#spoonin gee

[djevilninja]

So come on everybody, let's rock a little while; Too happy to frown and too sad to smile. And yes yes, y'all, freak freak, y'all, 'Cause I'm the beast of the east, the north or the south.

Spoonie Gee - Spoonin’ Rap (I Don't Drink Smoke or Gamble Neither I'm the Cold Crushing Lover)

[matthewhale630]

The song I decided to analyze is Crack Addict by nü metal band Limp Bizkit. This song was initially supposed to be released as part of their fourth studio album, Results May Vary. However, the band never officially released this song, and it was only used as the theme song for WrestleMania XIX, where they performed this song, along with Rollin’, with Korn’s guitarist, Brian “Head” Welch. At this time, the band consisted of Fred Durst on vocals, Sam Rivers on bass, DJ Lethal on the turntables and samples, John Otto on the drums, and Mike Smith of Snot, replacing Wes Borland on guitar.

Crack Addict follows an ABCABCDECF format. The song opens with an intro that highlights DJ Lethal’s sampling of Spoonie Gee’s 1979 single, Spoonin’ Rap, over Mike Smith’s open guitar chords and John Otto playing quarter notes on a closed hat with a kick and a crash every four measures, ending with a fill that consists of the kick and snare over a very brief guitar riff which leads right into the first verse. Here, we see a continuation of the drum pattern used in the A section and an expansion of Mike Smith’s intro riff with Fred Durst rapping about fighting, rioting, and bragging about how cool he is. The verse ends with a drawn-out guitar chord with a brief return to the quarter note hate, except this time they are open.

The chorus contains heavy chords, fast and impactful drums, record scratches, and Fred Durst screaming about fighting someone. After the chorus, the song returns to the A section before starting the second verse.

The second verse is very similar to the first, both in style and lyrical content. One thing that really stands out to me in this verse is the reference to the names of Limp Bizkit’s previous three albums. A return to the chorus then follows this verse.

The bridge highlights Sam Rivers’ bass playing over hip-hop-esque drums. Fred’s vocals switch from rapping and screaming to traditional singing. The pre-chorus continues the instrumental of the bridge but then switches to a heavier sound, similar to the chorus. During this section, Fred gives context to why the song is titled “Crack Addict” because he is “addicted to crackin’ skulls when punks start static.” The song then returns to the chorus and ends with a brief outro that is filled with rest notes on every other beat.

The only gripe I have with this song, and Limp Bizkit during this time, is that it lost its original feel. With the departure of Wes Borland came a departure of a key part of their signature sound. Wes added a unique take on guitar riffs that could only be equaled by someone like Tom Morello of Rage Against the Machine.  While Mike Smith does an amazing job at keeping the energy that characterized nü metal, it just doesn’t feel like the iconic Limp Bizkit that dominated the late 90s and early 2000s with Three Dollar Bill, Y’all, Significant Other, and Chocolate Starfish and the Hot Dog Flavored Water.

Overall, Crack Addict is a fantastic record that encapsulates the spirit of nü metal but doesn’t feel like it was made by the “nü metal giant” that is Limp Bizkit.

[paintingsandrecords]

monk seal; ink and watercolor

last eleven day’s listening:

step forward - demos 1989-1990

spoonin gee - spoonin rap

fake names - expendables

minor threat - out of step outtakes

mary timony - the golden dove

taylor swift - 1989 (taylor’s version)

the weakerthans - reconstruction site

juliana hatfield/emma swift - split

tørsö - build and break

paint it black - famine

all - problematic

dave van ronk - van ronk sings

the slinkees - who cares?

spice - spice

[rapidrecovery-a]

Would you rather cuddle with Megan or Eir? And what position?

“Oooh gee, what a tough choice. Hmm! I wonder! Teammate or someone who threatened to kill my dog. Teammate or someone who threatned to kill my dog. Teammate or SOMEONE WHO THREATENED TO KILL MY DOG.Who do you think, pally? And I dunno; Spoonin’, maybe?”

@uncannygears && @bloodied-lace

[thesobsister]

Spoonie Gee, “Spoonin’ Rap”

[yerimsowd]

Sampling and the blurry lines of inspiration in hip-hop

 “Learned some new chords while you uncreatives were sampling”- Tyler, The Creator on P.

The more or less recent examples of legal troubles incurred by artists over sampling issues - from Jay-Z’s Big Pimpin’ (1999) to Kanye West’s Ultralight Beam (2016) to 50 Cents’ In Da Club (2003) - are enough to demonstrate how controversial but at the same time consubstantial with hip-hop music sampling is. Let’s dive into this custom almost as old as hip-hop.

