WingsOfAnAngel
Banned
ill o.g.
Battle Points: 3
We’ve all done it, we’ve all blasted the radio and screamed, “Oohhh, that’s my song,” only to realize that it’s not Truth Hurts’s “Addictive,” but “Do It (‘Til You’re Satisfied)” by B.T. Express, it’s Diana Ross’s “I’m Coming Out” instead of The Notorious B.I.G.’s “Mo Money Mo Problems,” it’s Monica singing “Don’t Take it Personal,” instead of L.L. Cool J’s “Back Seat of my Jeep,” or better yet it’s Gladys Knight’s version of “The Way We Were” rather Wu Tang Clan’s hip hop classic “C.R.E.A.M.” Any way you look at it, people are tired of falling victim to the young, talentless, beat-biting producers of the new millennium.
Some may ask, “What’s the big deal if it works well, makes sense and sells – that’s a good thing, right?” Well, sometimes it is and sometimes it’s just plain wrong. For example, I commend Erik Sermon for his song “Music” whose credit reads: Erik Sermon featuring Marvin Gaye. Clearly Sermon knew that he had used too much of Gaye’s voice to call it his own, but artists like Jay Z, who created a smash hit with his song “Girls, Girls, Girls” which uses a sample of a song titled “Girls,” and the remix using even more of the song for the hook with Jay Z never attributing the song’s originator. As a matter of fact, I would not even have known that the hook wasn’t created by Jay Z had I not been curious enough to read the fine print inside the sleeve notes of his Blueprint album,which is something you have to do nowadays, yet, it didn’t help much because I still don’t know whose song “Girls” is.
Sampling has gotten so bad lately that artists have gone so far as to steal rhymes from other rappers. I can’t even count how many times I have heard people use lyrics straight from Rob Base’s “It Takes Two,” you know where he says, “I wanna’ rock right now/I’m Rob Base and I came to get down,/I’m not internationally known, /but I’m known to rock the microphone/ ‘Cause I get stupid I mean outrageous,/Stay away from me if you’re contagious. Well, the most recent copycats are L.L. Cool J who features a similar rhyme in his song “After School” by L.L. Cool J and the beat and lyric biting king himself, P. Diddy. In the song they say, “I wanna rock right now/L.L. and Diddy, we came to get down,/Yes, we’re internationally known/For making movies and the microphone,/‘Cause we get crazy I mean outrageous/You rollin wit’ us, you rollin’ wit’ flavor. And yes, they use the same tune Rob Base originally laid his lyrics over. What is this world coming to, I mean, L.L. Cool J made it through nine albums before hooking up with P. Diddy and made himself look bad. Correct me if I’m wrong, but rhyming is a thing where if you don’t write your own lyrics, then you have no talent. We all know that’s not true about L.L. and let’s hope he realizes his mistake and never does that again.
It may be true that we all love those old school tunes and some of us don’t even mind hearing tight lyrics or new songs laced over them, but enough is enough. Some of the most sampled artists are Debarge and Michael Jackson.
First let’s talk about my boy Mike, whose “Human Nature” has been sampled for the likes of Nas’ “It Ain’t Hard to Tell” and SWV’s “Right Here.” Lil’ Romeo used “I Want You Back” for his first single, “My Baby” and The Notorious B.I.G. also used it for the LP version of his “One More Chance.” Naughty by Nature sampled “ABC” for their hip hop classic “O.P.P.,” and Ghostface Killah of Wu Tang Clan used “Maybe Tomorrow” for his heartfelt song “All That I Got Is You.”
80’s sensation Debarge are heavily sampled as well. The Notorious B.I.G. used “Stay With Me” for his “One More Chance”remix, lifting the hook straight from the original: “Don’t go, don’t go, don’t go – I love you so” which most people thought and probably still think is a line form Mary J. Blige’s song “Don’t Go.” But nope, she borrowed that one from Debarge too. Ashanti has also used “Stay With Me” for her first single, “Foolish” but of course we all thought she was sampling Biggie in which she eventually did for the song’s remix. Rapper AZ uses two Debarge songs on one his AZiatic album. “All This Love” was used for his song “Problems” and “Love Me in a Special Way” for his “Love Me.” Ashanti used the same sample on the sly in her song called “Dreams.” While we’re talking about Ashanti, how in the world did Irv Gotti just think it was okay to sample Scarface’s “Mary Jane?” I didn’t even think that song was old enough to be sampled as if there were an age limit on samples. She’s also used the Gap Band’s “Outstanding” for her song “Happy.” It’s not very evident in the LP version, but boy can you tell on the remix!
I may speak of sampling like it is something new, but quite the contrary--older artists are also guilty. Old school crooner, Brenda Mason laid her hit, “Am I the Same Girl” over Young Holt Unlimited’s “The Soulful Strut,” and Stephanie Mills’s “Feel The Fire” sure does remind me of The Friends of Distinction’s “Going in Circles.”
So yes, it’s been done before, but newer producers seem to be glamorizing the idea and it just plain sucks!
Well as it seems I have just been bashing artists and producers for their skills in beat biting, but there are still some great artists that can make their own music – there’s, and then there’s and oh yeah there’s – dag, I can’t think of anyone!
No, seriously all jokes aside, much love and respect to The Roots (the only group that I can think of right now) for being their own band, writing their own lyrics – which by the way have also been sampled. Ever heard City High’s song “Caramel:” “Caramel complected--for real and that’s no question, no frontin’ or no guessin’.” Well, that would be the voice of The Roots’s, Black Thought, from their song “Silent Treatment.”
