The views and opinions expressed in the following feature editorial are those expressly of the writer of this piece and do not necessarily reflect those of HipHopDX.
Did you get the memo? Biting, once the most taboo of all Hip Hop offenses, is now allowed.
We’re not talking homages or tributes; there is wholesale thievery and blatant mimicry going on. The latest example is Hip Hop producers and their delegated days to leak new material to the Internets. Kanye West pioneered this savvy marketing ploy when he announced that he would be dropping new songs every Friday—dubbed G.O.O.D Fridays—up until the release of his new album, My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy. Hey, if Kanye and his G.O.O.D Music companions drop a gang of new material to keep fans satiated until release day, everyone wins. Right?
Seeing the novelty and popularity of Mr. West’s scheme, the RZA of the Wu-Tang Clan decided to start dropping new tracks (well, new to fans since his releases have been older, unreleased songs) on Wednesdays. The Abbot dubbed his weekly drops “Wu-Wednesdays,” obviously. Okay, the RZA must have ridiculous beats in the stash—can we get those Nas joints from the Only Built 4 Cuban Linx… sessions, please?—and he was working with Kanye anyway (and the sped up Soul samples was his ish first too); so this was all good, no pun intended.
But then the frikkin’ floodgates opened. Swizz Beatz got in on the trend and came up with “Monster Mondays.” Joe Budden has his own “Mood Mondays” underway as well. Now Timbaland, who a few weeks ago said he was done with Hip Hop altogehter, is rolling with “Timbo Thursdays” (guess Tuesday’s were off the table since that’s record release day). Even rappers are in the mix with Lloyd Banks rolling with “Blue Fridays” and Rock of Heltah Skeltah having issues with Swizz using the “Monster Mondays” moniker he says he had dibs on.
This isn’t the first or last time Hip Hop artists will jump on a trend and proceed to pummel it to death. Remember when Long Beach veteran emcee Crooked I decided to drop a new song very week in April, 2007, called the series “Hip-Hop Weekly”? Yep, an assortment of not ready for prime time, or even their own block, rappers decided they had the talent to do the same. They did not.
All this rampant sonic and intellectual plagiarism in Hip Hop can be partially attributed to this constant and haphazard glut of new music. Artists, both new jacks trying get in the game and veterans clawing at relevance, are so desperate to come in clearly amidst all the static that they’ll do anything to stand out. But now a standard (and lazy) way of making a mark unfortunately includes completely emulating what worked for the other, innovative guy. The result is not only do these artists come off as hacks, but fans are left with a gang of lackluster material to contend with. More times than not, there is reason that this new to fans music never saw the light of day until now. Every single rhyme an emcee lays down or beat that a producer tracks in the studio is not going to be up to par.
I once asked EPMD how many songs did they record to create their 1988 debut Strictly Business. Erick Sermon looked at Parrish Smith and asked him, “How many songs were on the album?” When they agreed that it was 10 songs, Sermon answered, “10 songs.”
When did not being original get a pass? In 1988, Masta Ace rapped on Marley Marl’s “The Symphony” that, “There’s a sign on the door, no biting allowed.” In 1995, on a skit called “Shark Niggas (Biters)” on Raekwon’s Only Built 4 Cuban Linx…, Ghostface Killah famously took the Notorious B.I.G. to task because he felt the late rapper’s album cover for Ready To Die was a bit too similar to Nas’ Illmatic. But in that case, it was a reach (B.I.G. had an infant on a white background, while a childhood Nas is juxtaposed in front of a picture of the Queensbridge Projects) and had more to do with Wu-Tang Clan’s desire to be the Kings of New York. Around 2007, Jay-Z caught grief for interpolating all those Notorious B.I.G. lines in his rhymes. A look at XXL magazine’s monthly “Swagger Jacker” column reveals that in the new rapper manual if you can’t think of your own line, you can always swipe someone else’s.
