Combination Music Research: The Finale

L to R: Rapper Nelly and Country Music singer Tim McGraw from "Over and Over Again" video

Mashups and crossover music have been on the rise in popularity in recent years, but little has been written about them thus far. The culture and fan base of the two types, while disorganized and nebulous, are dying for attention, so we decided to investigate. No term existed as an umbrella covering mashups and crossover music, so we decided to call both genres together by “combination music.”

Combination music is worth studying for more than its popularity; it also generates a lot of buzz. Unifying divergent subcultures and polarizing listeners, combination music make anyone within earshot question what about music they like. This new and emerging genre brings together two different sounds that are the opposite ends of the spectrum musically, therefore, creates more controversy than actual praise of the new sound. The combining of rock and rap also clashes the contrasting images that rock and rap stars emit. It engenders an uncomfortable middle ground to some, and to others it forges a bridge that they had long been in search of.  Hip-hop has always been a radically changing genre, and re-invented itself numerous times over the course of its existence (Forman 2002). So when sampling arose in the mid to late 1980s DJ's started sampling anything "from heavy metal to country" (Demers 2003).  The ability to sample widened the sound of hip-hop and therefore planted the seed for the beginnings of crossover music.

For our research of this emerging culture we accessed numerous web materials and interviewed those with some knowledge and some with opinions of the genre in question. Most of our research on mashups was done online because the internet is its main domain in this era of in which more and more people are listening to, and posting, music online (Duckworth 1999). In contrast, the bulk of our crossover notes were taken from interviews and iTunes reviews.

Through our research, we've been pointed to some interesting conclusions about combination music. The most recent (and most controversial) creation in the rock/rap crossover genre has been Rebirth, the long awaited album by Lil Wayne. Lil Wayne has been in the rap business since he was 15 years old and has been considered a prototypical rap star. All of his albums have been purely rap/hip-hop until he announced the release of Rebirth as a “rock” album. The release of his singles “Prom Queen” and “Hot Revolver” stirred up controversy with both rap and rock fans. As seen in our fieldnotes, the majority of feedback relating to his album on almost any website was purely negative and even denouncing of his previous work on rap albums now that he had journeyed into the rock genre. One person went so far as to say that he took his Carter III CD (an all rap album that came out before Rebirth) and tossed it out the window after he had listened to Lil Wayne's new "rock" singles. It is clear that any artist, not just Lil Wayne, takes a risk when they deviate from the genre with which their fans typically associate them. See the video to Lil Wayne's first single off of Rebirth below:

An interview with Marques Coleman (pictured left), rap purist, echoed similar sentiments to the ones found in iTunes reviews and youtube comments. He expressed frustration with his favorite rap artists making and/or being featured in music that didn't fit the stereotypical rap song layout. Marques, like many others, said that he had lost respect for artists that had done work with the rock genre.  

A contradicting opinion came from Tyler Collins, self-proclaimed

 rock fan (pictured right).  He offered the opinion that music is music, believing that an artist's history made no difference.  'If the latest album is good, it is good, regardless of what old ones were like.'  

Together, Marques and Tyler represent the vast majority of opinions of crossover music.  We have found that, in general, crossover songs are either evaluated  including considerations for their origins (ex-  a rock song from a rapper) or with a single-minded focus on the product.

Responses to mashups are very similar.  A consistent theme mashups and crossovers show is that they typically rub purists the wrong way.  Fans who only like one genre or another typically won't like the mix.  Still, many fans exist who appreciate musical diversity, and they are the ones more likely to enjoy mashups.  As noted in our interview with Liam McGranahan, fans of mashups can rest assured that they will be around for a while because they change with trends.  By definition they aren't rooted in a particular sound, so they can float around and draw on whatever is currently popular.

As is apparent from what has been presented thus far, our research has led us to a strong understanding to how listeners perceive and respond to both crossover and mashup songs.  Absent to this point has been explicit discussion of combination culture.  

The search for combination music culture has been an arduous one because it doesn’t live in clubs (in great signficance) or show up on t-shirts.  We failed to find anyone who sewed half of a Daughtry shirt to half of a 50 Cent shirt, or any other style that would constitute an aesthetic representation of combination music culture.  Never did we find a radio station that played only crossover songs and mashups.  Neither were we able to locate a TV music countdown show devoted to the genre.  In not finding a lot of these things we came to a key conclusion:  combination music lies between two cultures, but isn’t one on its own.

