Exposing literacies in a co-culture

Creativity and innovation will always be the direct results of information literacy skills in action, and the process of sampling in hip-hop music is a small but significant testament to this fact. While for some, hip-hop will never be regarded as a legitimate art form simply because it uses music sampling, the author would advise hip-hop's detractors to consider the creative process of sampling before rejecting it out of hand. For information professionals, promoting and recognizing information literacies is important, no matter the medium or the genre of expression. And truth be told, many hip-hop producers have been applying information literacy skills for nearly a quarter of a century. Hip-hop's legacy starts with the sampling of prerecorded music in the format of vinyl records. Sampling initially involved turntables -- and eventually, samplers and beat machines -- to make new sounds or select musical elements. Producers created musical breaks and loops by using vinyl records as a source of sound generation.