Hip Hop And Rap Music Analysis

Art defines us, allowing us unleash our personalities and creative abilities through forms such as painting, sculpture, and, of course, music. For centuries, music artists in specific have exchanged ideas, embracing the culture of combining folk songs and tunes into their newer pieces of music. Today, some music artists wish to carry on with that tradition in what is now known as “rap sampling”. This method of sharing music has now interfered with the modern concept of copyright. With this relatively new legal action used to protect original works, ancient traditions of sharing music can no longer be practiced freely.

Imagine the number one song of the year with the most downloads, streaming numbers and views on Youtube could not be nominated for a Grammy. Up until June 2014, artists could not be nominated for such an award unless the song was completely their own, meaning there was no sampling of past music. This may not sound like a big deal until songs like “SOS” by Rihanna or “Ice Ice Baby” by Vanilla Ice became chart topping tracks, and are both derived from older songs. Mark Ronson, music producer and DJ, speaks about how sampled music has changed the way generations discover music, as well as how creative ideas flourish from sampling other artist’s music. In this TED talk “How sampling transformed music,” Ronson gives his opinion on how artists transform

“Rap is poetry” (xii). To any avid fan of the genre, it is a statement that seems obvious. The words could easily be the musings of a listener first introduced to the art form, not the focal point of an entire work of contemporary criticism. Yet in Book of Rhymes: The Poetics of Hip Hop, Adam Bradley’s primary focus is this very point, the recognition of traditional poetic elements within rap music. With the global cultural and economic phenomenon that hip hop has become, it is easy to forget that the style of music is barely thirty years old, that scholarly criticism of it has existed for only half of that time. When viewed within this relatively new arena of scholarship, the importance of Bradley’s text is

stuff, so I don't listen to that genre all that much, but there are many

Now : Songs are created by synthesizers. Nobody can realistically take credit for their own songs because most songs are re-mixes or a collage of dubs from other people's  music.

In the past 2 years alone, more than 3 dozen criminal prosecutions have had rap lyrics be presented by the prosecutor as a vital piece of evidence in the case. [Manly] In many of these cases the prosecutor will use violent lyrics created by the defendant to prove that that person is inherently dangerous and in other cases, will use the lyrics as a direct confession to having committed the crime in question. If you read into these cases you will notice a common theme between them; the defense will claim that the lyrics are freedom of speech and should be considered artistic expression, while the prosecutors will claim that the song is either a criminal threat or has too many similarities to the actual crime that it should be considered a confession. The primary basis for this debate is that hip-hop music is a misunderstood cultural practice because of the racial divide between the defendant and the criminal justice system.

Sampling is a technique that many artists have used for decades, when given the opportunity to record a new track. Sampling has transformed the music industry, by allowing an artist to broaden their horizons, and give people the ability to have a different outlook towards a particular song. Often times when a producer is trying to assist the artist or group, they will present the artist with many beats and mixes. Of the beats and mixes provided, a few of them may be a sample of another artist’s work. Often times when an artist or group admires the work of another artist, they will get their permission to sample their music and incorporate into the work that they are about to produce. Another reason an artist may decide to sample the work

Many musicians and artist get plagiarized. Sometimes the case goes threw in court and they have to take down music, others they get money for it, and sometimes they just have to credit them. If the case is extremely ridiculous they just kick the case out and it doesn’t go anywhere, but that's not what happened in the Chuck Berry vs The Beach Boys case.

The Supreme Court has tried to explain that the Copyright Clause of the Constitution was intended to establish independent, entrepreneurial, self-sustaining authorship and publishing as the means of serving the public interest in securing the production of valuable literary and scientific works. To that one must ask what are the consequences of remix? When I think about it remixing has left a positive and inferior aspect of life for many people. When people are able to steal or copy the work of an individual without any consequence they are sending a clear message saying that they are free of the law. Therefore, I propose that the copyright office of the state of Washington should change the copyright policy of remixing so that it may benefit more people than just the original artist.

Beginning at 0:09 in “My Name is”, Eminem uses sample appeared at 2:31 in “I Got the…” as a major rhythm for the whole song. Sampling is one of the most common elements in the hip-hop music. Sampling is the act of using recordings of other music in making new music. In the hip-hop music history, sampling is always a controversial topic legally and musically since sampling relates to the issue of the copyright of the music. Does sampling violate the other musicians’ copyright? Does sampling threaten the innovation of the music? Those questions are the most sensitive debates about sampling. Sampling begins in mid-1970s, when DJs mixed between particular parts of records, especially the breakdowns, to inspire dancers in the party. The technique, such as spinning and scratching the record while it played, can be considered as an early form of sampling in hip-hop music. In the mid-1980s, the primary use of “sampling” as a basis of the beat is a main shift in production. “La Di Da Di” produced by Slick Rick and Doug E Fresh is probably the most sampled song in hip-hop. Sampling has three “layers”, which are the sound, the reference and the intertextuality. The artist may use sampling to refer the older piece’s context or refer to other people’s use of the same sample. There are some famous cases regarding sampling in the hip-hop history. For example, “Pretty Women” produced by 2 Live Crew was sued for using Roy Orbison’s song. As a result, 2 Live Crew won on the basis

Over the past fifty years, the British Music Publishing industry has undergone dramatic changes. It has evolved as an entity with innovations in technology, changes and creations of laws and new mediums to promote and exploit songs to a wider audience. Therefore, the way in which the music publishing industry operates and exploits its assets has completely transformed, and continues to do so at a rapid pace. This paper will attempt to explore the ways in which publishers exploit song copyrights and the way in which this has changed over the past 60 years. It is important to define what is meant by copyright and its role within the industry. The Performing Right Society website states: “Copyright

Copyrighting a musical expression just ensures that an artist is the creator of that work. There are a couple of reasons why an artist should copyright their original works. The main one is the creator of a work wants to be able to protect his or her work. Also, financial gain from suing. There would not be any purpose in creating music without financial gain for some. If you live in the United States and legally registered your musical works you have

Cusic begins his paper with the effect of co-writing asserting that the artist loses much more money when they could have earned more if they had created a song themselves. He then goes on to explain how fans and critics feel the need for a song to be legitimate and that if a singer doesn’t create his or her own song they are seen as an invalid artist. However, Cusic asserts that fans and critics do not care for the artist’s reason for creating the song, and that the audience’s connection to the song is the reason why it is even purchased or seen as real music. Cusic affirms that singers who create cover songs are not any less legitimate compared to artists who create original music and that singers have their own way of describing what a song means to them.

Adell, Nicholas B. "Extending First Amendment Protections to Artistic Compositions in Criminal Proceedings Through the Lens of Rap-Lyric Cases: The German 'Dignity' Model Applied to American Free Expression Jurisprudence." Available at SSRN 2549911 (2015).

Other musicians merely sample parts of a song, using that sample to create their own work. Recently, rap musicians have even begun producing many remixes that continue to raise ethical questions. The practice of covering is essential to today’s music despite the moral and legal issues it creates. Today’s version of covering is