Hip-Hop is itself a product of jacking styles (see: sampling) but part of that intrinsic framework involves taking that old breakbeat or ill loop and flipping it into something new. That something, Hip Hop music and culture, was built on a foundation of constantly trying to be that new and that next by being the first; an originator not a duplicator to paraphrase Greg Nice. If not, rappers would have been and would be nothing more than glorified cover bands.
Those that claim that Hip Hop is dead or argue that today’s Rap music pales in comparison to past work only reveal that they probably aren’t looking hard enough. The fact that so-called Rap fans and critics can fix their face to make such sweeping claims is because a superficial glance of the Hip Hop landscape, usually heard on your favorite “Hip Hop” radio station, proves them right. With flagrant biting getting a pass, of course records are going to sound the same, and hence fit neatly into playlists.
The solution is that fans, bloggers, critics and artists need to start policing what gets to kick it in the House of Hip Hop. Don’t post the song with the horrendous beat that sounds like a Kanye West knockoff from the rapper who sounds like a poor man’s Jay-Z with half the wordplay. Rappers, if the beat is bananas and the original emcee killed it, leave it alone. If your favorite artist is showing signs of falling off, say so, respectfully. emcees, your voice and moxie is enough, fuck a gimmick. And at all times, let it become Hip-Hop rule numero uno: no biting is allowed.
Alvin “aqua” Blanco is New York-based music journalist. A former editor of Scratch magazine, he has contributed to XXL, Spin, Antenna and HipHopDX.com. His website is Slang Rap Democracy.
great article… completely agree with everything being said – hip hop will only get better if the people stand up against the bullshit… there is however so much bullshit i cant really see that happening
kanye has done quite a lot for the game with the run up to his album – releasing free music of a great standard, working with a whole range of artists outside of the box (pete rock to the rza), can see artistry in hip hop production again, not trying to make the generic “hit”, 6 minute songs!!
The best thing MCs and producers can take from kanyes run up is be creative – but there doing the opposite, if they could sound like him they could, but they cant so they bite the GOOD Friday concept…its disgusting
You go on pitchfork, drowned in sound etc. Respected sites for all genres and there interested in what Kanyes doing because its creative, which is why hes miles ahead of the hip hop game right now
And I arent even a big Kanye fan… I find him pretty annoying and I dont think hes a great MC. But i think its great and creative what hes doing for hip hop – hes not trying to sound like anyone else… so all you other bullshit rappers and bullshit “hip hop” fans take notice
whoever wrote this shit was a FUCKING IDIOT
Crooked I did more for Hip Hop than 90% of the rappers of this decade
its called being INNOVATIVE you ignorant prick, so what EPMD made 10 songs and they were endorsed by the fans.. that was YEARS ago when talent was scarce, now everyone and their momma can rap so people have to come up with new schemes to get noticed
HIPHOPDX is a bunch of dick riding haters FUCK OUTTA HERE
I totally agree with what the article is saying. Artists need to get their own ideas and own rhymes. Stealing ideas, flows or lyrics is just plain laziness.
very good article with valid points. STOP BITING
Lol how i thought this was a kanye song because of the pic at the top with writin. exactly the same as the songs on his album. but anyways. very good article. i def agree wit wot ur sayin, many artist are 2 lazy these days
so the pic at the top of the article is (not?) biting…
that’s the point
Wow you’re stupid.
lol wow.
“Around 2007, Jay-Z caught grief for interpolating all those Notorious B.I.G. lines in his rhymes.” It wasnt 2007! Nas called Jay-Z out for bitin Biggie’s rhymes in 2001 on Ether. Oh and another thing, why people didnt call out Common for bitin off A Tribe Called Quest’s Midnight Marauders album cover with his Electic Circus album?!
common bit the beetles album cover not tribe close but no cigarillo
Oh and XXL should’ve kept the name “Heard It All Before” instead of Swagger Jacker
why do you think the dozens of 2pac biters never made it i.e. tha realest, blac haze, casanova…. like sometime I just wonder are these dudes for real? Like…FOR REAL? REALLY?? ARE WE SUPPOSED TO BUY THIS?
ja rule made it.
