(Repost) Biter, Not writer series into & Lucid Plagurism (BNW)

I am not a big fan of how the culture is currently. But I usually keep my thoughts to myself because in the end, Rap is music, and music is art. Therefore, my opinions are subjective and should be taken as such. No one is 100% right. What is objective and cannot be debated, however, is when someone's work is reused. Commonly referred to in Hip-Hop culture as "biting", it means in my opinion to either plagiarize (blatantly or unintentionally) someone else's work without known permission OR credit. This also includes if it is used in turn to create something else without credit or permission. Under that definition, there are a lot of biters in the culture, and in my series Biter, Not a Writer I want to explore how these artists commit these cardinal sins of music and why you should care as a listener.

I really don’t hate these artists, just the fuck shit that they do that fans or casual observers just let pass. Juice Wrld is another entry into a hybrid rock/rap scene that is saturated with artists such as Lil Skies crooning over trap beats and like lil Skies it's hard to properly judge him because the music is so linked to the sound or "vibe" that a particular song has. Given that, I try to avoid saying much about artists like Juice Wrld because having a discussion about it would consist of me judging him in the realm of hip-hop or R&B and immediately losing any argument I get into. The reason I am going to disregard that and talk about him anyways is because of how the sound of his most recent hit, Lucid Dreams, is a great example of recycling a sound in order to gain appeal not only to the artists fanbase but also appeal to older audiences who remember the original application of said sound and therefore like the newer song because of it.

In order to break down where I'm going with this, I have to break down the original sample and the latest application of the sample prior to this song. The original sample used is a song called "shape of my heart" from artist Sting. Prior to lucid dreams, the most (notable) use of this sample is on Carl Thomas' song "emotional". I know what your thinking: "how is Lucid dreams unethical replication and this isn't"? Well, for a couple reasons. In R&B, using a sample in a song is commonplace and not to be seen as taboo. Not to contradict myself, but the art of sampling is not in just using a song, but being able to flip it into your own sound. The sample used in "emotional" is an example of top-notch sampling because it used very little of the sample in the song, so little that you only realize that it is indeed a sample in the closing 5 seconds, where It copies said sample note for note. The instrumentation and melody of the song is a departure from the sampled instrumental in every way shape and form.

Lucid dreams, however, is an example of lazy production. It's something that I cannot blame Juice Wrld himself for. I can blame him for being complicit in making the song, but that’s about it. Lucid Dream's sample of "shape of my heart" adds only a couple of instruments (specifically annoying bass, 808 drums, and the classic hot ass beat clap snare) to the song. All while having the original sampled instrumental playing in the background.

That’s fucking lazy.

Infuriatingly lazy. As a producer, your main goal in life should not be to put snare drums and bass lines over established sounds. You should want more for yourself. In wanting more for yourself, you should be able to know that what you are doing is embarrassing to your craft. Do you really want the shining piece of your portfolio to be a lazy remake of a classic instrumental? Pathetic. We should expect more from producers in this age but it appears that the sound of hip hop has irreversibly regressed to a sound reminiscent of music from the Hispanic community, which is different variations of the same melody with the same instruments. Why experiment with your sound as a producer when you can grab a sound pack from your favorite trap producer and throw in some unique patterns? In my opinion, the more that production work has become accessible for anyone to partake in, the more homogenized the sound of hip hop gets. How can I blame them though? If the people don’t speak out against this low effort, low-quality music, then it just gives industry heads across America the green light to keep promoting and encouraging this behavior for the sake of money.

**Since writing this post, Juice Wrld was sued by Sting's legal team and was rewarded 85% of the Royalties from Lucid dreams. If this doesn’t prove the point of what I said Above, I don’t know what will. If you’re going to steal, at least clear the sample!**

(Repost) People like things that sound like something they know. (BNW)

Check out the last post here

Dr. Dre uses a ghostwriter for his songs. He is a producer. Kanye West uses a ghostwriter for his songs. He is also a producer. Never would these two producers be spoken as top-anything artists because of the ghostwriters (which makes me wonder why Drake is considered a top artist to many but that’s another story). This doesn’t make their music any less enjoyable and aesthetically pleasing (in fact, because they have a ghostwriter they are able to make great incredible records due to their skills as producers), but it does respectfully disqualify them from a discussion of skill. So why is it that producers that rap ghost bars can be put in their proper lane as top-tier producers that will also occasionally get in the booth, but a artist like Bruno Mars is praised and rewarded excessively despite hijacking New Jack Swing to a generation of young people that simply wouldn’t know or care to learn the origins of the sounds he uses? 