 

 Still, combination music exists and is still significant.  Combination music fans are a group of people with a real appreciation for music that have diverse tastes.  Combination music doesn’t bring with it subcultural capital in the same sense that other genres do (Hebdige 1979).  This can sound like a negative, but it can also be taken to prove its fans enjoy the music for the music (because they certainly aren’t into it because they like the fashion). On the mashup side, you can almost be sure that its creators do what they do for the love of it.  Due to legality issues, they are not allowed to sell their works, and there is currently not a large demand for mashup artists as performers (outside of Girl Talk).  Crossover music, some would say, is a less noble department.  At times artists dabble in other areas in the hopes of increasing their followers (Ying Yang Twins), others decide to brave the uncharted for changes in personal taste (Lil Wayne).   Still, another category of crossovers are the products of collaborations with two or more artists who happen to find each other inexplicably (Nelly and Tim McGraw).

Above is "Over and Over Again" by Nelly and Tim McGraw, a video that isn't shy about playing into the "two worlds coming together" idea

Further research should uncover why certain music styles become cultures and why others remain just music styles.  We know that combination music isn't precluded from being a culture to itself because it is a mixture of things.  One look at Salsa can tell you that (Duany 1984).  Also, it would be interesting to find which genres, when paired up with another in a mashup or crossover song, are most efficacious when it comes to garnering new fans for genres.  Rap has had high exposure levels (Sullivan 2003).  So are listeners more likely to turn a deaf ear to any song that includes it than (for example) a folk song?  

All in all, this project was a combination of two things:  exploration and discovery.

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Works Cited 

Demers, Joanna. "Sampling the 1970s in Hip-Hop." Popular Music 22 (2003): 41-56.

Duany 1984 

Duckworth, William. "Making Music on the Web." Leonardo Music Journal 9 (1999): 13-17. 

Forman, Murray. "Review: No Sleep 'Til Brooklyn." American Quarterly 54 (2002): 101-27. 

Hebdige 1979

Sullivan, Rachel E. "Rap and Race: It's Got a Nice Beat, but What about the Message?" Journal of Black Studies 33 (2003): 605-22. 

Critical Review 8: Wald 2001

A product of old Spanish ballad forms (the romanza and the decima), corridos are Mexican/Mexican-American ballads that offer a realistic portrayal of life to its performers. In staying realistic, Wald noted, topics can be seedy or coarse and the most popular tended to be "violent romantic engagements." Moving forward, Wald mentions that corrido is more popular than most would think, with many of its artists being signed to major record labels. As might be expected, the genre that focuses on outlaws and bandits has been accused of leading youth astray. Still it is a popular genre that has as much power as the newspaper.

Discussion Question: What differences in ideology or opinion exist in people who get their news from music (corrido and other genres) versus those who primarily get news from sources with which we are more accustomed? How does drawing conclusions from corrido color the conclusions one draws?

Fieldnotes 2: iTunes Responses

So far I have interviewed a mashup scholar and rock fan in-depth to get opinions on various forms of combination music, but to increase the numbers of opinions I have, while working under the constraint of time, I have turned to iTunes reviews to get a feel for the differing responses to combination music.

A great example of what Sean and I would define as combination music is Nelly and Tim McGraw's crossover hit "Over and Over." This was also a prime song to look at because its reviews vary, expressing divergent opinions on the country/rap song.

Note: Snapshots of reviews will appear small because of formatting issues, but click on them and they will become large enough to read.
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Here somnambulist reveals one effect that combination music can have; it can open listeners of one genre up to a new one that they may embrace. This reviewer even uses the word "discovered." A takeaway from this review is that one need not necessarily be a fan of all genres that are combined in combination music before hearing it to enjoy it.
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In this review, Mikey the Great aptly points out that for an artist, the risk of dabbling in a new genre is not a fleeting one that fades away quickly. It can impact their image long past the time that a single is released. Mikey the Great doesn't explicitly say "image" here, but his mention of street cred can be used as a substitute. Another key point to denote here is that Mikey the Great was a fan of Nelly before this song came out. Certainly, there will always be listeners who write terrible reviews for artists they already disliked, but the true fans whose opinions change for the worse are really the ones with whom artists must be concerned when attempting to cross over genre lines.
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In comparing country and rap to peanutbutter and pickles, moonshine19's review shows that not all the animosity tied into disliking a form of combination music is placed on the shoulders of the artist or group.
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Here is another example of a reviewer who mentioned image.
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While the examples I provided here were mostly negative, eight out of 11 references to the song in the reviews were positive. There is clearly response bias involved (chances are those who didn't buy it/didn't like it were less likely to respond), but to be fair I included the breakdown.
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To touch on the mashup side of combination music, I looked at reviews of "Frontin' on Debra (DJ Reset Mash-Up)," a combination of Beck's "Debra" and Pharrell's "Frontin.'"


This one struck me because in it, juleshills actually refers to the song as a mashup (rare in these reviews) and outlines what a mashup should do.
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This review shows a major distinction between crossover songs and mashups. When it comes to mashups, artists are not held accountable because their music is fused with another's music often without consent.