Ja rule never bit pac’s music, just his image. And that was later. Them other cats mentioned are just straight imposters.
very good article
Well said!
STOP DICK RIDING.
Drake’s jewish kyke.
Oh.
Question for the author then:
Crooked I implied that Kanye was biting his Hip Hop Weekly series by starting G.O.O.D. Fridays. If this is the case, why do you discuss Kanye being bitten separately from Crooked? Or, does Kanye get a pass?
the author is a kanye fan. That “hip hop is based on biting” bit is all from kanye. He’s made other articles on other sites singing praise to kanye and taking polls. Now he’s getting angry on kanye’s behalf. Not that what he’s saying isn’t true, but it’s just that he come’s off more as a disgruntled fanboy than a journalist sometimes.
I figured Kanye’s GOOD Fridays was definitely influenced by Crooked I but he took it to another level with the artwork and all new music (beyond freestyle). Then to producers like Swizz and Timbaland jumped on the bandwagon clearly after seeing the hype Kanye was generating.
Crooked i is way better den kanye… none of crooked’s hip hop weekleys have features.. while kanye has over 5 features everytime
kanye’s is promtion for for his album. he’s leaking entire songs while crroked did his thing for a year but that was all freestyles
Crooked I is nasty…but I think Kanye’s aim was to showcase the whole G.O.O.D. team, hence G.O.O.D. Friday, whille Crooked is looking to get his material out there.
Having your own G.O.O.D. Fridays/Hip Hop Weekly esque thing because you see it has been successful isn’t biting. It’s recognizing a good marketing ploy and implementing it yourself. No need to reinvent the wheel, I don’t see any patents on it. That’s why hip hoppers make shitty businessmen, too much of this dumbed down business culture affects the money and fans they could acquire. Too much individualism, not enough efforts put towards the growth of the industry. Taking somebody else’s strategy that they have made blatantly public is not plagiarism. Plagiarism would be stealing lyrics, beats, album artwork, persona, etc.
I was excited when I saw the premise of the article, but after reading the content, I was extremely disappointed.
“It’s recognizing a good marketing ploy and implementing it yourself.” aka BITING
Using someone elses marketing ploy is biting. Using someone elses lyrics or other creative works is plagirism and biting. Hip Hop is bigger than business. It is also a street culture with a certain set of guidelines, principles and morals that if not adhered its true merits can get lost in the shuffle of “growth” and “profit”. This article is keeping it real about stuff that a lot of people try to sweep under the rug nowadays and it hit the nail on the head. If you are offended by this article then you are most likely part of the problem.
You guys include Kanye with crooked i like if they both started the weekly flows. Crooked needs to be in a league of his own on that one. Kanye straight up bit crooked so please stop giving kanye so many passes like when ppl included him as one of the ones who first started doing autotune. FUck that he bit that shit too.
great article, EXCEPT… kanye bit the whole shyt from Crooked I you dumb cunt. nice the way you massaged that little fact to fit your kanye cock-sucking. i repeat, cunt.
What it is hip hop world??
Crooked I started it !!!
“Rappers, if the beat is bananas and the original emcee killed it, leave it alone”
obviously this quote is coming from a fan’s perspective and not an Emcee and you’re job is to be a critic because you have no artistic merit. You have no say in Hip Hop culture because you do not live it, just blog about it. Now to say to other Emcees to leave instrumentals alone and not rap on them (in essence what the whole MIXTAPE/REMIX) is all about is pretty ignorant. If I hear a beat, and I KNOW that I can kill it with my style/wordplay/flow etc I don’t give a FUCK WHO CREATED IT FIRST, I’m gonna spit my shit and you’re gonna feel it more than the other rapper! Beat jacking has been going on since “Disco Rap” when muthafuckas was spitting on Disco Loops.
