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Thread: Lil Nas X samples 34 Ghosts IV - Old Town Road

  1. #31
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    Phew, someone finally screamed RACISM! It wouldn't be an ETS thread without it. Lol.

  2. #32
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    Quote Originally Posted by nooneimportant View Post
    Here is Lil Nas X elaborating on the NIN sample in his song. It wasn't really intentional. Found this out from an interview he did with Genius about his song. Interesting stuff.

    Wait - how did he not know about it...?

  3. #33
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    Quote Originally Posted by ryanmcfly View Post
    The Closer beat is literally a looping sample of Iggy Pop's Nightclubbing.
    Not quite. It's taken from that, but it's clearly been pushed through a filter or two, and it's only the first drum kick.

    By the way, I don't think the problem is that he sampled it. I think the problem is that he did so in such a slapdash way. There's nothing particularly interesting about how he did it. It kind of just sits there in the mix.
    Last edited by BRoswell; 04-10-2019 at 11:56 AM.

  4. #34
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    Quote Originally Posted by ricardo View Post
    Phew, someone finally screamed RACISM! It wouldn't be an ETS thread without it. Lol.
    You can leave at any time.

    Quote Originally Posted by BRoswell View Post
    By the way, I don't think the problem is that he sampled it. I think the problem is that he did so in such a slapdash way. There's nothing particularly interesting about how he did it. It kind of just sits there in the mix.
    Lots of producers do this nowadays due to the constant demand for the next hit song, the next big thing, etc. That's the nature of hip-hop and pop music in general. It's a different process, but I don't think it diminishes the overall effect of hearing a Trent and Atticus composition in a song that just dethroned Ariana Grande from the #1 spot on Billboard. That's a huge accomplishment. If all of the proper credits are given and rights are secured, what else is there to gripe about?

    A lot of you are showing that you've never dabbled into other genres of music, especially with how pop and hip-hop songs are made currently and it shows. You don't have to like much of it (or hardly any of it like I do), but at least be knowledgeable on what you're talking about.

    The credits on the already expansive Wikipedia entry for the song show all of this - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_Town_Road

  5. #35
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    Quote Originally Posted by Max View Post
    I really disagree with the idea that there is zero effort or creativity. I think that is the whole reason this is being celebrated. Trent said that Crystals Japan unconsciously inspired a Warm Place. He literally used the drum from Nightclubbing in Closer. Do we take any credit away? No. Why? Because the whole is vastly different from the individual part.
    Yes, but he wrote Closer and knowingly used that sample. Lil Nas copped out of the writing process by simply buying an instrumental online. Big difference.

    Quote Originally Posted by Max View Post
    And I am just going to address the elephant in the room: it would seem that some people, and I am not saying you because I don’t know you, but some people have unconscious bias that has them really contemptuous of rap because it is “black” music but very ready to justify white artists when they do the same thing. Like is this guy really doing something Trent Never did? There is a long history in this country of coming down hard on block people for trying to do something white people all the time. We could call this “sampling while black.”

    I’m not saying that this is where you are coming from, but we ALL have unconscious bias, myself included, and we can’t overcome it is we can’t see it.
    How did we get here? So many assumptions, so many accusations (but not towards anyone here, nope, never!).
    Let me just say this: Billy Ray Cyrus' verses are horrible. Lil Nas X's contribution is horrible. The song is altogether horrible. It sucks. In my opinion.

    Quote Originally Posted by Erneuert View Post
    Wait - how did he not know about it...?
    This is why I said "the guy who sang over it doesn't have a clue". And proceeded to get facepalmed.

  6. #36
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    Quote Originally Posted by katara View Post
    Yes, but he wrote Closer and knowingly used that sample. Lil Nas copped out of the writing process by simply buying an instrumental online. Big difference.
    You're going to be upset when you find out that a lot of pop and hip-hop artists have songwriters and producers who bring them music to sing over. Again, there are different processes to writing and creating music. It doesn't mean that they're wrong.

    Quote Originally Posted by katara View Post
    Just knowing that Closer and Hurt exist does not make you a NIN fan.
    It made me a NIN fan for a long time. Are we administering purity tests now? Come on.

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    I think this was just some kid making some music at his house that happened to go viral. I mean the video is some scrappy scenes from Red Dead Redemption. So people commenting on the quality of the song and what he did right or wrong, I think it was just some dude messing around.