I guess there’s just no escape from getting caught up in this lyric and beat stealing rapture, but there’s just one thing I have to say to you, Hip-Hop, you’ve been my love for quite some time now, till death do us par; but if you keep going in the direction you’re going in, that’s just what’s going to happen and I’m not the one who’s going to die. Don’t get it twisted, there’s nothing wrong with a little sample here and there, but a little originality along with it wouldn’t hurt one bit or shall I say bite?
Some may ask, “What’s the big deal if it works well, makes sense and sells – that’s a good thing, right?” Well, sometimes it is and sometimes it’s just plain wrong. For example, I commend Erik Sermon for his song “Music” whose credit reads: Erik Sermon featuring Marvin Gaye. Clearly Sermon knew that he had used too much of Gaye’s voice to call it his own, but artists like Jay Z, who created a smash hit with his song “Girls, Girls, Girls” which uses a sample of a song titled “Girls,” and the remix using even more of the song for the hook with Jay Z never attributing the song’s originator. As a matter of fact, I would not even have known that the hook wasn’t created by Jay Z had I not been curious enough to read the fine print inside the sleeve notes of his Blueprint album,which is something you have to do nowadays, yet, it didn’t help much because I still don’t know whose song “Girls” is.
Sampling has gotten so bad lately that artists have gone so far as to steal rhymes from other rappers. I can’t even count how many times I have heard people use lyrics straight from Rob Base’s “It Takes Two,” you know where he says, “I wanna’ rock right now/I’m Rob Base and I came to get down,/I’m not internationally known, /but I’m known to rock the microphone/ ‘Cause I get stupid I mean outrageous,/Stay away from me if you’re contagious. Well, the most recent copycats are L.L. Cool J who features a similar rhyme in his song “After School” by L.L. Cool J and the beat and lyric biting king himself, P. Diddy. In the song they say, “I wanna rock right now/L.L. and Diddy, we came to get down,/Yes, we’re internationally known/For making movies and the microphone,/‘Cause we get crazy I mean outrageous/You rollin wit’ us, you rollin’ wit’ flavor. And yes, they use the same tune Rob Base originally laid his lyrics over. What is this world coming to, I mean, L.L. Cool J made it through nine albums before hooking up with P. Diddy and made himself look bad. Correct me if I’m wrong, but rhyming is a thing where if you don’t write your own lyrics, then you have no talent. We all know that’s not true about L.L. and let’s hope he realizes his mistake and never does that again.
It may be true that we all love those old school tunes and some of us don’t even mind hearing tight lyrics or new songs laced over them, but enough is enough. Some of the most sampled artists are Debarge and Michael Jackson.
First let’s talk about my boy Mike, whose “Human Nature” has been sampled for the likes of Nas’ “It Ain’t Hard to Tell” and SWV’s “Right Here.” Lil’ Romeo used “I Want You Back” for his first single, “My Baby” and The Notorious B.I.G. also used it for the LP version of his “One More Chance.” Naughty by Nature sampled “ABC” for their hip hop classic “O.P.P.,” and Ghostface Killah of Wu Tang Clan used “Maybe Tomorrow” for his heartfelt song “All That I Got Is You.”
80’s sensation Debarge are heavily sampled as well. The Notorious B.I.G. used “Stay With Me” for his “One More Chance”remix, lifting the hook straight from the original: “Don’t go, don’t go, don’t go – I love you so” which most people thought and probably still think is a line form Mary J. Blige’s song “Don’t Go.” But nope, she borrowed that one from Debarge too. Ashanti has also used “Stay With Me” for her first single, “Foolish” but of course we all thought she was sampling Biggie in which she eventually did for the song’s remix. Rapper AZ uses two Debarge songs on one his AZiatic album. “All This Love” was used for his song “Problems” and “Love Me in a Special Way” for his “Love Me.” Ashanti used the same sample on the sly in her song called “Dreams.” While we’re talking about Ashanti, how in the world did Irv Gotti just think it was okay to sample Scarface’s “Mary Jane?” I didn’t even think that song was old enough to be sampled as if there were an age limit on samples. She’s also used the Gap Band’s “Outstanding” for her song “Happy.” It’s not very evident in the LP version, but boy can you tell on the remix!
I may speak of sampling like it is something new, but quite the contrary--older artists are also guilty. Old school crooner, Brenda Mason laid her hit, “Am I the Same Girl” over Young Holt Unlimited’s “The Soulful Strut,” and Stephanie Mills’s “Feel The Fire” sure does remind me of The Friends of Distinction’s “Going in Circles.”
So yes, it’s been done before, but newer producers seem to be glamorizing the idea and it just plain sucks!
Well as it seems I have just been bashing artists and producers for their skills in beat biting, but there are still some great artists that can make their own music – there’s, and then there’s and oh yeah there’s – dag, I can’t think of anyone!
No, seriously all jokes aside, much love and respect to The Roots (the only group that I can think of right now) for being their own band, writing their own lyrics – which by the way have also been sampled. Ever heard City High’s song “Caramel:” “Caramel complected--for real and that’s no question, no frontin’ or no guessin’.” Well, that would be the voice of The Roots’s, Black Thought, from their song “Silent Treatment.”
I guess there’s just no escape from getting caught up in this lyric and beat stealing rapture, but there’s just one thing I have to say to you, Hip-Hop, you’ve been my love for quite some time now, till death do us par; but if you keep going in the direction you’re going in, that’s just what’s going to happen and I’m not the one who’s going to die. Don’t get it twisted, there’s nothing wrong with a little sample here and there, but a little originality along with it wouldn’t hurt one bit or shall I say bite?
