Ripoff Artists
- Thread starter FatPhilM
- Start date
All of hip hop is based on building off of the genius of others. The entire genre began from sampling disco loops and MC's making rhymes over them while people danced.
Sugarhill Gang is widely rumored to have stolen almost the entire flow and many lyrics to Rapper's Delight from a Bronx MC. Can't remember name - but I guess that's the point. As time goes on, to be truly innovative in art you have to build upon what came before you. If you try starting from scratch, you will never get anywhere - and any successful artist who believes they are original is a either a massive narcissist or mentally ill.
I think it's weird how the Beastie Boys get credit for originality just because they got in on the act early. Don't get me wrong - they innovated as much as any early hip hop group and have clear talent, but to say they are the only original group is really just weird in reality.
If three white kids of the same talent level as the Beastie Boys came out today, you guys would laugh in their face. That's the general MO with urban music throughout the 20th and 21st centuries though - each generation looks at what was cool when they were growing up as "classics" while looking at younger kid's tastes and considering them trash (i think about how Ray Charles was once considered sinful). Then those kids grow up and look back on their teenage years urban music as classics - the cycle continues.
Sugarhill Gang is widely rumored to have stolen almost the entire flow and many lyrics to Rapper's Delight from a Bronx MC. Can't remember name - but I guess that's the point. As time goes on, to be truly innovative in art you have to build upon what came before you. If you try starting from scratch, you will never get anywhere - and any successful artist who believes they are original is a either a massive narcissist or mentally ill.
I think it's weird how the Beastie Boys get credit for originality just because they got in on the act early. Don't get me wrong - they innovated as much as any early hip hop group and have clear talent, but to say they are the only original group is really just weird in reality.
If three white kids of the same talent level as the Beastie Boys came out today, you guys would laugh in their face. That's the general MO with urban music throughout the 20th and 21st centuries though - each generation looks at what was cool when they were growing up as "classics" while looking at younger kid's tastes and considering them trash (i think about how Ray Charles was once considered sinful). Then those kids grow up and look back on their teenage years urban music as classics - the cycle continues.
Apparently, Rage agrees with me.
http://defamer.gawker.com/rage-bassist-apologizes-for-limp-bizkit-we-inspired-s-1733614742
NickleDimer
Post 'Til Your Fingers Bleed
There are entire patches of America that still get all teary eyed when they look back on the dayz when Limp Bizkit and Kid Rock were at their peak. God bless them for spurning country music, but rap/rock was the wrong direction.
I work with two guys, one in his twenties and one in his thirties, that legitimately talk about how cool Kid Rock is.
Like, talk about how awesome his music is, how hard he parties, how awesome it would be to hang with him.
I swear to god, the first time i heard them talking about it I thought they were fking with me. It blows my mind.
NickleDimer
Post 'Til Your Fingers Bleed
A cousin of mine is a successful, well-respected person, a doctor in his mid-40s, has three kids ages 10-16. He routinely shares Kid Rock posts on facebook. His feed is all kids lacrosse games, vacation house, love my patients, and Kid Rock. It short circuits my brain every time I see it.
Not much respect for Tupac here. Didn't Biggie only have two real albums? Sort of like anointing Bryce Harper or Trout the greatest of all time if they quit tomorrow.
Agree that the Beasties changed their sound and deserve credit for that. License to Ill and Hello Nasty both great albums, all different. I also like the instrumental Mix Up record they put out.
That's pretty funny. He does supposedly do a lot of charitable work in Detroit. I give him some credit for that. "All Summer Long" was a decent song.
I watched the Tribe Called Quest documentary entitled "Beats, Rhymes, and Life" recently and it was really good. The time period they came up in was so odd - right on the brink of gangster rap. There's a scene where they show you how they put together a song - basically just went back through their parents' record collection and picked out instrumentals that stuck with them.
A few interviews with the Beastie Boys were in it as well. It really painted a different picture of Phife Dawg than what I had from the music - guy has some serious nferiority and napoleon complex combo going on.
Definitely recommend if you are a fan of late 80s/early 90s hip hop.
A few interviews with the Beastie Boys were in it as well. It really painted a different picture of Phife Dawg than what I had from the music - guy has some serious nferiority and napoleon complex combo going on.
Definitely recommend if you are a fan of late 80s/early 90s hip hop.
Gre8est of all time.
Also, the Beastie Boys were absolutely talented. Of course they ripped off sounds from CoDB clubs. That just made it better.
Amazingly appropriate for this thread, since that song is a mashup of Sweet Home Alabama and Werewolves of London.
Meant to see this when it came out, thanks for the reminder. Need to check it out.
Related, one of the craziest concerts I ever saw was Tribe at Lehigh back in like 1995/1996 I think. They played the gym there, literally we were sitting in the bleachers and it was obviously packed and hot as hell. They left the stage after their last song and it almost seemed like they weren't coming back out but you had to figure they were still going to play Scenario....... the music kicked in first and the place went absolutely nuts. The whole room was shaking, I seriously thought I might get hit in the head with something from the rafters. Awesome show though, great group.
Oh man I would give anything to have been there. I was 8 at the time, but still. Let me know if you do see it. I came away from it thinking of Ali as someone who participated/s in the music industry exactly the way I would like to.
Follow Up: I hear Seal is coming out with a new album. Blew my mind cause I thought he stopped in early 2000s. My dad didn't have much tape wise in the 90s but for some reason one of the few he had was Seal's Greatest Hits.