    I've written songs for my guild when we played certain MMOs and for our one game, I used a pre-made beat off the market similar to what this kid did. Despite the fact we usually would create all of our songs from scratch, we found a backing beat that was very fitting so we went with it. There's a huge market for that sort of stuff but usually it doesn't get big.
    Last edited by sc0ttius; 04-10-2019 at 01:03 PM.

  8. #38
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    Quote Originally Posted by ltrandazzo View Post
    You can leave at any time.
    So can you. I was not complaining, by the way. I just knew it was coming and I was very satisfied when it did. But hey let's keep fighting racism by seeing racism in every fucking thing in the world. It won't make the real fight lose its focus/respect/support at all.

  9. #39
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    ^ Hi @ricardo , please let me know how to fight "the real fight" against racism exactly? Oh wait, never mind, I don't care.
    Quote Originally Posted by katara View Post
    Trent has sampled people in the past, sure. However, he chooses samples that are sonically and conceptually relevant to the music and the message he's trying to give. He also writes all his own music. Samples are used creatively and have meaning.
    This is absolutely the dumbest argument, and it doesn't look good to keep making it based on untrue premises.

    TR doesn't write all of NIN's music, and he has farmed out production to other people since... um, the beginning of NIN. Furthermore, NIN didn't pay for any of their samples, far as we know, and lots of them were quite literally inserted at random; whether it's the beats on Pretty Hate Machine, or the movie clips Chris Vrenna dumped into the sampler for TR and Flood to (mostly) peruse at random on The Downward Spiral. The production team didn't even realize that a sample had snuck into "The Wretched" until it was being mixed.

    Creativity isn't only limited to what you seem to think, where a beard-stroking intellectual decides what would be precisely the right colour of paint to apply from his delicately-selected palette. Randomness and the happenstance discovery of how things fit without you expecting them to absolutely IS part of that process, whether it's for NIN or other artists. There wouldn't be a Year Zero without TR & AR using randomly plucked noises as textures and then trying to force a melody over top. It's not about "buying an instrumental online" either, whatever that means... I'm sure we could get into an entirely different (equally long, and boring) argument about the drum samples being pre-fabricated on the last few NIN records and whether or not that's cool. If you don't dig sampling, that's fine... but if we got up our own asses about who is and isn't "really" creative we'd be just comparing our own biases.

  10. #40
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    Quote Originally Posted by ltrandazzo View Post
    You're going to be upset when you find out that a lot of pop and hip-hop artists have songwriters and producers who bring them music to sing over.
    This is common knowledge. It seems like you're deliberately trying to initiate outrage. I'm not biting.

    Quote Originally Posted by botley View Post
    Creativity isn't only limited to what you seem to think
    Again, assumptions. I'm part of an experimental collaborative music group online. We make some pretty out-there stuff using all kinds of processes.

    .

    This is too much for me. I'm not a fan of the 'racist' hot potato being thrown my way. All this hate and arguing over such a small, simple thing. Nitpicking every comment until it's bled dry. It's not even discussion, it's just unfair.

    I'm not sure what the hell happened in this topic but I am certainly not coming back to continue. I'm done.

  11. #41
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    Quote Originally Posted by ltrandazzo View Post
    Lots of producers do this nowadays due to the constant demand for the next hit song, the next big thing, etc. That's the nature of hip-hop and pop music in general. It's a different process, but I don't think it diminishes the overall effect of hearing a Trent and Atticus composition in a song that just dethroned Ariana Grande from the #1 spot on Billboard. That's a huge accomplishment. If all of the proper credits are given and rights are secured, what else is there to gripe about?
    I could care less who is charting on what charts. All that matters to me is the music itself, and in this case, the music is wholly uninspired and uninteresting.

  12. #42
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    There's definitely some tone-deaf responses to this in terms of sampling and "creativity" or whatever--sampling is certainly a field of artistry in and of itself, and it's been used to great effect in a ton of music. But I do think there's room for criticism with this particular song--it's not a bad use of the sample, but it does feel kinda lazy and if this were some big budget production or an artist that commands a great deal of respect, I'd expect more (like Eminem's pretty regular use of lazy classic rock loops going back to "Sing for the Moment"). This also isn't that, this seems like something some rando did that happened to blow up in the bizarre fashion things tend to on the internet. Is anybody hailing Lil Nas a creative genius because of this? His contribution to the song, the lyrics, are... not very good. It's a pretty interesting song musically thanks in no small part to the NIN sample, and people think it sounds cool and they'll listen to it until the next thing and then they'll forget about it.

