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September 29, 2006 > Arts & Entertainment > Stealing beats gets fans out of their seats

Stealing beats gets fans out of their seats

By Bryce Gray | Thresher Editorial Staff

DJ Danger Mouse did not invent the mash-up, a mixed hybrid offspring of two different songs, but he was one of the first mash-up artists to catch the attention of mainstream listeners, critics and record label lawyers. Danger Mouse’s 2004 Grey

Album did not contain any original recorded material. Instead, each track was made up of a mixture of copyright-infringing elements: one half-cup of Jay-Z’s Black Album to two tablespoons of the Beatles’ White.

Critics and fans may debate the aesthetic success of the Grey Album, but there is no question of its influence. The record — the Grey Album can only tenuously be called a record, as it was distributed solely online — sparked an ongoing debate on the street and in the courtroom about what can be labeled original music, and what should be condemned as outright piracy.

I was surprised the forces that be came down on Danger Mouse as hard as they did. He was only building on a long tradition of sampling and collaboration in hip-hop, standing on the shoulders of his turntable-spinning forefathers. Technology made his job easier, but he did not come up with the idea. P. Diddy claimed to have “invented the remix,” but he must have forgotten to fact-check; hip-hop has relied on samples since its inception. Run-D.M.C. snuck hip-hop onto pop radio by sampling Aerosmith’s “Walk This Way” and rhyming over it.

The problem is that the samples have not always been true collaborations. Lazy or untalented producers often sample without permission and do not even bother to cover their tracks. Whoever crafted Vanilla Ice’s beats infamously stole the riff from “Under Pressure” by Queen and David Bowie.

This trend did not stop in 1990. Anyone who liked last year’s Kanye West hit “Gold Digger” might want to check out Ray Charles’ “I Got a Woman,” which provided both the inspiration and the vocal sample for the track.

Let me finish. I like “Gold Digger,” and occasionally I like Kanye West. As a rapper he is underwhelming, but the man does possess a natural knack for production. What bothers me is when one out of two Kanye West songs released has a sped-up, Alvin-and-the-Chipmunks-style Mo-Town sample in the background. That kind of production is both unoriginal and, after a while, boring. Fans can buy Kanye’s Late Registration if they must, but they should grab some original Ray Charles too.

As much good as can come from sampling, it does not always encourage creativity. Just as nearly every movie made since the millennium seems to be a sequel or a remake, a lot of the music on pop radio sounds like last night’s dinner — a little soggy, a little stale and strangely familiar.

Ultimately, the success of a sample or mash-up can only be judged by the final product. Some-times, as in Danger Mouse’s Grey Album, the end result certainly merits both praise and a cease-and-desist letter. The record companies had every right to go after Danger Mouse, but I doubt they anticipated that their crackdown would grant the DJ nearly overnight success and fame. Is the Grey Album better than either of the originals it sampled? I don’t think so, but it still deserves a listen.

Other mash-ups succeed because they combine two unexpected artists or groups seamlessly. It turns out that Bloc Party plus The Pussycat Dolls’ “Don’t Cha” actually makes for a listenable — and danceable — song. However, some combinations just barely pass the litmus test. I have also heard a mix of Handel’s “Solomon” with Snoop Dogg: it sounded like the musical equivalent of a peanut-butter and banana sandwich: strange but delicious.

Producers and DJs will continue to sample despite the sometimes-questionable legality of their techniques. The potential is just too great, and now that artists like Danger Mouse have shown what can be done, everyone with computer a and half an ear is a potential producer. It is up to the listener to keep one ear open and searching for audio shoplifting — lock your Mo-Town records in your basement lest Kanye finds them, speeds them up, adds some bass and layers on Jamie-Foxx.

Bryce Gray is a Jones

College junior and arts and

entertainment editor.

End of article

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