Thursday, April 5, 2012

Busta Rhymes & a 1981 PSA Announcement

I've traced Busta Rhymes' "Dangerous" to find out which songs he's sampled. I remember when I was younger watching his videos thinking they were pretty weird but awesome at the same time. Seeing where he traced some of his songs from just makes me think he's more unique and extremely creative.
The first song Busta traced in "Dangerous" is one in a 1981 PSA from Long Island Poison Control about prescription meds. It's a cheesy commercial where puppet pills are singing about how dangerous they are. Busta uses their song as his chorus:
"This is serious
We could make you delirious
You should have a healthy fear of us
'Cause too much of us is dangerous"
I definitely think Busta Rhymes is creative in using this as his chorus, it's even pretty funny to find out and listen to. His use of the chorus is talking about he and his friends being dangerous, almost like a drug. It's just so funny that it came from a PSA. He was 9 years old when the commercial came out and did live in New York, so maybe he saw the commercial and remembered it for the 16 years before "Dangerous" came out. A cheesy PSA announcement is the last place I would expect a rapper to get inspiration from.
In "Dangerous" Busta Rhymes uses a slightly altered version of Extra T's "E.T. Boogie", which came out in 1982, for his beats. The original song is a dance song, but the way Busta alters and uses it has turned it into a quirky hip hop beat that seems like it would be original to Busta. I think it was creative to use the beat from this song, since he used it for a different genre and turned it into something that sounds unique to him.
I'm not sure whether I would consider either sample stealing, especially considering when Miller says, "And I'm attracted to writing's infectiousness, the way you pick up language from other writers and make it as your own." I think he was influenced by both "E.T. Boogie" and the PSA, but made them his own. The wording was the same as in the PSA, but used in a totally different way and for a totally different purpose. The PSA had a purpose of educating, where Busta had a purpose of self-expression and entertainment.
When sampling "E.T. Boogie" I think Busta recreated the beats and made them his own. I think he was more inspired than outright taking some else's work. It's like what Keller said in her article, "New art builds on old art. We hear music, process it, reconfigure it, and create something derivative but new." Though "Dangerous" is very close to the Extra T's song, it is not identical and has been changed to create Busta's song. This makes me think of apparel, where one designer can change another designer's clothes slightly, then sell them as their own.
I really thing "Dangerous" is a great song and Busta Rhymes was creative in making. I do wonder, since he was so young when the samples he used came out, if he was inspired back then. That would be awesome and impressive.

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