    I guess what I'm saying is yeah the song is kinda lame but there's really no sense in getting all ornery about it. Basically one of the thousands of young producers who approach music more as content creation than art won the lottery when he found the right sample and had the right idea to throw it on a trap beat. He deserves some credit, and that's the money he'll make and probably some opportunities to prove himself that he wouldn't have had otherwise. Life goes on.

  13. #43
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    Quote Originally Posted by katara View Post
    Yes, but he wrote Closer and knowingly used that sample. Lil Nas copped out of the writing process by simply buying an instrumental online. Big difference.


    How did we get here? So many assumptions, so many accusations (but not towards anyone here, nope, never!).
    Let me just say this: Billy Ray Cyrus' verses are horrible. Lil Nas X's contribution is horrible. The song is altogether horrible. It sucks. In my opinion.


    This is why I said "the guy who sang over it doesn't have a clue". And proceeded to get facepalmed.
    Go back to my original post. I went out of my way to try and be generous and give the benefit of the doubt by pointing out how many people have unconscious racial bias and how that can cause us to treat two people doing similar things very differently based on who is doing it.

    That you got so upset and took it so personally, instead of just self/reflecting and deciding it didn’t apply to you, says to me that you are exactly the person who needs to take it personally.

    If the last NIN concert I went to is any indication, this is a mostly white forum. If things are ever going to change for people of color and how they are treated, we have to unpack our biases. Bias isnt harmless. It causes people to pass over people for jobs, treat school children differently, call the cops on innocent people not doing anything wrong but taking a walk.

    I’m not going to apologize for bringing up the possibility in this discussion that maybe the reason why we think it is okay for Trent Reznor to sample and not Little Nas X could possibly be related to bias, because what else is that different about two people directly sampling other music here?

    If you don’t feel like it applies to you, then good for you. But your response indicates otherwise. The guilty flee even when no one is chasing them.

  14. #44
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    Quote Originally Posted by Erneuert View Post
    Wait - how did he not know about it...?
    Because he didn't write it............

    You really expect some guy with "lil" in his name to know the fucking Ghosts catalog and recognize it when he hears it sampled in a beat that someone else wrote for him?

  15. #45
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    Quote Originally Posted by Max View Post
    Go back to my original post. I went out of my way to try and be generous and give the benefit of the doubt by pointing out how many people have unconscious racial bias and how that can cause us to treat two people doing similar things very differently based on who is doing it.

    That you got so upset and took it so personally, instead of just self/reflecting and deciding it didn’t apply to you, says to me that you are exactly the person who needs to take it personally.

    If the last NIN concert I went to is any indication, this is a mostly white forum. If things are ever going to change for people of color and how they are treated, we have to unpack our biases. Bias isnt harmless. It causes people to pass over people for jobs, treat school children differently, call the cops on innocent people not doing anything wrong but taking a walk.

    I’m not going to apologize for bringing up the possibility in this discussion that maybe the reason why we think it is okay for Trent Reznor to sample and not Little Nas X could possibly be related to bias, because what else is that different about two people directly sampling other music here?

    If you don’t feel like it applies to you, then good for you. But your response indicates otherwise. The guilty flee even when no one is chasing them.
    Has it ever crossed your oh my god so advanced mind that maybe black people simply don't like NIN that much? lol

    In my opinion, seeing racism in basically everything is worse for the cause than treating the real cases of racism with the proper punishment and ignoring the rest (which is a bunch of animalistic semi-humans acting stupid). Feel free to disagree, to say I have no idea what I'm talking about, whatever, say it, get it off your chest! I am against any censorhip (not the case for some people here).

  16. #46
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    Well this sure is a happy place

    Personally the track does little for me, but my sister really likes it, and when she caught wind there was some NIN in it she asked for some tracks to recommend her (mainly instrumentals...and there are a fuck ton) that's the first time she's EVER had any interest in NIN musically, and she knows i've been a hardcore fan for over 15years, so that's A-OK with me (i was tempted to just send her Tetsuo...but i'm not a complete bastard!)

  17. #47
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    Quote Originally Posted by ricardo View Post
    Has it ever crossed your oh my god so advanced mind that maybe black people simply don't like NIN that much? lol

    In my opinion, seeing racism in basically everything is worse for the cause than treating the real cases of racism with the proper punishment and ignoring the rest (which is a bunch of animalistic semi-humans acting stupid). Feel free to disagree, to say I have no idea what I'm talking about, whatever, say it, get it off your chest! I am against any censorhip (not the case for some people here).
    First, Max wasn't talking to you. It's not all about you, ricardo.

