So, I'm a huge fan of Girl Talk.
No, not gossip or talking about shopping or shoes- the man, the myth, the somewhat notorious Gregg Gillis. He is Girl Talk, the genius behind mash-up that goes beyond the common term. Mash-up music is when a D.J. remixes elements of different songs and fuses them together to make another song. However, Girl Talk takes elements of songs from every decade, genre, and Billboard chart spot and forms an entirely unique original seamless track.
Well, the term "original" is being used abstractly here because Girl Talk has been getting into a little bit of legal trouble over his use of samples and copyright laws. After causing a stir via Myspace by letting his fans choose how much they'd like to pay for his latest album, "Feed The Animals", Girl Talk had to explain how he was barely crossing the line. The snippets he uses are the equivalent of sampling a track from iTunes or any online media player. Seriously, the amount of time the samples are used go from 15 seconds to less than one. The small samples are legal through the "Fair use" section of copyright law.
Girl Talk succeeds in distracting the media from copyright laws through his flawless skills and his back story to how he got his gig. Gregg Gillis, pre-Girl Talk was a biomedical engineer. After going through all the schooling required to get to his profession, he quit it all in May of 2007 to pursue his passion of creating music.
I see this as kind of fighting the Empire in a way. Pursuing your passion instead of continuing down the same path that's expected of you.
And it's kind of a kick in the face to the Empire as well. Just look what he can create without being penalized for his creativity. It might sound like a creative cop out- but just listen for yourself, you'll know what I mean.
I think that's what we're all called to do, it's part of our human purpose. Being part of the Kingdom calls for us to pursue what we can bring to the table, doing what we love. Girl Talk may not be specifically pursuing his passion for the glory of God, but I think he can be a good example of staying out of the Empire's "rut", if you will.
Girl Talk is one big lawsuit waiting to happen, but can throw one real good dance party.
Girl Talk is a great artist to spend some time getting to know; he's certainly doing a lot of amazing stuff that flies in the face of an empire of consumerism. I don't think I've ever heard someone seamlessly mix so many diverse samples as well as he does!
ReplyDeleteHe does, though, seem to use an inordinate number of very sexually explicit samples in his mixes--which, while not implicitly problematic, is often questionable and distracting. I imagine he uses these samples because of the popularity of the original piece, but often times it seems as though he dwells too heavily on that kind of material.
All in all, though, he's doing amazing and challenging work.