features Dr. Dre:

L.A. rapper Kendrick Lamar’s profile is rising by the day, and recently it’s been boosted further by a co-sign from Dr. Dre. Not only does Dr. Dre want to be on a track with Kendrick — he lets Lamar ghostwrite his verses for it. Yes, it’s sloppy ghostwriting, in that Kendrick’s signature flow isn’t disguised in Dre’s verses at all. But asking Kendrick Lamar to dumb-down his verses for Dre is like asking Michael Jordan to miss a free-throw in 1991. In terms of production, producer Scoop DeVille (Snoop Dogg, Fat Joe, Game) builds a beat around the Twin Sister sample, which is pitched up and chopped sporadically. There’s very little (if any) instrumentation added, but Kendrick layers vocals in some interesting spots to give the song a spontaneous feel. In this new context, Twin Sister’s lyric “Smoking weed with you, in the leaves, in the fall,” is suddenly much tougher, and you get a sense of what Scoop DeVille saw in the track when it was chosen as the sample.

Some view sampling as a symptom of a lack of creativity, and that’s exactly why it is a polarizing topic in terms of contemporary pop music. Critics liken it to Hollywood’s nasty habit of repurposing old franchises and old ideas, updating and remaking anything that was once profitable. On the flip side, many argue that sampling is an art form not to be discredited. On a weekly-ish basis, SAMPLED aims to take it on a case-by-case basis, and examine the dividing practice of using samples in the creation of music.