Althouse: Perhaps emboldened by "getting a judge to acknowledge his ownership in the legendary phrase, 'Bow wow wow yippie yo yippie yay'..."

December 15, 2010

Perhaps emboldened by "getting a judge to acknowledge his ownership in the legendary phrase, 'Bow wow wow yippie yo yippie yay'..."

... George Clinton has filed a lawsuit against the Black Eyed Peas.

14 comments:

Scott M said...: Hysterical. I wonder if Droz will be able to get the BEP's to play The Pit in time to pay their damage bill. If so, would George get pissed?; 12/15/10, 8:19 AM
TMink said...: George helped invent funk. The Peas would still be in the pod were it not for George. And if they made money using his work, and they did, then they should pay the man they stole from.

Trey; 12/15/10, 8:25 AM
Ann Althouse said...: According to the article, they tried to buy a license to the song, after they'd already used it. He refused. Oops!; 12/15/10, 8:30 AM
MadisonMan said...: I read that name as George Clooney.

(laugh)

I don't see how Clinton cannot prevail here.; 12/15/10, 8:37 AM
Wince said...: That's it!

As the first adult to play guitar on stage wearing nothing but a large baby diaper, I'm suing George Clinton's P-Funk All-Stars.; 12/15/10, 8:50 AM
Ritmo Re-Animated said...: I definitely have to respect a title post as awesome as that.

Don't let it go to your head, now.; 12/15/10, 8:52 AM
Greg said...: This is a big deal in rap music. Public Enemy addressed copyright law in the song "Caught--can I get a witness" late '80s.

I can't think of another reference prior to this in song.; 12/15/10, 9:26 AM
Scott M said...: Public Enemy addressed copyright law in the song "Caught--can I get a witness" late '80s.

Song? lol; 12/15/10, 9:29 AM
jr565 said...: Greg wrote:
This is a big deal in rap music. Public Enemy addressed copyright law in the song "Caught--can I get a witness" late '80

Public Enemy was referencing beats, as opposed to melodies. It might be harder to say you own a beat, but when a rapper lifts an entire melody line and uses it as the backdrop to his own song (think PDiddy) then he should pay the person who wrote the song.
In Public Enemies case, its sometimes hard to figure out where they got their samples from, because they used it almost like a collage and don't use the melodies as the backdrop to their song but rather as a sound effect.; 12/15/10, 9:46 AM
jr565 said...: THough, I was once listening to a Police song and my friend came up to me who was into rap and said "nice beat". And I asked if he meant the drums and he said no he meant the whole song. To him the beat was the hook of the song.
So what do I know?; 12/15/10, 9:48 AM
Greg said...: jr565

Public Enemy was referencing beats, as opposed to melodies. It might be harder to say you own a beat, but when a rapper lifts an entire melody line and uses it as the backdrop to his own song (think PDiddy) then he should pay the person who wrote the song.

Quite true! PE was the first thing I thought of when I read the title of Ann's post.

I think digital music and the internet has made copyright law highly visible in a way it wouldn't have otherwise been -- speaking as a non-lawyer.

That song foreshadowed something that would become very relevant in the near future. That's all.; 12/15/10, 9:58 AM
Scott M said...: To him the beat was the hook of the song.

It certainly can be. A lot of electronica/trance is like that. Growing up in Chicago, I was always a house/techno-phile, and kept a sincere appreciation for it's many evolutions even while hosting rock radio for years. Through satellite radio, I'm rediscovering how much I enjoyed the genre and am really starting to enjoy the contemporary stuff. A lot.; 12/15/10, 10:19 AM
Beth said...: I hope Clinton wins. I'd like to see a little correction on the culture of sampling and the idea that there is no intellectual property.; 12/15/10, 12:32 PM
Methadras said...: I can see how Clinton can get all uppity about this. To wit:

http://www.holytaco.com/how-write-black-eyed-peas-song/

WV = eysayaw = New Black Eyed Peas song; 12/15/10, 2:40 PM