This film will examine the creative and commercial value of musical sampling, including the related debates over artistic expression, copyright law—and money. The film will trace the rise of hip-hop from the streets of New York to its current status as a multibillion-dollar industry. For more than 30 years, innovative hip-hop performers and producers have been weaving portions of previously recorded music into new, otherwise original compositions. But when lawyers and record companies get involved, what was once referred to as a “borrowed melody” becomes a copyright infringement.