Original posted here on UPROXX

These days, music nostalgia is showing up in more ways than one. As recording stars like Lady Gaga have older songs finding success in the present day, others like Gwen Stefani are considering reuniting with her former bandmates after years of being on a hiatus. But, between the sheer force that is TikTok sounds and the professional pressures recording artists feel to obtain commercial success, when monitoring the Billboard Hot 100 charts, it is hard not to come across a few dozen songs that aren’t flooded with easily recognizable samples.

Many music purists argue that sampling is a creative cop-out, but when intentionally done, sampling is one of the easiest ways to reintroduce legacy acts into music’s forever-changing ecosystem. For some artists (or their estates), it can prove lucrative.

The world of music theory and overall music production is vast, so a few terms need to be defined to add context to this list. “Sample” as a term is often thrown around loosely, but to clarify in terms of this list: Generally put, there are two things people mean when they use the term. A true “sample” is using part of an original recording, whether it’s clipped, slowed, sped up, or played in reverse. Meanwhile, interpolation is the reproduction of an element of the original recording, such as quoting lyrics or having musicians replay melodic elements of the underlying instrumental. For a breakdown, check out Uproxx’s interview with Naima Cochrane.

With tens of thousands of songs to choose from, the songs selected for this list adhered to a strict set of qualifying factors. First, all samples that appear on the songs listed below must be billed to a Black recording artist’s discography (across the diaspora). Next, the newer song, which includes the older sample, must have been released in the last 20 years (2003 and beyond). Next, cover songs were not considered. Finally, the songs on this list were screened for quality control metrics, including the creative way the sample was used, how prominent the featured sample is integrated into the newer song, and the overall quality of the newer song. These samples were verified by WhoSampled.com’s online database.

So, without further ado, here are the best uses of samples (over the last 20 years) in alphabetical order according to the artist.