[Tracks] “Hey JR!”
Sometime on Friday, Mr. JPatt of The Knocks posted to his Twitter “J.R. Rotem is a fucking cheater…”
I think of myself as someone who takes music fandom pretty seriously, but upon reading this on Saturday, I had no idea who J.R. Rotem was, nor why he was a fucking cheater. After some research, I learned that Rotem is a producer, mostly of top 40 dreck. And while I didn’t know the man by name, I knew his music. Specifically Jason Derulo’s “Whatcha Say” was most familiar, as it borrowed HEAVILY from Imogen Heap’s “Hide and Seek” and was ever-present this summer and fall. JPatt’s fierce reaction had come from Rotem’s latest effort, a blatant rip off of Mark Morrison’s “Return of the Mack,” Nipsey Hu$$le’s track of the same name
Here’s the thing: I’m an enormous advocate for sampling, fair use and making the old new again. In our Top 20 of the Decade that will be released, um, sometime soon, we have two albums made entirely of samples and others with additional sampling. The key with effective sampling is to use the sample to create something new.
Rotem, in these two cases, is not sampling; he’s stealing. I don’t care if the label cleared the samples. This is bullshit. The reason that people like “Whatcha Say” is the Heap sample. That’s it. It’s not a song without that sample. Worse still is the new “Return of the Mack.” Rotem didn’t even make an effort to mask it, only tinkering with a few things. Who the fuck does this guy think he is?
I would be okay with these tracks if they even attempted at giving credit and directed people to the original, superior tracks. In both cases, people enjoy the aspects of the sampled tracks. They exist as glorified cover tracks. Even with Girl Talk or Easter Egg or whoever, though the finished product is presented as their own, they are actually doing something with the songs they’re sampling, not just sitting back and letting the original tracks ride.
I could go on and on and on, so rather than do so, here’s an example of sampling done right, from Kanye West’s College Dropout. And just to reiterate, I love sampling as a method of making beats and inspiring creativity, but I can’t help but be mad that JR Rotem is getting paid for other people’s hard work.
mp3: Chaka Khan – Through the Fire
mp3: Kanye West – Through the Wire
mp3: Imogen Heap – Hide and Seek
mp3: Jason Derulo – Whatcha Say
mp3: Mark Morrison – Return of the Mack
mp3: Nipsey Hu$$le – Return of the Mack
(It should be mentioned that part of my vehemence here is due to “Return of the Mack’s” position as the official anthem of CotP. From time to time, Heavy D and I leave each other messages with choice parts of the track playing in the background. I am appalled with ourselves that it took more than a year of regular posting here for us to come up with an excuse to feature “Return of the Mack.” Mark Morrison is a fucking genius.)
