The Grey Album Essay

Throughout life, we lose a countless number of possessions and many are taken away from us. Loss is an inevitable part of life, we lose friends, family, cell phones, papers, and even tiny items such as paper clips. Though, most people do not actually appreciate what they have until it is taken away from them. In Between Shades of Gray by Ruta Sepetys, Lina loses her lifestyle, family, and freedoms when she and her family are taken as war prisoners during World War II.

The seven-mile world had its center in Crotonoa Park (Bronx, NY) and extended to create a seven mile radius around this park. Crazy Legs described hip-hop’s four elements as: DJing, MCing, B-boying, and graffiti. Joseph Saddler, later named Grandmaster Flash, became known as a DJ because of his style. He focused on showmanship, such as scratching with his elbows and flipping around. He later added MCs to pump up the crowd because no one would listen to just the music without words. Soon he became more liked than Kool Herc and Bambaataa. B-boying was originally created by kids too young to get into clubs, but then spread out of homes into the streets. It soon became part of gang life and was a mixture of martial arts and dance made to intimidate

For its musical grooves, early hip hop incorporated elements of the party-based sound-system subculture popular at the time in Jamaica. DJ Kool Herc also brought a form of the verbal art of “toasting” to his parties. Jamaican DJs excited crowds by making up short raps to the beat of music, adding “vibes” to the party. The toasts often referred to people in the crowd or to events at the party itself. Dodd took rapping to Jamaica and Herc brought toasting back to the United States, where it quickly became known as rap, the verbal side of hip hop music.

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

In the early 70's, a Jamaican, DJ known as Kool Herc attempted to combine his Jamaican style of disk jockey, that involved reciting improvised rhymes over the dub versions of his reggae records (Davey 1). He also invented turntables, which kept the music going, with the occasional voice on the top of records, which started the roots of rap music. Over time, the culture broke into mainstream, spread around the world, and young people who did not have much to do, created not only multi-million industry, but have also created a way we can speak to each other all around the world. Hip hop is linked to other music such as rap which is embraced by urban black population. It is raw self-expression, sometimes features expletive lyrics, and violence. “Hip hop artists spoke to despair and pain of urban youth and the poor who were often without a voice. The rappers themselves were, the product of that reality, and it was conveyed through their lyrics” (Muhammad 1).

DJ Kool Herc, also commonly known as Kool Herc is credited for hosting the very first hip hop house party in 1973. Although, this party consisted of playing mostly funk records by James Brown, he radically transformed the way records were played through incorporating only the instrumental version of a song and then quickly switching to the break in a separate song. This way of DJing completely revolutionized the term for the next generations to come and laid the foundation of what current DJ’s follow today. At these infamous parties, DJ Kool Herc would enforce his crowds to partake in a certain style of dance, which was recognized as rapping. He would shout rhymes to encourage the audience to express themselves through dance. DJ Kool Herc

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

Music Copyright is a very important aspect of the music industry. The Copyright law was established to preserve the creativity and rights of authors, composers, performers of expression. Copyright is the law that protects the property rights of the creator of an original work in a fixed tangible medium. (http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/copyright) A fixed tangible medium is something substantial like copying lyrics on paper or putting a song on tape or CD. Copyright can be seen every where in the music industry. Many music artist of our culture today have been involved in copyright issues. Recently, on MTV news it was stated that, "As the music industry becomes increasingly concerned about protecting the

One of the first famous Hip Hop Deejays was Dj Kool Herc. He was an 18 year old Jamaican immigrant who introduced huge sound systems of Jamaica to many parties in the city of New York. He used two turn tables to blend percussion based beats with older songs and popular dance songs to create a continuous flow of music. Along with Kool Herc other Deejays such as Grand Wizard Theodore, Afrika Bambaataa, and Grandmaster Flash. These Deejays were also known for being the first to isolate the break beat (the part of the song where there is just drums keeping the beat) to open up the dance floor freestyle dancing. This later gained its title Break Dancing. Often time’s contests were started to see who the best Break Dancer was. This style of dancing

“Yet isn't there something fundamentally different between such traditional acts of borrowing and digital sampling? It is sometimes said that while a quotation is simply a representation of another piece, a sampled passage of music is that music. But that depends on what the meaning of "is" is”.

Hip- hop has become a phenomenon throughout youth culture. Many believed hip-hop was only a phase of music like disco, but as the genre continued to expand and evolve, it became clear that hip-hop was here to stay. (History of hip- hop: past, present, future) Hip- hop is made up of 2 main elements, DJing and rapping. DJ is short for disc jockey, which is a person who usually uses turntables to make music, and rapping is talking and chanting in an easy and familiar manner. (Hip-Hop: A Short History) In writing this research paper, I will explain the most impactful years of hip-hop, and the events surrounding them, starting from 1979, when Sugarhill Gang released “Rappers Delight”.

Hip hop is a musical style and a subculture with almost a 30 year history. The hip hop culture started between the late 70s and early 80s in New York City. This was an era when block parties became increasingly popular among Black Americans and Latinos that resided in the Bronx. Hip hop music began to emerge when disk jockey is played percussive breaks of popular songs and music genres such as funk and soul using two turntables to extend the breaks. By looping breaks on two turntables, the DJs created rhythmic beats. The artists would then imitate the percussive breaks and start rapping in sync with the beats. DJ Cool Herc and Grandmaster Flash are considered as the founders of hip hop music (Hip-hop Fight Club, 2015).

A major concern is that Congress has not clarified laws surrounding the issue of remixes and this is leaving artists and content creators unsure of what is legal, even with the increase in artists sampling to creatively make new music. According to Gabe Levin, a new media lawyer and Buzzfeed contributor, “In spite of these concerns, the number of independent artists publishing remixes does not appear to be diminishing anytime soon — in fact, general interest in remixing and mash-ups appears to be on the rise, if Google Trends is to be believed” (Levin). Due to this, it is necessary for Congress to update laws regarding Copyright infringement in order to allow artists to succeed in creating new independent music.