“Bad artists copy;
great artists steal” – Pablo Picasso
Kanye West is many things; Rapper, clothes designer,
self-proclaimed genius, future president, God etc. But perhaps his greatest work
has come in his role as a producer, where he gained fame for his distinctive
style of taking small sections of old soul songs by artists including Smokey
Robinson, Marvin Gaye and Otis Redding, speeding them up and looping them to
create a beat to rap over. This style of “stealing” classic artwork and
reworking them into new expressions has been done by artists for centuries.
A perfect example of Kanye’s sampling genius appears in his
song Famous, from The Life of Pablo. In this song, he employees Rhianna to sing
the hook originally from Nina Simone’s “Do What You Gotta Do” and loops
sections of Sister Nancy’s “Bam Bam”. Combining these two hits with a now
infamous line regarding Taylor Swift has seen Famous played over 160 million times
on Spotify alone, more than “Do What You Gotta Do” and “Bam Bam” have combined,
despite both tracks experiencing significant surges in the number of listens
after the song was released.
Vincent Desiderio's "Sleep"
Kanye West's "Famous"
The list of artists that have benefited from being featured
on a Kanye song is extensive. From renowned stars such as Michael Jackson
(P.Y.T. is sampled in Good Life), to film scores (the Imperial March from
Star Wars provides the baseline for Hell of a Life), diversity of artists is
impressive. But sampling doesn’t always work out well. Hungary’s most
successful rock group Omega tried to sue Kanye for his use of their song Gyöngyhajú
Lány at the end of New Slaves.
Similar controversy can be seen in many different
artistic fields. High street fashion retailer Zara is regularly accused of stealing
designs from other brands or independent creators. Samsung currently owe Apple
almost $120 million for various infringements on patents Apple owns, including
swipe to unlock and autocorrect. It appears there is a fine line between artistic
theft and illegal copying, and that line is incredibly subjective.
Funnily enough, the quote that started this article has
been adapted and reworded so many times it’s hard to know who said it first. The
time line of the quotes has been traced, and offers up what essentially becomes
a game of Chinese whispers spanning across centuries. The earliest quotation
comes in 1892, where W. H. Davenport Adams says “that great poets imitate and improve, whereas small ones steal and
spoil”. Since reworking’s of the general sentiment have been attributed to
T. S. Elliot, Igor Stravinsky, Steve Jobs and Pablo Picasso. With that level of endorsement, its pretty clear how to advance in this world; Be a classy thief.
References
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.