I never like to quote Kanye but he said one of the truest shit about Hip Hop and Biting. He said ALL Hip Hop IS BITING it’s all in HOW you Bite!
to the contrary. hip hop has always been critical of biters and supportive of originators until recently. And rhyming over someone elses beat has been done in the past but it would usually be a beat from the past not that artist’s latest and hottest track. If you are being honest you would have to admit that the main reason artists are jacking another artist’s beat nowadays is to steal some of the original artist’s thunder that made it hot in the first place. don’t deny that it was crime just cause you are the culprit committing it!
YOU WANT ORIGINAL AND INNOVATIVE HIP HOP? FOLLOW 9TH WONDER AND HIS IWWMG LABEL. LEADERS OF THE TRUE SCHOOL!
9THWONDER DOT COM!
That’s bs….doing a weekly series isn’t biting; especially if that person is good. Crooked I and Gorilla Zoe started the weekly/daily/monthly series.
But just because you aren’t on tv doesn’t mean you don’t deserve to do a series. You have people like Charlie Boy and R.D. Peoples who have great series’ going. There is no reason to call them biters because they’re capable of being just as consistent as their more established counter-parts.
curren$y did the monthly mixtape drops b4 gorilla zoe
what is this trying to say about follow my lead or mood musik 4? Joe has been innovating and is really in his own lane.
Good article. However, i miss the scratch magazine. That should be brought back.
I completely f@#$ing agree. I hate that sh#!
remember going to the store and buying albums when they came out? i miss those days
JAY Z jacked eminem for that success line. ” I USED TO GIVE A FUCK NOW I GIVE FUCK LESS WHAT DO I THINK OF SUCCESS IT SUX TOO MUTCH STRESS”
jay-z jacked a lot of people lines…idk y people say he’s a g.o.a.t when he’s bitter and had 1 classic album
All these niggas bit off Crooked. That shits fucking gay, and it pisses me off.
So true. Crooked is putting out quality material on peoples beats constantly, with no dropoff week to week. The most consistent rapper in the game.
I dont see what the problem is. Who cares if the concept is being used over and over. Its consistent music from good artist. And as far as im concerned mixtape music is better than most of the albums that come out.
this author is a douche hes clearly jockin ye from tha balls!! sounds like he giving him a pass and knocking dudes like jeezy i.e 1000 grams mixtape if jeezy can kill it better than the originals right ahead! its like graff i used to get pissed off at dudes that were biting and theres a difference if u bite or take the whole bite
u take some style from the next cat and incorporate it to yo own style and u have totaly something different..but i dont condone the whole style the only diference is the damn name thats biting!!excuse my spelling!!
this article is funny considering it comes from a site that takes headlines and topics from other sites.
LMAO!!!!!
i totally agree with this article, just thought i’d say that coz of all the bitching comments below
I agree, 100% but, I don’t mind new music weekly. I don’t see that as biting. But some of this other shit tho……
Jay-zs line in one of the good fridays ‘you can blow my balls right thru my drawals’ taken from ‘Fuck You’ Kurupts verse….and he got credit 4 it in the comments…fuckin stupid…
I totally agree with the columnist of this article. Hip Hop DX shouldn’t have the above disclaimer in order to avoid drama from aforementioned members in the Hip Hop Community, but I understand nonetheless. I am sick of people always trying being desperate and unoriginal with their music and their careers. I can’t think of any other profession where you could get away with blatantly copy someone else work, marketing plan or creativity and get away with it. Imagine if Steve Spielberg or George Lucas copied “Avatar†and made a movie named “Navatarâ€. They would get embarrassed by their critics, colleagues, and fans. They would lose their creditability in the movie industry and would probably revert to making television shows or even porn! This is what community should do those who practice “wholesale thievery and blatant mimicry†as Alvin Blanco mentioned in the article. As I proud fan and contributor of Hip Hop, it hurts to see that the most blessed artists with talent and creativity may never get to height of their craft because these commercial rappers are flooding the airwaves and internet with regurgitated garbage. On the flipside I never thought I these words would form this next sentence. It seems Soulja Boy, Gucci Mane, and Waka Flocka Flame are just a few commercial artists that actually adhere the principles of Hip Hop, which are not to follow a trend but create and set the trend. No matter how lame and/or wack the trend may be. Much love to Hip Hop!
