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TopFlash

Questlove

Questlove:“ AI Is a Parallel to Sampling Culture”

Few people have done as much to keep music’ s past alive as Questlove. As a drummer with The Roots, a DJ, and now a filmmaker, he has become the go-to historian of the sounds that shaped popular culture, from Summer of Soul and Sly Lives to his new Earth, Wind & Fire documentary, available on HBO Max. In this conversation, first published by Billboard, he traces the story of sampling: from the pricey Fairlight synthesizer to the Public Enemy record that changed his life, the lawless years between 1988 and 1991, and the Biz Markie lawsuit that rewrote the rules. He also looks ahead, to catalog buyouts, drum machines, and the question now dividing the industry: what does artificial intelligence mean for an art form built on borrowing?

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