Sinnerman and Get By

In this post I've included Simone's version of "Sinnerman" followed by Kweli's "Get By" that samples "Sinnerman." "Sinnerman" is an American folk song whose authorship is unknown.

After listening to Simone's version it is a bit disapointing to hear the vocal sample in "Get By" simply because the lead up to the vocal selection that is used is so specific to "Sinnerman"; it just fits, you know? I want to include this, however, because of the questions that it raises about continuity between blues music and hip hop through sampling. After the songs I discuss this a bit more.

Nina Simone, "Sinnerman" from Pastel Blues (1965)




Talib Kweli, "Get By" from Quality (2002)




The use of sampling in hip hop and specifically the continuity between Talib Kweli's music and Nina Simone's based on Kweli's reinterpretation of "Four Women" and sampling of "Sinnerman" provokes the question: is hip hop the blues? Clearly hip hop is influenced by the blues, but I'm posing the question of hip hop as the blues to suggests a way of reading hip hop within the context of Amiri Baraka's blues aesthetic. This is an area of the blog that I hope to expand upon because 'answers' to the questions that I pose above are by no means clear to me.