What was Avatar but another version of Pocahontas! Who made the first diet soda, light beer, cologne, car, or anything else that has been duplicated? It is accepted in every facet of life.
Completely agree with the author of this editorial. What’s with all this “hip hop sequel” bullshit too? Most of these sequel albums are fucking terrible embarrassments.
Drake sounds like a clone of Kanye and Wayne too. I can’t believe people who respect hip hop listen to that shit.
Whats with all of the Crooked I fan boys complaining about the author being a Kanye West fan boy? Talk about being a hypocrite and missing the point at the same time! Sheesh…
Biting’s been going on for years! It’s crazy. The music industry is trend following, not trend setting. When they see that something works for an artist, they want everyone to follow. Wnen Akon’s auto tone singing worked, (I first heard 3LW use it) T Pain took it and ran with it….then EVERYBODY started using auto tune. That “random shot of people in the hood” and the “expensive ride in the projects” shot in videos was first seen in Juvenile’s “Ha” video, then everybody started doing that. If the “I got money/make it rain/I drink and smoke/i sell drugs and kill people” rap gets played out, and rapping about positive things become popular, watch how everyone switches their style. (but we KNOW that will never happen) Lil Wayne raps about eating pussy. At one time, rappers would NEVER rap about that. Now watch who’s going to start rappin’ about that.
Good post homie. you made me think of Rass Kass on “What part of the game…” when he said. “If tomorrows new fad, Was bein’ a hip-hop fag, you’d see alot of these thugs niggas in drag”
Lets talk about mixtapes. G-UNIT WAS THE FIRST ARTISTS TO DO AN ALBUM FORMAT ON THEIR MIXTAPES!! AND PEOPLE JUMPED ON THE BAND WAGON. 50 CENT IS THE FUTURE MIXTAPE NUFF SAID!!
lol what are you like ten years old
dj screw bitch
i would much rather have a complete fully finished song that got a little more attention every three weeks rather than every week plus i feel like these songs dont get enough time to grow on you
amen
PRODBY BOI-1DA AS SEEN ON WORLDSTAR OCT 25TH “No Other Option (Prodby Boi-1da) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jm1iruRRi94
PROOF READ YOU STUPID BITCH
I understand the basic point of the argument but as long as all these new days are filled with bangin ass music and with the same level of creativity as the original day… I say so be it… I mean it’s not like this is the only Hip Hop site that has Hip Hop news, articles, songs, blogs, pictures, gossip, and videos… (allhiphop, sohh, hiphopgame, nah right, 2dopeboyz, etc etc etc etc etc etc etc etc etc …)
Hip Hop needs this kind of biting right now…
I’d argue that these weekly releases started with the run-up to Eminem’s Relapse, when he would release a track from the album each week. I don’t blame these guys for doing this because I think having all this new music distracts people from bootlegging the albums.
Great article-I agree on just about everything as well..
The author writes an article about biting, yet jacks a Raekwon phrase (“slang rap democracy”) for the title of his website. I can’t take this article seriously.
You’re attacking the person not the arguments. Your logic has a major flaw.
Fuck you. crooked started that shit. so suck a dick
The industry is full of biters now adays. Its about money not uniqueness. What happened to unique acts like das efx? DMX, I mean they brought hteir own style. And its ok not to be unique completely but dont copy completely. And fck you for naming Kayne as one of the innovators of this, FYCK Kayne for bitting crooked. Freeway had a friday thing before Kayne. Bottom line CROOKED made this ish OFFICIAL and ya ll better give that man his credit. He has the orignal NAME HIP HOP WEEKLY!! and has put out the best series ANYWAYS. Kayne is doing good music for real btu give credit where its due Kayne and stop acting like u innovating when u copying asshole
mate, we did it last year..
kanye follows US!
The Off Season – checkit..
http://baysidewreckers.bandcamp.com/album/the-off-season
He’s right to a point, but i think sampling is good it’s nice to hear old tracks being reused again it shows respect as well as people love it.
