Lizzo Calls the Origins of Sampling Laws ‘Racially Charged’

Lizzo claimed the origins of sampling laws are “racially charged.”

In an interview with the Million Dollaz Worth of Game podcast on Sunday, Sept. 14, the “About Damn Time” hitmaker, 37, discussed why sampling polices Black creativity.

“The first time people started sampling was who? It was rappers in the ’80s and ’90s,” Lizzo —whose real name is Melissa Jefferson — said. “They were sampling records because they didn’t have access to big studios. They didn’t grow up learning how to play bass and stuff like that.”

She claimed that “they created the genre of hip-hop through sampling records in their parents’ vinyls and stuff.”

“There were no sampling laws back then,” said Lizzo. “It was all a free-for-all. So they was just outside, just like, ‘Okay, this is just what it is.’ And then hip-hop was born, and it was this beautiful thing.”

Lizzo then brought up when Warner Bros. Records removed Biz Markie’s I Need a Haircut album from stores due to sampling issues over a sample featured on his song “Alone Again.”

“I just feel like the theft of it all, putting theft on Black culture, that’s the part that kind of turns me off,” she added. “Hip-hop’s medium was sampling. Sampling is a Black art that bred hip-hop. Hip-hop was born from sampling. And now sampling is synonymous with theft.”

Lizzo then noted that she believes that “the origins of sampling…were racially charged” because hip-hop stemmed from sampling from the ’70s and ’80s.

“The origin of sampling laws were racially motivated to me because it was policing Black art,” the “Truth Hurts” artist claimed.

Lizzo didn’t get pushback from co-hosts Gillie Da Kid and Wallo who weren’t fully up to speed on sampling laws.

The “Juice” performer was faced with sampling issues in 2021 when she was sued by Orlandus Dunning for using a recording of him performing at a mutual friend’s funeral on her 2016 song “Coconut Oil,” per The Detroit News.

At the time, Dunning was seeking $750,000 in the lawsuit, because he allegedly “suffered anguish, embarrassment and outrage” after Atlantic Records released the song.

“Coconut Oil” was the title track of Lizzo’s 2015 EP, which was also her first major-label release.