N.W.A.’s 1990 track “100 Miles and Runnin’” samples the opening riff from an old Funkadelic song. The 2 second riff is barely audible, buried under Dre’s signature breakbeat, a mess of hats and shakers, and an angry M.C. Ren. Nevertheless, this asinine decision by a U.S. Appeals court held that a 2 second sample can constitute copyright infringement. It’s a nonsense ruling, and it has a lot of folk worried about the chilling effect the decision could have on rap and hip hop. (Imagine this decision 15 years ago in a world without “Paul’s Boutique” and “It Takes a Nation of Millions…”).

Protesting bogus copyright law is the forte of Downhill Battle. This time around they’ve launched the site “Three Notes and Runnin’, with the help of Michael Bell-Smith, to highlight the ridiculous standard set by the Court’s decision. Contributors rework the Funkadelic sample, creating new songs that stretch the public’s perception of sampling.

Here’s my contribution to the cause. (I call it Sad State of Affairs, which I think sums things up.) As with the other participants, I’m technically violating this new copyright law: every sound in the track was produced using only the audio in the aforementioned clip.