Here is a new artist with his own style, can’t compare him to any one artist at all. Check it and show some love for the streets, you will not be disappointed.
http://www.reverbnation.com/astacks1215
Banks had Friday before Kanye
Yeah, and DDF had Fridays before both of em
Lol the picture is a bite of GOOD Friday
Fail!!
no shit faggot, dats da whole point
Slap your forehead for me would ya..
There is an independent artist called ‘Dutch Defoe’ who has been sending out new tracks each Friday for the past two years which predates all of this new ish. all tracks can be downloaded at http://www.mediafire.com/dutchdefoe
Yeah, i been getting tracks from him for a min now. He got some hot ish!
Crooked started weekly series. Period. So Kanye is biting him too. Only thing Kanye changed is that he drops original songs. But he jacked the concept from Crooked.
I remember some months ago (before kanye) Charles hamilton had a weekly series of tracks comming out every tuesday. some of them were pretty good. check out Press C
hell yeah, death to the biters
The author of this article is full of shit. I agree with most of the comments Crooked started that dropping something new every week, an artist of kanye caliber should have given his fans something new instead he gave em half the album. Good for me I dont have to waste money on that bullshit. If that comment at the end about a poor mans Jay-z was meant toward Joe Budden this dude knows very little about Hip Hop. JB can outrap Jay. Go and listen to the unoffcial Pump it Up RMX and tell me Im wrong. If Kanye wants to drop a song every week thats fine why dont we do something orginal and give the fans something new when they go buy his cd other than that Fuck em.
I don’t understand how people are attacking the author on not saying Crooked I started the weekly thing. Not only did he address that, unless I’m blind and that’s not Crooked I’s name in the article, but no one is thinking of CI. People are specifically biting Kanye by naming it a specific day, friday, thursday, monday twice rofl.. Period. No one is thinking of CI, and even when they were he points out people bit that too and failed hard. SMH people need to learn to read
banks started blue fridays before kanye started G.O.O.D. Fridays
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for real theres only 2 or 3 great songs that came out of G.O.O.D. Friday, and yeah Banks beat Kanye to it he had Blue Fridays before him
This article contradicts itself way too much.
The weekly shit really isn’t a big deal, btw. I like that rappers are starting to release so much material nowadays. It keeps the fans interested.
Oh yeah, and Crooked started it with Banks following this year. So Kanye is the “biter” if anything.
Find something new to complain about please.
Speaking of biting! HipHopDX you BITE my MAN YOUNG CHRIS! Two years ago he had a online campaign called 30 verses in 30 days, now yall got some copycat sh*t called 30 Reviews in 30 Days?????? This article is bullshit, so is the cat who wrote it. HipHop has lost most of its creative, not ALL but most. Its sad a bunch of NO TALENT RAPPERS and WEAK websites supporting the f*ckery.
did you wait this whole time 2tell hiphopdx this gee ?
People just bitch about anything…Ur actually complaining that artists are giving away free music and are staying active. Just stfu and enjoy the music
X for president !
LETS NOT FORGET – CURREN$Y DROPPED A MIXTAPE A MONTH IN ’08
LETS NOT FORGET Charles Hamilton was dropping a song every monday earler this year before dropping a single from his album.
AAAAND Charles has dropped like 12+ mixtapes since July.
real rap does exist – fug the radio – look underground…
This article makes no damn sense, this dude is accusing some rappers of biting but giving others (Kanye, RZA) a pass because he digs them even though they did the same damn thing. What the fuck is biting anyway? Everyone who raps/produces/DJs/whatever does it because they saw someone else do it first and dug it so they wanted to try that shit themselves, they just put their own spin on it. Kanye (or Crooked or whoever) doesn’t have a patent on weekly song releases, just like whoever made the first mixtape or rocked the first block party doesn’t have a patent on that. As long as everyone’s coming out with something original in their style, I don’t give a fuck how they put it out or what they want to call it.