WingsOfAnAngel
Banned
ill o.g.
Battle Points: 3
* Written By Wade Beckett, September 10, 2001 *
Jurassic 5 Rap on MP3s, Sampling
Jurassic 5 is one of the leaders in a new breed of forward-looking hip-hop collectives. The LA-based group has been around for years, but only now, since signing with a major label, is it garnering the recognition of a larger audience. The group's star DJs, Cut Chemist and NuMark, recently sat down with AudioFile to talk about sampling, the future of hip-hop, Napster, and more.
TechTV: How do you think the Internet will change the distribution of music?
CutChemist: It makes it more accessible to more people, I think, a lot quicker, because I mean, as many people that are logged on now, they have the chance to get it.
'The Internet moves a lot faster than trucks.'
-- Cut Chemist
You know, it's just like you could just click on and be like, 'Ooh cool, it's available. I want it.' Boom. Order. Done. It's yours, you know, whereas it eliminates going down to the store and you know, looking through the racks and finding it.
TechTV: How about your website? Do you go to it a lot?
CutChemist: Ah, no. I'm not very computer literate. I'm old school, man.
TechTV: Tell us more about that.
CutChemist: How I'm not computer literate?
TechTV: Yes.
CutChemist: Other than just pure laziness, it's just that I'm always trying to learn new things with music and... so I don't really have a lot of time to figure out the Internet and computer. I mean, I hardly know how to type very well!
TechTV: What about how you make your music?
CutChemist: Well, we just use drum machines. We don't have pro tools, programs, or computers, or anything like that, at least not yet, and there probably will be a day when we have to use them because I mean, it's just a lot faster. You know, a computer works a lot faster than anything else.
TechTV: What about sequencing?
NuMark: Drum machines.
CutChemist: Yeah, which is a computer of some sort, but it doesn't involved a keypad really like the conventional way of using a computer.
NuMark: I think less is more when it comes to music equipment. I think a lot of times when you have too much equipment, too much effects, compression, delays, and 24 tracks, 48 tracks, a reel-to-reel, three more samplers. It just can be a bit...
CutChemist: Overwhelming.
NuMark: Yeah, it's overwhelming and the creativity goes out the door because you're constantly thinking technical and parameters and what's supposed to be set at what level.
CutChemist: Yeah, you gotta remember hip-hop was created in an age when technology was pretty minimal. I think... the best hip-hop era was when... people were limited and they only had SP1200s and 10-second sampling time. As you take away more limitations, I think you're taking a little bit more creativity away from people.
TechTV: Do you think being more old school sets you guys apart?
CutChemist: Well, I think at the beginning stages of our music it was. We just worked with the kind of equipment we had. We just said 'let's just do something. Are we gonna wait 'till we get pro tools? No. You know, we just deal with what we have. And I mean, we did the album using pro tools later on you know.
TechTV: What kind of stuff do you use at the house?
CutChemist: Um, well, other than the turntables and mixer, which always are pretty much the nucleus of the setup, an MPC 2000 and an eight-track reel-to-reel half inch where a rewind button doesn't really work. You gotta hit it five times for it to work.
TechTV: How do you feel about your music floating around on the Internet without your permission?
NuMark: You know, that stuff can help to promote you. You know, when your stuff's floating around on the Internet or MP3 files or whatever, it can help you, but it can really hurt you too at the same time. It'd be nice if we got permission for stuff, but you know, like it could hurt you if the stuff's out there like two months, three months before your album's supposed to drop.
CutChemist: A lot of it's really selfish and they just take advantage of you and that's not cool. And I mean, that's the bad side of it of course, but the good side is it does make it more accessible to those people, like you said, you know, for the Internet people to know what's out there.
J5 on the Joys and Perils of Sampling
TechTV: Do you guys clear all your samples?
CutChemist: We clear all our samples.
TechTV: Have you ever been busted for sampling?
CutChemist: Well, no, no, no. We just were trying to find this one group and we couldn't find them and then of course, when we came out they found us. I think people are starting to realize that sampling's good. You know, it resurrects old groups and...
NuMark: It resurrected James Brown.
CutChemist: Yeah.
NuMark: It resurrected George Clinton.
CutChemist: A lot of people.