    Second, Max has made several good points and has been way more poignant than I could be when discussing this topic and others in the past about diversity at NIN shows and now this one since (what I assume are) a majority of likely white users have been extra critical of this sample due to unconscious bias because Lil Nas X is black. He's trying to encourage conversation and examination while you're trying to poke hornets nests. You also went after him about his concert experience last Fall, so there's something to think about there.

    Third, no one has censored you. Your posts and opinions are all out here for everyone to see, unfortunately.

    What are you contributing to this board other than hostility and aggression?

  18. #48
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    Quote Originally Posted by Max View Post
    I’m not going to apologize for bringing up the possibility in this discussion that maybe the reason why we think it is okay for Trent Reznor to sample and not Little Nas X could possibly be related to bias, because what else is that different about two people directly sampling other music here?
    The issue is not bias. The issue is craftsmanship. Trent is a craftsman who puts serious thought into what he's sampling and how it works in the context of the tracks he creates, and Little Nas X is...well...not, at least if this track is any indication. There's nothing about that track that seems like it comes from the heart. It sounds like a lot of the same manufactured pop/rap music that floods the market on a daily basis. If people like it, cool, but I'm not going to pretend that Lil Nas X and Trent Reznor are on or near the same level just because they're both samplers.

    Also, I personally reject the idea that being a white guy means I'm automatically against a black artist doing what a white artist does. I can't speak for anyone else, but I'm not that narrow-minded. Race doesn't factor into whether or not I like something (unless that thing is inherently racist, in which case I'm against it). I like music from all types of people, regardless of their race or religion or even political views (god help me on that last one, but it's true). I don't care that Lil Nas X is black. I care that he's put little effort into his work and it shows.
    Last edited by BRoswell; 04-11-2019 at 11:33 AM.

  19. #49
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    Quote Originally Posted by BRoswell View Post
    The issue is not bias. The issue is craftsmanship. Trent is a craftsman who puts serious thought into what he's sampling and how it works in the context of the tracks he creates, and Little Nas X is...well...not, at least if this track is any indication. There's nothing about that track that seems like it comes from the heart. It sounds like a lot of the same manufactured pop/rap music that floods the market on a daily basis. If people like it, cool, but I'm not going to pretend that Lil Nas X and Trent Reznor are on or near the same level just because they're both samplers.

    Also, I personally reject the idea that being a white guy means I'm automatically against a black artist doing what a white artist does. I can't speak for anyone else, but I'm not that narrow-minded. Race doesn't factor into whether or not I like something (unless that thing is inherently racist, in which case I'm against it). I like music from all types of people, regardless of their race or religion or even political views (god help me on that last one, but it's true). I don't care that Lil Nas X is black. I care that he's put little effort into his work and it shows.

    I am fine with people not liking the song. I don't like it, mostly because of the country influences. I am fine with people debating how much effort was put into it or not. Although I make music myself, and I can tell you that quite a bit of effort goes into arranging and composing any song. My point is that people were criticizing his use of a sample as lazy, but then Trent is somehow not lazy because he is super-thoughtful and talented, and... ?

    As this discussion unfolded, I could have held my tongue and I considered it. I don't know anyone's motivations and I'm not accusing. I am bringing up the fact that it is possible that bias is informing our perspectives - wouldn't be the first time. This has been statistically proven to occur in classrooms and interviews and policing and basically every area of life. It is deep within our culture. You say it's not about black and white, this guy is just lazy. It sounds like something Tucker Carlson would say.

    Keep on not liking the song. I don't think I will ever listen to it again if I can help it. Not because it's bad, or talentless, or lazy or anything else. It's the same reason I don't eat avocado toast or quiche or fermented soybean soup. They are fine for other people. I don't like them. They don't suck. The people who made them aren't lazy. I just don't happen to like them. Which is fine.

    The defensiveness, I am seeing from a few of the posts above, the outrage that someone would dare to bring up race at all, means that we should absolutely be discussing this in this current context. It means that there are some white people who are very uncomfortable questioning their own biases, which is a very bad sign about how much racial bias is affecting this conversation. With few if any people here from the affected community to push back. Ouch.

    I have racial biases myself. I'm not sitting up on a high horse. I am down in the mud too, saying, "hey look, we're all muddy." Don't get so mad about that. Let's just try to clean ourselves up a little. Be brave. Grow.