Sampling is the reuse of a portion of a sound recording in another recording. Contrary to what some may claim, sampling issues and lawsuits are absolutely not peculiar to hip-hop. Back in 1999, English rock band The Verve used a sample from The Rolling Stones’ The Last Time (1965) on their song Bittersweet Symphony and were sued by the Stones for using more than the agreed upon section. However, it is true that sampling problems tend to be more acute in hip-hop because of the genre’s history. Here’s why.

           Although hip-hop has various influences ranging from reggae to electronic music, it is first and foremost, as Princeton University scholar Imani Perry documents it in Prophets of the Hood: Politics and Poetics in Hip Hop (2004), African American music. That is because hip-hop’s main language is African American Vernacular English (AAVE), its location in society is ascribed to black people, music and cultural forms. Most importantly, hip-hop music is derived from Black American musical traditions (jazz, blues, soul…), which by the way explains why James Brown is the most sampled artist in hip-hop history (and ever), followed by Michael Jackson, Marvin Gaye… Why this is decisive is because African American musical traditions before hip-hop blurred the lines between the original and the copy. In Black Musical Traditions and Copyright Law: Historical Tensions (2005), Candace G. Haines from the University of Michigan explains that because of both the “African oral tradition of orally composing and transmitting music” and the laws prohibiting slave literacy, Black music became essentially oral and was transmitted through live performance. And live performance and oral traditions meant no one really cared about authorship. This widened the gap between African American music and the American copyright regime, one based on written traditions and notions of ownership and one that had no place for live performance and oral culture. Other factors help explain why African American music so unfit for the American copyright regime and are detailed in Haines’ paper, such as its rhythmic and musical complexity, but that would be too long to get into. Bottom line is, Black American musical traditions got hip-hop off to a bad start.

The SP 1200, the star sampling machine in the 1980s

Sampling has been present early in hip-hop’s history. Rapper’s Delight (1979) by the Sugarhill Gang is known to be the first rap record ever and contains samples from Chic’s Good Times, Love De-Luxe’s Here comes that sound again and Spoonie Gee’s Spoonin’ Rap. Another early hip-hop hit, Afrika Bambaataa and the Soulsonic Force’s Planet Rock (1982), featured samples from German electro group Kraftwerk’s Trans Europe Express (1977) and Numbers (1981). But it was only in the 1980s that sampling really took off, especially on the East Coast. Producers started ‘digging’, which meant finding the perfect record to sample. Elite producers like Pete Rock or Large Professor used samplers to turn those records into hits by isolating sounds and expanding them in various ways (changing the pitch, the speed, add the drums…). The era of free, happy-go-lucky sampling quickly came to an end though.  With hip-hop’s growing success, copyright lawyers started to pay attention and sampling lawsuits multiplied. The Turtles v. De La Soullawsuit of 1989 set the tone. In 1990, NWA sampled without permission a two-second guitar chord from Funkadelic’s Get Off Your Ass and Jam(1975), lowered the pitch and looped it. This led to a turning point in sampling history, when in 2005, Bridgeport Music (the owner of the rights to Funkadelic’s music) brought the case to a federal judge, got defeated, and then won before the US Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, who ruled that NWA’s sample was against copyright law. “Get a license, or do not sample” was written in the ruling and became the new mantra of copyright law. Bridgeport Music, Inc. v. Dimension Films swept de minimis doctrine, according to which short samples were compliant with copyright law.

Today, almost every major hip-hop artist goes or has gone through sampling issues, from The Black Eyed Peas to the late Mac Miller to Drake. Kanye West, who is known as the king of sampling, is currently going through multiple lawsuits. But because of both the deep-running tradition of sampling in hip-hop and the internal contradictions of American copyright law (Madonna recently successfully appealed a decision ruling against her use of a two-seconds horn sample in virtue of the de minimis doctrine), sampling seems here to stay.

Sources: Rap Genius, Prophets of the Hood: Politics and Poetics in Hip Hop(2004), Black Musical Traditions and Copyright Law: Historical Tensions(2005), Hip-hop Evolution(2016), whosampled.com

[musicdawn]

Spoonin Gee - Spoonin Rap Part 2 [Sound Of New York, USA] 1979 Old School Hip Hop 45

[mistersenorlovedaddy]

spoonin gee "spoonin rap"

[soulmusicsongs]

Spoonin Rap (I Don't Drink Smoke Or Gamble Neither I'm The Cold Crushing Lover) - Spoonin Gee (Spoonin Rap (A Drive Down The Street I Was Spanking And Freaking)/ Spoonin Rap (I Don't Drink Smoke Or Gamble Neither I'm The Cold Crushing Lover), 1979)