NuMark: I mean, a lot of them were resurrected just off of DJs bringing them back in the mix or like you know, KMEL out here, them playing you know, "Atomic Dog" or whatever it might be, but the bottom line is DJs are hip-hop and a lot of times DJs are producers and that sound is popular now because of the producer and the way the producer brought those drums back, the way the producer brought Zapp back and all that stuff. A lot of those artists understand--like James understands it. George understands it. A lot of the artists that we sample who give us denials don't understand it because they haven't looked at their peers for examples. They haven't looked at James for an example and said, "Wait a second. James is still doing concerts." You know, I'm not saying in any means that hip-hop has everything to do with James having a career right because James is a straight up legend and he'll always be.
CutChemist: Well, he created hip-hop.
NuMark: Exactly.
CutChemist: He helped create it, so I mean, it's like us giving back...
NuMark: Exactly, but there was, there was this cycle of love given and a lot of creativity was born out of it.
TechTV: How do you feel about sampling in the future?
NuMark: They should have a law that says OK, one bar of music equals this much.
'I think people are starting to recognize that sampling's good'
-- CutChemist
You can ask for this much percentage from the artist that sampled you... and there should be a graph for publishing and master usage because that's where they get you. It should be a science.
NuMark: But instead, there's just no laws, nothing recognizable.
CutChemist: And there is a law that says you can alter a preexisting piece of visual art so much before you claim it, you know what I mean? I don't know what the percentage is, 10 percent or whatever, but it should be the same for music.
NuMark: Yeah.
CutChemist: You know what I mean? Why not?
NuMark: I think it's 13 percent.
CutChemist: Why not for music? It's the same thing.
TechTV: Should they have the same thing for MP3s and file sharing?
NuMark: I think that stuff's so long gone. I think that stuff's gone.
TechTV: Is it too late for MP3s and file sharing?
CutChemist: To make a law for it, is it too late? I don't think so, no it's never too late.
NuMark: People put the money up for it, there's always room for it, but that's the reason why sampling has its problems because no one wants to put the money up for fighting it in court and, and going through litigation and whatever else.
CutChemist: Yeah, maybe there could be a law that says you know, you can only put this out on MP3 a month before it's released or something like that. Like you have to go to the artist and say, 'Look, you know, can I put this on MP3?' And the artist says, 'Well, here's some terms.' Before pirates could just go out there and exploit your music at their will. See, that's the problem. The artists are not in control anymore.
NuMark: The other side of it is... if you take this away from the artist, then it's just another shackle on the artist. Like I said before, it could be a very good promotional tool as well.
Jurassic 5 Rap on MP3s, Sampling
Jurassic 5 is one of the leaders in a new breed of forward-looking hip-hop collectives. The LA-based group has been around for years, but only now, since signing with a major label, is it garnering the recognition of a larger audience. The group's star DJs, Cut Chemist and NuMark, recently sat down with AudioFile to talk about sampling, the future of hip-hop, Napster, and more.
TechTV: How do you think the Internet will change the distribution of music?
CutChemist: It makes it more accessible to more people, I think, a lot quicker, because I mean, as many people that are logged on now, they have the chance to get it.
'The Internet moves a lot faster than trucks.'
-- Cut Chemist
You know, it's just like you could just click on and be like, 'Ooh cool, it's available. I want it.' Boom. Order. Done. It's yours, you know, whereas it eliminates going down to the store and you know, looking through the racks and finding it.
TechTV: How about your website? Do you go to it a lot?
CutChemist: Ah, no. I'm not very computer literate. I'm old school, man.
TechTV: Tell us more about that.
CutChemist: How I'm not computer literate?
TechTV: Yes.
CutChemist: Other than just pure laziness, it's just that I'm always trying to learn new things with music and... so I don't really have a lot of time to figure out the Internet and computer. I mean, I hardly know how to type very well!
TechTV: What about how you make your music?
CutChemist: Well, we just use drum machines. We don't have pro tools, programs, or computers, or anything like that, at least not yet, and there probably will be a day when we have to use them because I mean, it's just a lot faster. You know, a computer works a lot faster than anything else.
TechTV: What about sequencing?
NuMark: Drum machines.
CutChemist: Yeah, which is a computer of some sort, but it doesn't involved a keypad really like the conventional way of using a computer.
NuMark: I think less is more when it comes to music equipment. I think a lot of times when you have too much equipment, too much effects, compression, delays, and 24 tracks, 48 tracks, a reel-to-reel, three more samplers. It just can be a bit...
CutChemist: Overwhelming.
NuMark: Yeah, it's overwhelming and the creativity goes out the door because you're constantly thinking technical and parameters and what's supposed to be set at what level.