  20. #50
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    Quote Originally Posted by ryanmcfly View Post
    The Closer beat is literally a looping sample of Iggy Pop's Nightclubbing.
    Yes. And it's an almost featureless 4/4 drum beat, it's practically a preset. Reznor composed, performed, and arranged 34 Ghosts (or the first two, then left the room for 20 minutes for Atticus to do the last part).
    Also, the 'Nightclubbing' sample in 'Closer' is the least interesting thing about 'Closer' whereas the sample from 34 is THE ONLY REASON anyone is paying 'Old Town Road' any attention.

  21. #51
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    Quote Originally Posted by Max View Post
    My point is that people were criticizing his use of a sample as lazy, but then Trent is somehow not lazy because he is super-thoughtful and talented, and... ?
    It's not lazy that he used a sample. It's lazy that he used it in a way that doesn't seem motivated by anything other than *insert sound here*. Like I said, when Trent uses a sample, you know he's thought about it and the effect it'll have on the listener. Let's use an example: the baby sounds at the end of "She's Gone Away". It adds an extra layer of unsettling sound to the outro. You could have had the outro without it and it would still be effective, but that one extra sound takes it to another level. That's putting some thought into the use of a sample, and that's why Trent's work is above and beyond the work done on this track.

    Quote Originally Posted by Max View Post
    You say it's not about black and white, this guy is just lazy. It sounds like something Tucker Carlson would say.
    No, it doesn't, because I'm not a racist shitbag like him. Also, it's racist to call him lazy? Him being black doesn't make him a lazy person. If he was a white guy, he'd still be lazy. I'm not calling him lazy because he's black. Like I said, his race is irrelevant to the conversation. You're trying to make it relevant by bringing it into the conversation and then tsk-tsking when people say "Huh? What does that have to do with it?"

    Keep on not liking the song. I don't think I will ever listen to it again if I can help it. Not because it's bad, or talentless, or lazy or anything else. It's the same reason I don't eat avocado toast or quiche or fermented soybean soup. They are fine for other people. I don't like them. They don't suck. The people who made them aren't lazy. I just don't happen to like them. Which is fine.
    People liking it doesn't put it above criticism. I hate the argument that "some people" like a thing, therefore we have to be fair to it and not say anything bad about it and sit on a fence. Give me a break. I respect if someone wants to listen to it, but I'm not sparing feelings if I don't like it.

    I have racial biases myself. I'm not sitting up on a high horse. I am down in the mud too, saying, "hey look, we're all muddy."
    Then...maybe you're not the person to be pointing fingers at people and accusing them of being biased or racist by simply pointing out how flawed a song is.

  22. #52
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    Quote Originally Posted by Haysey View Post
    Well this sure is a happy place

    Personally the track does little for me, but my sister really likes it, and when she caught wind there was some NIN in it she asked for some tracks to recommend her (mainly instrumentals...and there are a fuck ton) that's the first time she's EVER had any interest in NIN musically, and she knows i've been a hardcore fan for over 15years, so that's A-OK with me (i was tempted to just send her Tetsuo...but i'm not a complete bastard!)
    Quite frankly, I think THIS is the best result that can come about from this whole thing: people not knowing about NIN realizing that the best aspect of this song is NIN and then, maybe, checking out some new and interesting music.
    Also...you should totally send your sister Tetsuo.
    Everyone should send everyone's sister Tetsuo.

  23. #53
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    Jesus Christ, this thread. I'm gonna add one comment and hopefully never come back here. You guys do know this is a comedy song, right? Like, the intention wasn't to make some "high art" track, just a dumb fun song? The kind of song that the conversation about should never get deeper than "I like it" or "I don't like it". I personally don't, but it's not some sort of an affront to the artistry of music. You guys are philosophizing about a strip in the Sunday paper like it's hanging in the Louvre. It's a fun novelty song. It shouldn't inspire discussion about subconscious racism or the folly of man. Come on guys.

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    I, uh...I'm with you fellas.

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    Quote Originally Posted by BRoswell View Post
    Also, it's racist to call him lazy?
    There is a really long history of white people calling black people lazy, even in the face of all of the evidence to the contrary. Now you know. So don’t do it anymore. Sorry if that is an inconvenience.

