King of Sampling, Ye Finds Himself on the Other Side as 2hollis Samples His Iconic 2010 Hit 

There was a time when sampling was mostly something DJs did. But it really became a big part of hip-hop culture when producers started using it in studio tracks back in the 1980s. And the artist who helped make sampling even more popular in the coming days was Ye, aka Kanye West. In ‘College Dropout,’ Ye showed the world his unique way of taking small bits of obscure songs and turning them into exciting creations. And after creating a bunch of chart-topping hits by sampling, Ye has now found himself on the other side of the process.

Popular rapper 2hollis has now sampled an iconic track from the King of Sampling himself, Ye.

2hollis samples Ye’s iconic 2010 track in a sneaky clip

2hollis recently posted a cryptic video on his Instagram. In the black-and-white clip, the rapper was seen smoking while listening to what could be a sneak peek of an upcoming track. Fans quickly noticed that the song he was playing sounded a lot like Ye’s 2010 hit, ‘All of the Lights,’ from the album ‘My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy.’ And this is not the first time someone has taken a shot at sampling this famous track.

Many artists have used the instrumental from ‘All of the Lights’ in their own unofficial freestyles. According to WhoSampled.com, 14 different songs have already used the Grammy-winning rapper’s 2010 hit. In 2016, the song even made its way into a Gatorade commercial with Serena Williams and was also part of the NBA 2K14 soundtrack, handpicked by LeBron James. But the track itself was not entirely original either—at least, not at first.

Despite the track’s clear popularity as a sampling goldmine, ‘All of the Lights’ was sampled from somewhere else, too.

All of the Lights originally had a sample as well

Ye is often called the Muhammad Ali of hip-hop. In fact, the album ‘My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy’ was, in a way, full of his trademark flair, with moments where he compared himself to Ali and elevated himself as a visionary. For the track in question, ‘All of the Lights,’ the original demo actually included a sample of Muhammad Ali saying, “The champ is here.“

The sample was, however, eventually removed to make room for other elements in the song. Throughout his career, the ‘Donda’ rapper has dealt with several sampling issues but has always managed to push forward and create even more groundbreaking music. But whether he will clear his own sample for 2hollis—or if he has already done it—is still a big question mark. 

What do you think about 2hollis’ sampling of Ye’s track? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below!