If I haven’t stated this point clearly, let me be explicit: Pop culture is not about rules. Pop spits in the face of rules. It breaks classical standards of art, it violates societal standards. It’s rude, it steals, it thumbs its nose at you. But if it works it works. If you like it, that’s all that matters.
For example, some people think sampling is a cheap trick. They might suggest that a producer who builds a track on other artists’ samples, especially if they haven’t been compensated for this borrowing, is being creatively bankrupt and an intellectual thief. Even in hip-hop circles, where sampling is common practice, there are standards. The best producers prefer to sample lesser known tracks and keep their sources a secret. They tend to use short samples and often distort them in some way or chop them up. A rapper that takes a whole song and just raps over it will generally not be considered in a good light (see MC Hammer). But then Coolio’s “Fantastic Voyage” basically takes the original Lakeside song and doesn’t alter all that much. But it’s still a great song and it sounds different enough from the original to be a worthwhile effort.
Here are two recent songs that are both based on Seventies soul samples. These samples aren’t discrete; they’re great big chunks of the original songs. “International Player’s Anthem” uses the chorus of Willie Hutch’s “I Choose You” and just loops it over and over. Monica’s “A Dozen Roses (You Remind Me)” uses Curtis Mayfield’s “The Makings of You,” especially during the opening and closing of her song. By looping the Hutch song, you never get to the verses, which creates a tension as the chorus repeats over and over.
Is it art? Who the hell cares. I’ve been listening to these songs repeatedly in the past few months and I love ‘em.
That’s about all we can ask of pop.
(You can see the video for “International Player’s Anthem” here and the one for “A Dozen Roses” here. Did you notice that the lyrics for both songs mention Gladys Knight & the Pips? By a curious coincidence, Knight covered Mayfield’s “The Makings of You” on the soundtrack to the movie Claudine and she and Hutch were labelmates at Motown.)
UGK ft. Outkast – International Player’s Anthem — BUY
Monica – A Dozen Roses (You Remind Me) — BUY
One Response
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The Pop View Says:
From Poplicks:
UGK feat. OutKast: Int’l Players Anthem
From Underground Kingz
I saved the best for last: hands-down, the song of the year. Is it how the song opens with Andre 3000′s verses? How the drums don’t kick in until Pimp C jumps on? The Willie Hutch sample? The lush video? Yes. All of it. And then some.