ItsGreekToMe

Cygnet74

for me, regardless of whether or not i like the song, "hard out here for a pimp" was the most integral to its film. its construction drove the characters thru the plot. and for that reason, i was glad to see it rewarded over the sort of song that's composed to play over the credits.

by the way, does this song even use any samples from other songs? all i hear is a drum machine, a guitar and some reverb.

Cygnet74

i'm sure it would surprise you to know that samples are actually licensed, negotiated, paid for and often credited in the liner notes... not "stolen". my god! that being the case, perhaps the last generation is simply "selling out"?

ItsGreekToMe

Not really. I remember reading about the legal issues back in the '90s. I still don't like it, nor does it demonstrate creativity in the 'artists' who do it.

Perhaps 'stealing' in a 'George Lucas stole my childhood' kind of way. (As in, songs you grew up with and loved that are now being used in a, IMHO, stupid way.)

dork

Me, I'm still pissed at that no-talent hack Tchaikovsky STEALING the Marseillaise and "God Save the Tsar" for his 1812 Overture. Just ripped them off note for note -- of course, that wasn't even the first time that loser sampled "GStT", either. OMG, what a thief, the world's going to hell in a handbasket, etc. It's hard out here for a pimpsky.

Gil Jawetz

First off, as has been said before, this thread is not about sampling. Secondly, the entire argument is moot because once the laws were re-written to prevent wily-nilly sampling (in 1991?) the whole technique changed, since producers could no longer just use what they thought sounded good and had to clear everything. I agree that clearing samples makes sense and is fair to the original artists but from a purely artistic stand-point most of the best sampling was done before clearance was required, for fairly obvious reasons. Now sampling mostly just means Diddy paying Michael Jackson $5 million dollars so he can take an entire MJ instrumental and mumble over it. Obviously that's stupid. The song that sparked this debate - Fight THe Power - is built on a cacophony of samples from numerous sources that are each treated the way a painter would treat one color of paint: Blended, mixed, rearranged, and spit back out unrecognizable. If anything it was done out of love for the originals and for the art of music. It wasn't cynical marketing (like the Diddy brand of sampling that assumes that people will buy a new song if it sounds just like Billie Jean or whatever) but actual passionate music making. Only underground artists who don't care about record labels or artists like DJ Shadow who have enormous libraries of obscure sources can really come close to that today. That's also why online mashup artists are so popular.

Gil Jawetz

I'm sure it doesn't use any, which is why this discussion is so wacky. I made the mistake of mentioning that Fight The Power was inelligible back in 1989 because it did use samples and all hell broke loose.

But I dare anyone to do a side by side comparison of those two songs and suggest that Pimp is better.

Mopower

Hey Dennis, there's a reason you got fired from Monday Night Football.

dork

I didn't make any 70s TV references.

rfduncan

Al Padrino

Everyone should quit talking about it with this guy, since this comment pretty much says, "I'm ignorant to the subject at hand and I refuse to be open-minded about it."

You've written off an entire genre because of your fear of something you just don't understand. My mom grew up a huge Beatles fan and music lover. If you flipped through her collection of LPs, you saw pretty much every great or recognizable band in there from the '60s-'80s. And guess what else was in there? A Run-DMC LP. Yep, my freakin' mom owns a hip-hop album? And why? Because she's open-minded and doesn't limit her tastes to a narrow range of genres.

I'm curious as to what hip-hop you've heard, anyway. Because there's a great deal of it that's more musical than a lot of that three-chord, hollow BS that passes for rock today.

Mopower

Yeah but Run DMC is actually good.

wetsprockets

What's funny is the poster does the exact same thing on the very next post.

Michael Corvin

This is way off topic, but to continue the debate read on...

That may be the case but it doesn't change the fact that they took something that was existing to make a quick buck instead of creating something new and fresh.

It would be like DaVinci taking Michaelangelo's "Creation of Adam" and painting in his own Adam because he didn't like the fact that he had a navel when he shouldn't have. Even if Michaelangelo gave him permission, it still isn't creative, it's a hackjob no matter how well it was done. We all know the original despite what was done to it.

I guess it all comes down to how creative the outcome is, but to me it still signifies a lack of creativity in and of itself, a sign of laziness, and a lack of overall talent.

All that being said, I don't hate any of it. I choose to listen to what I like, and if the geezer rock stars want to sell out like that, who am I to judge? I do agree though about awards limiting the nominees to ORIGINAL songs where there is no sampling present.

ItsGreekToMe

A> Don't make up things about me that I didn't say. What you have just demonstrated is how the safety and anonymity of typing on the internet can turn people into condescending SOBs.

B & C> I never said I feared ANYTHING and I never said I didn't understand anything. That is your creation. Again, see A>.

And now YOU have written off an entire genre. Was that because you feared it or didn't understand it?

In the future you may want to reconsider speaking for an entire forum or 'typing' behind someone's back. It looks cheap and childish and displays a complete lack of integrity.

Good day to you, Sir.

Chew

I'm still laughing at the fact that "Da Colbert Code" was 5/5 with it's predictions.

Al Padrino

Sorry to bump this, but...

Tommy Ceez

http://www.moire.com/beastieboys/samples/index.php

I CHALLENGE you to tell me that the above is NOT one of the most origional albums OF ALL TIME, ANY GENRE