Copyright Criminals (Or How Creativity Made Outlaws)

 

My friend, ndspinelli, mentioned he was soon going to see the great Clyde Stubblefield (from James Brown's band) and that reminded me I'd never posted this PBS program on the current ins and outs of sampling law - a major obstacle for recording artists today, myself included. 

Along with Mr. Stubblefield, it includes many of the biggest names in music criticism (Greg Tate, Harry Allen) label heads (the sour Steve Albini) lawyers, many of the artists and producers I've featured on TMR (George Clinton, DJ Q-Bert, De La Soul, Public Enemy and The Bomb Squad, Coldcut, Prefuse 73, Negativland, etc.) friends of mine (Shock G) all providing a nice over-view of opinions on how the art of recording is done, post-Sgt. Pepper's. I've used them all. 

Dealing with these issues (and how to get around them) is mostly how I spend my free time:

And I'm not ashamed to say, I've been away from it now for almost a month, and it's killing me,...

ADDED - a nice mash-up by the video editors Eclectic Method:

   

Damn: They Couldn't Help But Start It NewAge

"I say to you as my son who is here today, my 14-year-old son – he probably would not quote scripture. He probably would use Star Trek instead, and so I say, ‘May the force be with you.'"

-- T.D. Jakes, senior pastor from Windsor Village United Methodist Church, to Barack Obama at this morning's church service, on CNN.

Rockit!: Rap's Got No Rules

I found Steve Salerno (author of SHAM: How The Self-Help Movement Made America Helpless) saluting Herbie hancock for his Best Album Grammy Award, and knew I ought to do the same. Rockit!, of course, is the song that inspired most DJs to think they could go it alone - without Rappers. Just check out what Prefuse 73 does to this guy's flow over a slamming Jazz groove:



Leave it to an old-school Jazz artist, like Herbie, to teach 'em that. Herbie's Jazz was inspired by Rap and, likewise, Jazz has always inspired Rap artists. Honestly, unless they have mental problems, Rappers are inspired by *everything* they come in contact with - even fuckin' Bambi - This shit's hilarious:



Here's another one by Pre, with robots, rockets, and (for some reason) mermaids:



I remember getting into an argument with some jackass Buddhist about Rap music, and (as happens a lot today when I talk to anybody "spiritual" about anything) having to inform him, in a most unpleasant manner, that he didn't understand the depth, or breath, of Rap music at all. He thought because he hears what's on the radio, or on MTV - or what some fucking gangsta's beat out of their rides - that he's heard everything out there, when real heads couldn't give a rat's ass about that shit. Prefuse 73 is a perfect example of how far from the mark simple-minded assholes can be - about everything:





Here's some Beat Jugglin' too (which, contrary to what my Buddhist friend thinks, they don't teach in monasteries):



And, for anyone who would dare say "Rap's not music", Kid Koala ("The nicest guy in Rap") is a fine example of the control that one man and his turntables can demonstrate, making Jazz new and fresh again, for people who probably rarely listen to it: