Transformative Sampling: Fair Use in Kanye West’s “Champion” Transformative qualities are an essential aspect of deciding the applicability of fair use when borrowing from copyrighted works. Transformative equates to works that step beyond the replication of a copyrighted work. This can be accomplished by changing the purpose and adding artistic value to the new creation. Through the incorporation of a new purpose and character, consideration of the minimal portion used of the copyrighted work, and inspection of the lack of effect on the market of the original work, it is conclusive that Kanye West’s “Champion” falls under the protection of fair use when taking into account its incorporation of Steely Dan’s “Kid Charlemagne.” West uses a …show more content…
Another aspect that is also contributory to the first part of the fair use four-factor test, is the contrast of the use of the copyrighted line that West borrows from Dan’s work. West’s work incorporates the line from Steely Dan’s song that expresses “Did you realize / That you were a champion in their eyes?” (8-9). The character of these lyrics is distinctly different in West’s song. For West, this phrase defines the idolized image he sees when he reflects on his feelings about his father. Although his father was not a present figure in his life, West notes that his father’s efforts to provide for West’s living needs made his father a “champion” in his eyes. Meanwhile, Dan’s song utilizes the phrase as a means of reflection on the talents of the town’s drug manufacturer. Dan characterizes the manufacturer as being almost God-like. The manufacturer is a “champion” in the eyes of the consumers of his products. The purpose for the line incorporated in West’s song is completely different from that of Dan’s making his use of the copyrighted work a transformative one. Similarly, another aspect to consider in terms of the transformative qualities of West’s work is the structural musical composition in comparison to Dan’s song. Dan’s song consists of verses with the inclusions of two choruses. West’s work incorporates an interchange of the Steely Dan refrain, verses, hook, and bridge. When listening to “Kid Charlemagne,” the beats consist
In this song, Chance the Rapper states he wants to be an independent musician. He is sick and tired of today’s music industry treating music as a way to make money. Nowadays, almost all of the musicians are signed by record labels and forced to make music for the money purpose. However, Chance The Rapper wants to be a true artist and has entire freedom to follow his heart to make music just like his predecessors did decades ago. He respects to the old generation artists and the freedom of music creation, so he decides to be an independent musician and make this song to tell people that he won’t join any record label.
Christopher Brian “Chris” Bridges or better known as Ludacris is one of the first and most influential “Dirty South” rappers coming from Atlanta, Georgia. Known for his fast, wild, and comedic flow, Ludacris earned his name and continues to make music to match his name. Coming from Def Jam Records and co-founder of the record label Disturbing Tha Peace, one of Ludacris’ most famous song is his “Southern Hospitality” that made it to the Billboard Hot 100 after coming out in the year 2000. This song is full of catchy alliterations and uses imagery to take the listener on a wild wide to the south, explaining the struggle of the streets and giving credit to slave culture. However, Ludacris doesn't forget to mention his successful ways and how he
Kanye West produced the popular song “All Falls Down” in 2004. He is well known for creating many wonderful tunes but this one stands out above the rest. While his other songs contain bass-heavy instrumentals and contain lyrics about money and women, this one is strays away from the previous structures. “All Falls Down” catches the attention of youth, with its mellow melody, to send a strong message concerning the overemphasis on money and education and how it can be harmful through the lyrics. The issues contained in the message are highly focused on the idea that money and education will not always be there
Is Vanilla Ice's song “Ice, Ice, Baby” an example of plagiarism? Of course, it is, and Robert Matthew Van Winkle, who known professionally as Vanilla Ice knows it. Vanilla Ice became famous for a while, not because of his talent, but because of the copyright of someone else baseline. Some people said that since the words were not the same, then it wasn't plagiarism. It was just an artist sampling another artist's music which happens all the time. To me, I believe that this is an example of plagiarism. Vanilla Ice can't go and change one beat in someone's music and call it new and original without giving the person any credit. He thought changing the rhythm of David Bowie’s “Under Pressure” baseline and not giving him credit would avoid him from any trouble. Vanilla Ice song “Ice, Ice, Baby” is an example of plagiarism, with evidence and proves that it was a number one hit just because it was based on the baseline of "Under Pressure" by Queen and David Bowie.
Kanye West has proven himself over time that he is much more than just a producer. With each new album he releases, he constantly pushes the boundaries of music influencing artist across all genres. Kanye has an ever evolving sound that changes almost year to year. Kanye West’s Yeezus album is an album that takes a much darker and more minimalist turn in his discography. This approach to music makes Yeezus a much harder album to listen through because it is not filled with nice, polished sounds. Having the album made this way makes us look over what the message of a song and the album are. Among many rough songs one the most popular on the album was Blood on the Leaves. Blood on the Leaves samples from another song called Strange Fruit sung by Nina Simone which is a very political song talking about gruesome lynchings that happened before and at the turn of the century. With help from the sample, West uses the pain of lynching and drug abuse to compare with the break ups he goes through.
Kanye West also known as "Yeezy" is American rapper, fashion disaster, and also music producer. People may say that Mr. West is our youth of today voice. He has made a tremendous mark in the music and fashion industry. As we all know Mr. West is known for having his moments. It is safe to say that he has the best and top “omg” Moments, such as interrupting Taylor Swift at the VMA’s. Kanye in the begging when he first came on the hip hop scene was this calm, joyful, his music in my eyes was the most different music out at the time, just because he wasn’t rapping about what everyone else was. Kanye was one of those joyful guys, everybody wanted him on his record or produce it. Then a tragic event occurred where his mom died. After then you see
Throughout his career rapper Kanye West, has been portrayed as many different things in the media based on his public appearance and the subject matter of his music. The message he relates in his music is ever changing and often showcases different ideals or stances on issues echoed among different parts of the African American community. Two such instances of this come from very different periods of Kanye’s career, and show two polar opposite opinions of how to deal with arguably the most important social issue in American history. This change in Kanye’s way of dealing with racism reflects two differing schools of thought in the African American community. Although early in Kanye’s career his music identified the racial inequality
Steely Dan’s song, “Kid Charlemagne” begins with the drums, piano, and electric guitar, as those instruments are heard during the intro before the vocal enters, which creates a thick overall texture for the intro. The drums also keep the basic tempo or beat of the song, which is set at a slow medium tempo or pulse. Furthermore, the mood of the song is cynical but still slightly cryptic. At first, the listener might not realize that the song is geared towards criticizing and mocking another man. To illustrate, the man is asked if he felt like Jesus, if he could live forever, and is told that he is obsolete and an outlaw, among other things.
Kanye West American rapper, songwriter, record producer, entrepreneur and fashion designer. Kanye West teamed with Adidas December 2013 to make a shoe collection. The whole collection was first sold in New York City via app and they were sold out within the first 10 minutes. The shoes are said to be inspired by Saint Laurent skate lace-up sneakers, the shoes have a design in which they look knit explaining Kanye's knit shoes. The shoes are named Yeezy named after the nickname Kanye got “Kan-Yeezy.”
“Yo Taylor, I’m really happy for you…I’ll let you finish. But Beyoncé had one of the best videos of all time!” (West). Most people if they don’t know anything about Kanye West, they know this quote. When anybody hears his name everybody always has an opinion. Some people love him, while a lot of other people hate him, each for a variety of reasons. Though most people only see the arrogant and egotistic side of Kanye, the more important side that people don’t always see is the hardworking musician. In order to fully understand Kanye’s motives and to fully appreciate him, people have to know how he got to the point he is now today.
As of today, January 27, 2016, a twitter beef has been released into the cyber word at the hands of Kayne West and Wiz Khalifa. The two pretty popular hip-hop artists were seen going back and forth on each other’s pages feuding about the title of Kanye’s new album called “Waves”. It was then assumed by Kanye that when Khalifa tweeted the initials “KK”, he was eluding to a rude inside joke about Kim Kardashian, Kanye’s wife. This then sparked an annoyance in Kanye, who hadn’t tweeted much since before the upcoming date of his new album release, causing him to go on a 20 plus post rant about Wiz Khalifa’s rap career, ex-wife, and child. Khalifa, who chose not to respond too much to Kanye’s bashing, was then bashed by the Kanye twitter fans who
In this essay, you will read about an artist in the name of Robert Matthew Van Winkle, known professionally as Vanilla Ice who became famous for a while, not because of his talent, but because of the copyright of someone else baseline. He thought changing the rhythm of David Bowie’s “Under Pressure” baseline and not giving him credit would avoid him from any questions. In this essay I will provide you my opinion of Vanilla Ice’s song “Ice, Ice, Baby”as an example of plagiarism, with evidence provided of what he did wrong, and what he could have caused.
Throughout history, the biggest reforms in government, philosophy, and behavior have been made by freethinking and outspoken people. People such as Ghandi, Martin Luther King Jr., and Nelson Mandela changed the world with their actions and words. While others, including Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, and Walt Disney implement their talents to business to change the world. All are spoken highly of and are highly regarded. One name that is wrongly not considered for this list is Kanye West. Kanye West is an intelligent person whose actions and outbursts, despite the media’s attempts to make them look incoherent and uncivilized, actually come from a place of goodwill and promote a platform of free thinking.
When talking about famed musical artist and entrepreneur, Kanye West, exasperated sighs an eye rolls are par for the course. He’s managed to create a polarizing persona with his famed outbursts and media-acclaimed family. That said, few could dispute the level of success he’s achieved. Having successfully carved a place for himself in both music and fashion, there must be a method for his madness. As a matter of fact, it might be surprising to find that Kanye has certain business-savvy qualities. Here are four of Kanye’s traits that companies can adopt to create a winning workplace.
It is clear that the hip hop culture plays a huge role in the lives of many people. It has influenced the way people dress, the way they talk, and the way they act. Unfortunately, many big corporations have taken advantage of this and commercialized rap music in order to gain a profit (Blair, 497). Commercialization is a very complex topic; however, it is important to understand. This is because of the fact that when something becomes widely known, such a hip hop and rap have, it is vulnerable to change (Phillips, paragraph 9). An example of this is when author Nicole Phillips states, “Hip-hop became more about edge and less about the content of the message. It became about sales….” (Phillips, paragraph 9). Therefore, in order to prevent any further change, one needs to understand commercialization and how it works. This paper is going to explore the complexities and nuances of commercialization of the hip hop culture. In order to do this, this paper will consider what commercialization of hip hop culture entails. This paper will also discuss how Elizabeth Blair, author of “Commercialization of the Rap Music Subculture,” conceptualized commercialization, as well as how she discusses the situation in general. After discussing these topics, the paper will move on to discussing cultural appropriation. This discussion will include how authors describe cultural appropriation, and a debate regarding this topic.