CutChemist: Yeah, you gotta remember hip-hop was created in an age when technology was pretty minimal. I think... the best hip-hop era was when... people were limited and they only had SP1200s and 10-second sampling time. As you take away more limitations, I think you're taking a little bit more creativity away from people.
TechTV: Do you think being more old school sets you guys apart?
CutChemist: Well, I think at the beginning stages of our music it was. We just worked with the kind of equipment we had. We just said 'let's just do something. Are we gonna wait 'till we get pro tools? No. You know, we just deal with what we have. And I mean, we did the album using pro tools later on you know.
TechTV: What kind of stuff do you use at the house?
CutChemist: Um, well, other than the turntables and mixer, which always are pretty much the nucleus of the setup, an MPC 2000 and an eight-track reel-to-reel half inch where a rewind button doesn't really work. You gotta hit it five times for it to work.
TechTV: How do you feel about your music floating around on the Internet without your permission?
NuMark: You know, that stuff can help to promote you. You know, when your stuff's floating around on the Internet or MP3 files or whatever, it can help you, but it can really hurt you too at the same time. It'd be nice if we got permission for stuff, but you know, like it could hurt you if the stuff's out there like two months, three months before your album's supposed to drop.
CutChemist: A lot of it's really selfish and they just take advantage of you and that's not cool. And I mean, that's the bad side of it of course, but the good side is it does make it more accessible to those people, like you said, you know, for the Internet people to know what's out there.
J5 on the Joys and Perils of Sampling
TechTV: Do you guys clear all your samples?
CutChemist: We clear all our samples.
TechTV: Have you ever been busted for sampling?
CutChemist: Well, no, no, no. We just were trying to find this one group and we couldn't find them and then of course, when we came out they found us. I think people are starting to realize that sampling's good. You know, it resurrects old groups and...
NuMark: It resurrected James Brown.
CutChemist: Yeah.
NuMark: It resurrected George Clinton.
CutChemist: A lot of people.
NuMark: I mean, a lot of them were resurrected just off of DJs bringing them back in the mix or like you know, KMEL out here, them playing you know, "Atomic Dog" or whatever it might be, but the bottom line is DJs are hip-hop and a lot of times DJs are producers and that sound is popular now because of the producer and the way the producer brought those drums back, the way the producer brought Zapp back and all that stuff. A lot of those artists understand--like James understands it. George understands it. A lot of the artists that we sample who give us denials don't understand it because they haven't looked at their peers for examples. They haven't looked at James for an example and said, "Wait a second. James is still doing concerts." You know, I'm not saying in any means that hip-hop has everything to do with James having a career right because James is a straight up legend and he'll always be.
CutChemist: Well, he created hip-hop.
NuMark: Exactly.
CutChemist: He helped create it, so I mean, it's like us giving back...
NuMark: Exactly, but there was, there was this cycle of love given and a lot of creativity was born out of it.
TechTV: How do you feel about sampling in the future?
NuMark: They should have a law that says OK, one bar of music equals this much.
'I think people are starting to recognize that sampling's good'
-- CutChemist
You can ask for this much percentage from the artist that sampled you... and there should be a graph for publishing and master usage because that's where they get you. It should be a science.
NuMark: But instead, there's just no laws, nothing recognizable.
CutChemist: And there is a law that says you can alter a preexisting piece of visual art so much before you claim it, you know what I mean? I don't know what the percentage is, 10 percent or whatever, but it should be the same for music.
NuMark: Yeah.
CutChemist: You know what I mean? Why not?
NuMark: I think it's 13 percent.
CutChemist: Why not for music? It's the same thing.
TechTV: Should they have the same thing for MP3s and file sharing?
NuMark: I think that stuff's so long gone. I think that stuff's gone.
TechTV: Is it too late for MP3s and file sharing?
CutChemist: To make a law for it, is it too late? I don't think so, no it's never too late.
NuMark: People put the money up for it, there's always room for it, but that's the reason why sampling has its problems because no one wants to put the money up for fighting it in court and, and going through litigation and whatever else.
CutChemist: Yeah, maybe there could be a law that says you know, you can only put this out on MP3 a month before it's released or something like that. Like you have to go to the artist and say, 'Look, you know, can I put this on MP3?' And the artist says, 'Well, here's some terms.' Before pirates could just go out there and exploit your music at their will. See, that's the problem. The artists are not in control anymore.
NuMark: The other side of it is... if you take this away from the artist, then it's just another shackle on the artist. Like I said before, it could be a very good promotional tool as well.