Got me thinking, with your very in-depth musical knowledge, were you raised in a music family? Or sort of just found it on your own?
I heard a techno version of harvest moon tonight at an airport bar. Made me think of this thread.
Out of all the shows I've seen... Never saw Tribe. Was supposed to see them on the beats rhymes and life tour and it never happened. I was at the Big L tribute show after he got got in 99 or 00 and the rumor was tribe was going to come out and reunite. Got me to stick around for hours... That show probably ended at 4 am. It was great and terrible at the same time.
I've seen Q-Tip a ton including some real small spots, but will always wish I saw ATCQ. Midnight marauders holds a very special place in my heart.
I did see the roots at nova when I visited in high school which was pretty sick
Out of all the shows I've seen... Never saw Tribe. Was supposed to see them on the beats rhymes and life tour and it never happened. I was at the Big L tribute show after he got got in 99 or 00 and the rumor was tribe was going to come out and reunite. Got me to stick around for hours... That show probably ended at 4 am. It was great and terrible at the same time.
I've seen Q-Tip a ton including some real small spots, but will always wish I saw ATCQ. Midnight marauders holds a very special place in my heart.
I did see the roots at nova when I visited in high school which was pretty sick
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1st concert I attended was Black Sheep, Queen Latifah, and Naughty by Nature at the Valley Forge Music Fair in 1992. Like Chimpat's story, it was a pretty intense scene.
Unrelated--not a huge fan of Kid Rock's music, but the guy does a lot around the Detroit area. I think this story is pretty well-known---a girl's golf team in metro Detroit had their clubs stolen. Kid Rock calls John Daly and the two of them have John Daly's equipment rep send out new clubs to the whole team.
Unrelated--not a huge fan of Kid Rock's music, but the guy does a lot around the Detroit area. I think this story is pretty well-known---a girl's golf team in metro Detroit had their clubs stolen. Kid Rock calls John Daly and the two of them have John Daly's equipment rep send out new clubs to the whole team.
He does, big Phish fan. However, I thank god I am not poor enough to have to rent out my apartment to weirdos.
NickleDimer
Post 'Til Your Fingers Bleed
NickleDimer
Post 'Til Your Fingers Bleed
Yeah, seeing Tribe was amazing. Think that's the only time I saw them but I remember it vividly.
I actually didn't really grow up in a musically inclined family. Neither of my parents were into music all that much. I mean they had their tapes and records but never big into the scene. My dad listened to mostly Billy Joel, Simon & Garfunkel and George Harrison. I liked all of those artists, and I also liked the Police a lot growing up.
When I was a freshman in high school, my parents bought me "Ten" by Pearl Jam and it was like a switch went off in me. I'd never heard anything like it and I just started looking into finding as much new stuff as I could. Another album around that time that had a huge influence on me was Counting Crows "August and Everything After".
My parents are fairly conservative but for some reason they started letting me go to shows when I was 16. Mostly local in CT, spent a lot of time at Toad's Place in New Haven and some other clubs and then bigger venues like the Meadows. Saw Counting Crows and DMB both at Toads, saw Pearl Jam in Springfield, MA in 1994 (my mom drove me to the show) and from there just became a huge fan of live music and it snowballed from there.
I've spent a ton of money on concert tix and travel but I've met so many great people and been to places I never would have seen so it's been something I wouldn't trade but certainly not for everyone. One other thing I started doing was working with promoters on smaller bands and then you meet people in the industry and sometimes that leads to getting into shows for free which is always nice.
The last thing that is kind of interesting is that I grew up with John Mayer, we've been friends since 6th grade. When his career started to take off, he kept me pretty close so I got to meet a ton of people through him and travel all over to shows with their crew and that has just been an amazing experience. I probably only see him now about once a year but we just pick up where we left off like any old friend, I run into people he's introduced me to all the time at venues here in nyc.
So it's been a mix I guess of loving music and especially concerts, making some great connections and being damn lucky along the way. Sorry for the long winded answer but that's been a huge part of my life over the last 20 years or so.
Please discuss your John Mayer stories with the newsgroup, I am assuming that you and tjc are infact friends, because he is friends with all famous people.
NickleDimer
Post 'Til Your Fingers Bleed
Glad I asked. Figured you had some good stories. I didn't really enjoy concerts through most of my life but I realized over the past year or so it was because I was so focused on being as drunk/whatever as possible that I couldn't just be in the moment. Really been hitting the music scene in NYC more often recently, mostly completely sober and it's increased my enjoyment ten fold. I was also raised on Simon and Garfunkel - lots of good memories on road trips singing along.
I do not know tjc in real life but we've probably just missed each other in passing.
Let's just say that many famous ladies have been spotted in Goldsboro, NC over the last ten years.
Yeah, I've never been one for getting smashed at a concert, mostly because I'd like to remember what I'm seeing/hearing. That said, always enjoy having a few beers at a show. The good thing about living in NYC or most cities in general is that you get a good variety of shows coming through and a decent choice of venues as well. Some of my favorite places are smaller venues like Mercury Lounge, Cameo Gallery, Rockwood Music Hall, etc.
I live a block away from Rockwood and, obviously, just a few more from Mercury. Moving down here from Morningside Heights in March has been a major upgrade.
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Snottie/Chimpat- highly recommend checking out Saintseneca at Mercury on Friday.
I'll be watching Mets/Dodgers but thanks for the heads up NorCal. Not familiar with these guys, will check out their stuff.