A moment of truth or a factoid?
When you hear “after these messages,” do you think (like I do), “we’ll be right back!”? If so, I wonder if the quote above, used by our friends at the after these messages blog to describe the site and its editors, is intended to carry us forward without shame of how we come into our own authenticity. Or, rather, do AFTM editors want to take us “right back” to hip-hop’s foundation: sampling. If I remix it, does it make it minez?
Then I got HOV’s “What More Can I Say” lyrics stuck in my head. Jay rhymes, “They don’t…paint pictures/They just trace me/You know what/Soon they forget who they plucked/They whole style from/And try to reverse the outcome/I’m like…HUH?!.” Here, Jay is accusing other rappers of “tracing” his rhymes, or biting his style instead of coming with something original. That’s cool, we hear that. But then, he follows with some self-defense after his offensive attack: “I’m not a biter/I’m a writer/For myself and others/I say a B.I.G. verse/I’m only biggin up my brother.”
Holllll’ up! So, when JAY says a B.I.G. verse, it’s OK because HE is biggin’ up his brother, right? THAT’s not biting, ya’ll. Do you see what I did there? I was just lettin’ ya’ll know that when I rhyme, I’m paying hommage. Ya’ll are just imitating my god-like flow! Cut it out!
Today, I’m wondering, how much room for “original” thought, intellectual property and creativity is there? Are we all just “biggin’ up” our respective influences, or is it possible to be completely original, as the quote above suggests is impossible? Who are you “stealing” from? Do they deserve a nod?
I want to say thanks to Erin at after these messages for giving me food for thought today. I’m still reeling from Dwayne Betts’ piece on The Tragedy of Biggie and Pac, which I read as in meditation yesterday. The world stood still for ten whole minutes. When is the last time a blog post did that for you?
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