Looks like someone doesn’t think imitation is all that sincere a form of flattery:
This might sound odd coming from a guy who’s basically made his career out of jacking bits and pieces of other people’s beats, but lately, Gregg Gillis — a.k.a. Girl Talk — feels like he’s the one who’s getting jacked.
Or, more specifically, his style is, by a host of highfalutin rappers and producers who’ve taken his catch-as-catch-can production ethos (a dab of Neutral Milk Hotel, a touch of Juelz Santana) and made it their own. In fact, there’s one track currently making the rounds — Kanye West’s “Stronger,” which features ‘Ye rapping directly over the beat from Daft Punk’s “Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger” — that’s so reminiscent of a Girl Talk song, even Gillis took notice, and he’s a tad bit suspicious of the similarities.
“I’ve opened for Kanye this year in Vegas … and I’m sure he showed up a second before he had to play and didn’t see me or know I was playing, but you have to wonder about [the similarities],” he told MTV News hours before rocking the stage at at Bonnaroo. “Because no one has gotten back to me with positive support, but I’ve played in the same building as so many celebrities, and [2006's Night Ripper has] gotten around enough that I’d think you’d probably hear it.”
In the same building as celebrities? Well, that makes Gillis’ accusations completely credible, then. Clearly, this act of wholesale infringement cannot stand. After all, when have rappers ever lifted their beats from rock songs in the past?
Have Kanye West And 50 Cent Been Flirting With Girl Talk? [MTV]
You should have kept the day job, Gregg.
Rock on Pittsburgh! Donnie friggin’ Iris forever.
This guy’s about as useful as Steve Aoki
Does this guy know how far his foot’s going down his throat? The more well known he gets, the bigger the chances are that people will question his samples.
And so next he’s going to sue Soulwax.
Kanye has been hanging out with A-Trak and that’s who’s rubbing off on his style lately (like the stronger tune, and him dropping on a remix of Kid Sister, who A-trak produces and releases on Fool’s Gold). A-trak has always been one to mix in some funky electronics and other shit. I think Kanye is seeing the draw of the style and he’s moving a bit in that direction.
And for the record, althoguh I love Girl Talk, I hardly credit him with inventing the sample, or the “mash-up” for that matter. He’s doing something kinda unique and cool with it, but what Kanye is doing is def. not in that direction (IE cramming like 50 obvious samples into one jam)
i’m not going to defend gillis to the death, but you have to wonder how MTV even got this quote. if they walked up to him like “yo, man, kanye is ripping you off!!!” he might respond like that.
the reality is, there hasn’t been a good reason to dance for a long time unless you’re in a gay club with terrible music or a trendy night club with equally terrible music.
acts like gillis and dan deacon are just cashing in on the fact that sometimes you wanna shake your ass without listening to “It’s Raining Men” or the Black Eyed Peas. it’s trendy, hipster dance music that’s a good time based on instant gratification. end of story.
is dude trying to copyright laziness?
Did he write the Daft Punk song? Aight then, end of disucssion…..
who doesn’t want to hear “It’s Raining Men.”
and someone tell this fool that he’s about half a decade to late to invent mash-ups.
I hope all of you are typing your comments while RIPPING OFF YOUR SHIRT AND ROCKIN’ YOUR LAPTOP!
I know I am! Woooo!
@mackro: hahhahahahah you win.
“…you have to wonder about it.” Yeah, those are some pretty serious accusations.
Who knows, though? Maybe mainstream hip-hop guys are just bigger nerds than we give them credit for. I mean first Timbaland stole that demoscene guys’ song and now this. BRB, Nelly is pm’ing me on soulseek.
@ens3000: Girl Talk couldn’t have written that Daft Punk song because Daft Punk didn’t even write it, Edwin Birdsong did.
Now samples are going to have to come with complete histories to make sure the 3rd person to sample it doesn’t get irritated at the 16th person for not giving him his due credit.
Which is pretty funny from a postmodern standpoint – sampling others’ music and then demanding credit for having done so. You can’t have it both ways.
Not that closely related, but this reminds me of that fake (although wholly plausible) Metallica lawsuit a while ago: [www.cnn.com]
I mean, eventually the whole who-gets-the-credit argument between mash-up and rap artists gets kind of rediculous. If you didn’t write the song, shut up.
Y’know I’d hardly be proud to admit that I had that idea instead of Kanye. Struth.
It amazes me how shitty people are at trying to be journalists these days. Not that I expect MTV (or Idolator) to be the pinnacle of journalistic integrity, but, uh, you can click on the video to see the context of Girl Talk’s statements.
Both MTV and Idolator present this story in a way that presents Girl Talk as feeling ‘ripped off,’ which I can find no words to from him to support this.
Basically, when Girl Talk was asked if he in some way influenced Kayne West, he responded with a resounding: uh, maybe. Too bad that’s not a “juicy” material for anyone, but, oh, shit, I forgot, eyeball count is more important than, you know, actually REPORTING.
I love the irony of calling yourself “NoOneCaresAboutYourFuckingBlog” when posting such a passionate response.
Here’s an exercise: try getting through the day without writing or using the words “trendy” and/or “hipster.”