Future Hendrix, an extremely well known rapper/ songwriter, uses a sample from Tommy Butler’s “Prison Song” in his Billboard Top 100 song “Mask Off.” Future takes the flute melody from the beginning of Butler’s “Prison Song” and loops it throughout his rap. While the two songs are different, contextually and thematically, this almost mystical flute harmony is seen predominantly throughout the two. The greatest difference between the two songs is their context. Tommy Butler wrote “Prison Song” in 1978 as a part of his musical Selma. This song, and Selma in its entirety, serves as a testimony to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and the civil rights movement. On the other hand “Mask Off” has a much less sentimental meaning, talking not about civil rights, but about drugs, sex, and money. “Mask Off” uses “Prison Song” for the entire premise of the song, regardless of their alarmingly different subject matters. However, Future chose to sample from Butler purposeful and in order to incorporate black culture into his song. This deliberate inclusion touches on the concept of the “sonic color line.” The sonic color line is defined as the connection between sound and the racial divide in American culture. Butler, and Future with his sample, craft songs that embody the culture and history of African American people in America. Future allows his listeners to understand the serious and emotional nature of “Prison Song,” which gives a voice to struggling African Americans, while straying away from the more serious subject matter of the song. “Mask Off” is a modernized way of portraying black culture through sound, using the sample to truly show the discrimination and color divide that even stretches into the sonic world. On the other hand, this sampling could be seen as disrespectful, taking a song drenched in emotional context and making it about drugs. Personally, I don’t think Future made “Mask Off” in a disrespectful manner, but it is important to note the contextual differences of the two songs.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=21&v=rMB-wx7LmdQ