Yes, this will be a ad hominem attack on Bruno Mars (not that he's any stranger to that) but not in the sense that I am trying to throw insults, but rather attack the parts of his talent that stems from the appropriation of sounds in a genre of music that, again, is mostly unknown to those born in the past 25 years.

I cannot go in on the particular songs that I have a problem with concerning Bruno Mars without first addressing what he does do that’s unique (don’t want to hate TOO hard). Bruno makes soulful catchy songs and he is an excellent performer that deserves to be mentioned among the Chris Browns of male performing artists. He also has a deep infatuation with new jack swing. While I cannot really describe that sound (ill defer to my elders for that), what I can say is that to me, New Jack swing reminds me of an episode of soul train, with funky instruments, smooth voices, and a lot of dancing. Anyone who grew up in an urban household with parents who listened to R&B stations knows what I'm talking about. The song that describes what I'm trying to say here best is 24k magic.  

My problem with Bruno is not that he's taking the sound and flipping it and adding a 21st-century groove to it. My problem is that his use of these sounds and how they almost always blow up makes younger people not understand that he is doing just that. Older people are going to rock with him because those sounds remind them of their younger days. I think that is giving him a pass. When discussing peoples artistry and creativity, I believe that there should be certain caveats. Just like people who use steroids in baseball have an asterisk next to their name in the history books is the same way artists that use heavily influenced sounds and such to make there should also have an asterisk when discussing the best. Again, I'm not saying that Bruno is garbage. I'm saying that his music should be recognized for what it is: a repackaging of new jack swing for people old enough to know and an introduction of new jack swing to those who are too young to have ever known.  

*Sidenote: If I had to give an example of an artist like Bruno in Hip-Hop culture, I would probably say Joey Bada$$ because of his obvious infatuation with 90's Hip-Hop. He's not a trash artist, but he can't be considered top tier to me because of the template he uses to make his songs.*

(Repost) There's many different ways to creatively steal ideas (BNW)

Check out the intro post here.

One of Jay Z's biggest criticism that he used a lot of the Notorious BIG's lyrics in his songs. Jay Z's response to this is that he's only paying homage to his fallen brother. Yet and still, people bash Jay for this. Nowadays, artists take flows or even 8's/16s from an artist. Some of the newer rappers take hooks with no shame, some artists steal entire flows (often times which are taken from other artists), and so on and so forth. When it comes to most artists nowadays, I usually don't care because they don't really have the talent to come up with something original or even give their own take on something (or are just ignorant). However, that will not stop me from going into an uncontrollable rage when I see it happening. This will be the first post in a series where I will break down any examples of copying, stealing, or using something old in order to gain popularity in music. Before I do that though, allow me to explain my thought process.

When it comes to using music that isn't yours in your songs, there an infinite number of ways that it can be implemented. Of those ways, there are about 2 categories that they can fall under: Sampling and Stealing. While this makes it seem like you can sample and not be considered a biter, this is patently false. It is always possible to sample music in bad taste (like Ella Mai) or use a sample in order the boost the likability of a song (such as what Drake does when sampling R&B artists). The main purpose of a sample is to be a callback to the original song, but it is not supposed to be the basis of the song especially when there is little done to the sample that can be made to say that it is a unique take on the sample. All these things trigger me as I find it lazy as an artist in this generation to do such things when (most) of them do not acknowledge those who came before them and how they paved the way for them to make music.

This lack of acknowledgment seems to bother very few people who are having their works were stolen, other than notably Marvin Gaye's estate. His estate has successfully gone after many high profile artists for taking his sound and trying to re-purpose it, whether it is subtle or not. While this is an obvious money grab (seeing that Marvin Gaye's music royalties and associated legal payouts will have to support many generations of family), its also a strong message to artists in the industry that you simply cannot just take someone else's work without the proper credit. But even getting proper credit for using a sound is not great for the artist because now you will forever be linked to someone else's work if the song proves to be popular, thus making it harder down the line to experiment with your sound due to the potential for fan backlash towards deviating from what made you, you in their eyes.