ABSTRACT
Using a predominantly autoethnographic approach, this chapter draws insights from two creative practice stages involving, first, the construction of original samples that strive to convey phonographic signatures, and, subsequently, sample-based composition that has been inspired, facilitated by, and built from these samples. The autoethnographic interpretations are triangulated with literary and aural analysis aiming at a reflexive extrapolation of the solo discoveries within a wider beat-making context. One of the critical insights that will emerge from the autoethnographic approach is the notion of phonographic 'otherness.' Grappling with this concept, defining it, and examining its mechanics in the context of sample-based Hip Hop will provide the underlying thread to the chapter. For a musicological understanding of otherness, it is useful to turn to Weheliye who offers a fascinating link between the possibilities offered by the mechanical reproduction of sound (e.g. the phonograph) and notions of (inter)subjectivity as expressed by contemporary black artists.
