Gentle Giant HAS BEEN HIP-HOP SAMPLED!!!

Hello all, I thought I'd bring this to the prog archives community to raise our collective consciousness to the fact that our beloved Gentle Giant has been sampled by an underground hip-hop artist named Madvillian.  Yes it has finally happened, Madvillian has apparently delved deep into classic material to try to find nice riffs to repeat over and over again while making sure that the music sampled is relatively unknown as to make people believe that he wrote the music.  I did a search for Madvillian and Gentle Giant and got no responses so I may be the first person to expose this to the light as I doubt many Gentle Giant fans watch the show Boondocks on adult swim which is where I unfortunately came upon this catastrophe.  The "song" that he makes out of it is nothing other than a gentle giant violin riff with a vocal part that is repeated over and over again with a drum beat in the background.  Truly enough to make any Gentle Giant fan sick to her stomach.  I have the MP3 file so if anyone would like it, I don't know how to post MP3s on the forum so you could PM me and I could send it.

it can also be obtained through allofmp3.com by clicking on the song STRANGE WAYS and previewing the song although it will be in a reduced sound quality format

LISTEN TO MADVILLIANS RIP OFF OF GENTLE GIANT WHICH I'M SURE THEY DIDN'T GET A DIME FOR


Edited by robertplantowns

Try to figure it out, the link's right there.

Electronica/Hip Hop artists sampling things is nothing unusual, if you ask me. It plays an important role, however, whether the artist decides to sample Gentle Giant or Kraut Rock, or, say, Madonna.

I don't think he chose Gentle Giant because "he had been searching for a catchy tune nobody had heard of, so that he could get away with it". I seriously wouldn't be surprised if MF Doom himself listens to the same groups we do, knowing the unpredictability of his music. Like I said, although most Gentle Giant fans would consider this offense, it does contribute to the development of Avant-Garde Hip Hop. Did you know there was a part from Metallica's Orion on DJ Shadow's Endtroducing... album? While many consider this a blasphemy, in my opinion, it is not a bad thing at all, as it:

• shows us that Hip Hop artists listen to quality music.
• Most importantly, the Hip Hop genre PROGRESSES.

That's my two santims.

 -- Ivan

Nope, still can't guess. It won't play.

How is he a true artist for sampling an existing piece of work?  I'm sorry I fail to understand that concept.  Just because you sample something more "innovative" it doesn't mean that the "artist" doing it is more innovative, it just means he is sampling more innovative music.  I fail to understand what it so innovative about sampling anything or how it is reflecting the intelligence or any talent on the part of the "artist", I'm sorry.

I own Madvillain (MF Doom)'s Madvillainy, and its an excellent CD. I personally enjoy sampling, and the stuff that guys like DJ Shadow and RJD2 can pull off is ridiculous. The way the samples all come together on the song "Building Steam With A Grain Of Salt" is beautiful. I've already lurked enough hip-hop threads here to know where those end up, so if you want to debate the idea of sampling, be my guest, just avoid that whole other exhausted argument.

I didn't say that just because it isn't prog rock it isn't good.  I listen to many other forms of music , and I would have no problem with this if it wasn't sampled and was actually written and performed by them.  I'm sorry that I do not find validity in a form of "art" that copies existing forms of art and reproduces them in artistically dubious ways.   

I also wouldn't have a problem if samples were intertwined and were tweaked with and made to sound completely different but i'm sorry, this Gentle Giant sample is the equivalent of recording that one segment of the song and repeating it over and over again.  There is nothing remotely artistic or creative about that, unless you consider picking out a cool riff an example of artistic expression.


HAHAHAHA Sorry I have to add this. 
Ivan wrote that this is Avant-Garde Hip Hop.

Wow.  I'm really speechless.  Keep the comments coming

also this is quite humorous

• hows us that Hip Hop artists listen to quality music.
  
• (I don't give a crap what type of music people listen to as long as they MAKE THE MUSIC THAT THEY PERFORM!)
  
• Most importantly, the Hip Hop genre PROGRESSES.
• (Wow if you consider progression grabbing a tape recorder and recording 3 seconds of a Gentle Giant piece then this is truly a testament to a very abysmal state and the artistic and creative wasteland that is known as hip-hop.
  

Edited by robertplantowns

The sample is a tiny bit from "Funny Ways"(the self-titled debut). Remember that one catchy part that goes like: "my ways are strange..."? That's the one.

To RPO: If you seriously consider Hip Hop to be a non-progressive kind of music, I suggest you listen to the whole Madvillainy album, from which the song was taken. I mean, it's an excellent avant-rap record, and if you judge it by a track less than 2 minutes long, you're missing out. Whether or not sampling is a work of Art or not varies from person, but it is appreciated worldwide and not merely by 14 year old skaters, so it definitely is. It just depends on how you look at it, you know, but I'd rather listen to an Electronica/Hip Hop experimental icon, where the artist does creative mixes of previously written music instead of listening to one of the popular so-called Retro Prog groups.

It is also ironic how you have Robert Plant in your screen name, are you going to imply that Led Zeppelin had made all the music they performed? Haha, I think I've gone too far. Have a nice day and... prog on!

 -- Ivan

Edited by ivansfr0st

The Ryan wrote: (...)Sampling has nothing to do with being a musician, same goes for monotonous beats and ethnic/urban verbal-poetry put on an audio CD.(...)

Sampling is a tool in the modern musician's toolkit, just like notes.

There is an artistry in being able to put together samples in interesting ways, just like notes.

This sort of generalisation may be true for much of the industry, but as with any genre (with the possible exception of Prog Rock) there is a large amount of humdrum and recycled stuff and a small amount of inspired genius put together by someone with a true artistic feel for what they are doing.

For example, LTJ Bukem uses a lot of samples, and Roni Size/Reprazent tend to create their own samples from scratch (pardon the pun). Both of these guys have exceptionally high standards of musicianship and inventiveness.

 

GoldenSpiral wrote: hey_timj wrote: MF doom is dope. What does it say about him that he's sampling GG instead of some jazz record or something? It shows that he is a true artist with an open mind and I don't think rappers get portrayed in that type of light enough. I don't know if (certain) prog people here want to acknowledge the fact that there are intelligent and innovative artists outside of prog music. SECONDED. MF Doom is, in fact, a damn good hip-hop artist.  Just because it's not prog rock doesn't mean it's not good.  Honestly, if I were GG, I'd be happy that someone liked my song enough to sample it.

\

Agreed.  Hip-Hop's alot less about talent and more about feel, so I think he picked that GG sample because he thought that it would create a good feel from it.

It feels alot better than most prog.