    Quote Originally Posted by BRoswell View Post
    Then...maybe you're not the person to be pointing fingers at people and accusing them of being biased or racist by simply pointing out how flawed a song is.
    Well, until this community has more diversity, I am not staying silent when the same old tired tropes about black artists are trotted out. If I can make it a little less comfortable for people to do that, I will. Expect me

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    Quote Originally Posted by paul_guyet View Post
    the sample from 34 is THE ONLY REASON anyone is paying 'Old Town Road' any attention.
    A song does not reach #1 because fans of what most folks consider to be a 90s band are upset about it. It had a ton of momentum before this aspect of the song got discussed.

    I would like to show all the love to @Max who is handling this conversation with such patience and grace. Much of my research is rooted in overt and implicit bias. Mostly in policing practices, but as a whole, too. Thank you for your contributions to this discussion. You have an ability to stay calm and measured while engaging in difficult discussions with people, and that is admirable.

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    It’s not for me. It made me think if Yelawolf went full country. I don’t ever need to hear this again. It’s the opposite of what happened when Childish Gambino and Bun B sampled “Nightcall,” which was fun.

    That said, I don’t have any personal issues with this guy.

    However, @ricardo is a huge gaping asshole.
    Last edited by Swykk; 04-12-2019 at 08:25 AM.

  28. #58
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    Quote Originally Posted by Max View Post
    There is a really long history of white people calling black people lazy, even in the face of all of the evidence to the contrary. Now you know. So don’t do it anymore. Sorry if that is an inconvenience.
    Thanks for being condescending. I am well aware of the history, and I already told you that him being a black man has nothing to do with him being a lazy artist. Nothing. Nada. Zip. And yet, because YOU point out that he's a black man, I'M now supposed to feel like I'm a racist asshole for calling him lazy? No. I reject that completely. You pointed out his race first. You're the one that made it an issue, not me or most of the other people in this thread who have criticized him or the song. You say you're not on a high horse, but you sure do act like it. Who are you exactly to call people out anyway?

    I am not staying silent when the same old tired tropes about black artists are trotted out.
    Again, YOU'RE the one who made an issue out of him being a black artist and made assumptions that anyone who criticized his work must be doing so BECAUSE he's a black artist. You put that energy into this thread. Don't pretend that it was already here before you arrived.

  29. #59
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    This thread is a fuckin tire fire.

    I don't have much to add other than this: The reason why you (the royal 'you') think the sample feels out of place is because you know where said sample came from. The Ghosts track has a familiarity and hearing it mixed into a foreign song might be off-putting. That does not make it out of place or lazy. If anything it makes YOU lazy because you can't be bothered to listen with an objective ear to understand why the song or riff or whatever was sampled from the song you love so much. It's ok to dislike it. I don't particularly care for the song but if you divorce yourself from the NIN aspect and listen to how the vocals / beat play off the sample...IMO it works.

    @Max you're a saint.

  30. #60
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    Quote Originally Posted by cdm View Post
    This thread is a fuckin tire fire.

    I don't have much to add other than this: The reason why you (the royal 'you') think the sample feels out of place is because you know where said sample came from. The Ghosts track has a familiarity and hearing it mixed into a foreign song might be off-putting. That does not make it out of place or lazy. If anything it makes YOU lazy because you can't be bothered to listen with an objective ear to understand why the song or riff or whatever was sampled from the song you love so much. It's ok to dislike it. I don't particularly care for the song but if you divorce yourself from the NIN aspect and listen to how the vocals / beat play off the sample...IMO it works.

    @Max you're a saint.
    It's not about where the sample came from either. It seems like you guys are trying to find any excuse to defend a track that most of us already admitted isn't very good.

    "Must be because he's a black artist."
    "Must be because you're a NIN fanatic."
    "Some people like it, therefore it is above criticism."

    My opinion is that the track is terrible and representative of the same tired pop/rap music that gets trotted out for the masses every day. It doesn't matter to me that they used a NIN sample. It doesn't matter to me that it's a black artist behind it. It doesn't matter to me how popular it is. All of that is irrelevant to me. The song just doesn't sound good to these ears. Sorry, but that's the way it is. That said, I'm not going to sit here and have it implied that I'm a racist simply because I don't like a song by ONE black artist, as if that means I'm condemning black music and black people as a whole. That's pretty fucked up, and the mob mentality surrounding that is fucked up too.

    By the way, if you want to be supportive of black artists, there are many, many more out there that are worth more of your time than Lil Nas X. Just sayin'...
    Last edited by BRoswell; 04-12-2019 at 10:03 AM.

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