Critical Review 7: Duany 1984

Jorge Duany opens his 1984 article by tracing salsa's roots back to a mix of racial culture found in Puerto Rico, more specifically, the rural lowlands. Moving on, Duany covers salsa's jump to New York City, a place not all too different from the place of its inception. Finally, through describing three songs, it is pointed out that salsa provides a platform for social commentary on the struggles of living the working-class life. After reading the article, it is clear that salsa place (despite being questioned) is a key part of Puerto Rican Culture.

Discussion Question: How do musical styles that come from a mostly homogeneous racial group (like bhangra) differ on any level from those that develop out of amalgamations of racial groups (like salsa)?

Critical Review 6: Back 1996 Part I

In chapter eight, "'Inglan, nice up!': black music, autonomy and the cultural intermezzo" Back begins by explaining the racism-based context from which black-owned clubs were born in London.  In the absence of places that would accept them, black's developed a space of their own where they played prerecorded music.  Lyrics denote political agenda, dance brings people of the diaspora together, and the decor ties the rest together.

Discussion Question:  "Would cultural segregation (by this I mean clubs meant for blacks) like this have existed in post-war London with the influx of Caribbean blacks if not for the racism they faced from whites?  Would there be more blending if not for this?

Critical Review 5: Walser 1993

In the introduction and first chapter of Walser's 1993 book, reasons for the history of neglect of heavy metal, and reasons that it is pertinent are explored.  Early on, and throughout the piece, comparisons to classical music are made in an effort to put the two on the same level rather than simply to legitimate heavy metal.  Black Sabbath, Judas Priest, and Metallica among many other were brought into the discussion as potential first heavy metal bands, while the rise of the genre was cataloged.  After sharing results from a survey aimed at getting inside the mind of a heavy metal fan, Walser concludes by returning to the conversation of why heavy metal has been either deserted or misinterpreted by scholars.

Discussion Question:  As an explanation for why blacks are not significantly represented in the heavy metal fan base, Walser notes, "If the motive for much white music making has been the imperative of reproducing black culture without black people in it, no comparable reason exists to draw black musicians and fans into traditionally white genres." Do we believe this is true? To me it seems that this explanation only covers why black music historians would not join in. Regardless of history, why aren't more blacks interested? 

Rock Fan Interview

To counter my partner Sean Kane's interview of a rap fan's view of combination music, I interview Tyler Collins, a sophomore at Brown and fan of primarily rock.

Chris Taylor:  Alright, Tyler who are your top five rock bands?

Tyler Collins:  I'm more of a pop rock, or alternative guy.  I like Daughtry or Goo Goo Dolls or The Fray.  Those are the top three, easily.

CT:  Are you a fan of any rap?  Is there any rap on your iTunes?

TC:  Yeah, mostly the mainstream stuff... I'm not going to say I'm a rap person.  Just the mainstream stuff, maybe one or two songs from all the popular people.

CT:  So now we're going to listen to two songs from Lil Wayne.  [Songs played]  Okay, having listened to "Hot Revolver" and "Prom Queen," what are your thoughts?

TC:  He's better at rapping.  I think it's also what you get used to coming from him.  He's got a distinct voice.  Hearing him do that is definitely different.  You've gotten used to him rapping.  It wasn't bad it was just different.

CT:  Did you enjoy the songs?

TC:  Yeah.  I mean, I did to some extent.  They weren't my favorite songs, but I definitely enjoyed them to some extent.

CT:  How do you feel seeing a rapper venture into the rock world?

TC:  If he can do it that's good.  I don't feel like there are boundaries, but a lot of people have styles that they are better at.  Definitely, there are better singers than Lil Wayne doing rock.

CT:  Do you think that you would be any more likely to buy either of those two songs if they were by an established rock band?

TC:  What do you mean an established rock band?  You mean someone like a......?

CT:  If those two songs were actually by Daughtry-

TC:  I was thinking Daughtry actually.  I think it would be different because I think Daughtry can carry a note a little bit differently than Lil Wayne can.

CT:  So it is more on pure skill that you would discriminate?

TC:  Yeah, definitely.  It has less to do with the fact that it is Lil Wayne.

CT:  Would you consider buying [Lil Wayne's] new all rock album that comes out on April 7th?

TC:  I would.  Yeah, I'd consider it.

CT:  Does Lil Wayne starting into the rock genre hurt or help his credibility in your eyes in any way?

TC:  I don't think it hurts it.  I mean, it doesn't help it.  Music is music.  I think it just depends on what you like to listen to.  Some people may say he's leaving what he's good at, but... whatever he wants to do.

CT:  How about Kanye West?  He's obviously gotten a little bit away from straight rap.  What did you think of his latest album?

TC:  I actually liked it probably about the same as all the others.  To be honest it was about the same.

CT:  Okay, now we're about to listen to a little bit of DJ Danger Mouse's Grey Album.  [Songs played]  We just listened to "Moment of Clarity," and right before that we heard "What More Can I Say."  What did you think?

TC:  They were different-  They were fine.  Jay Z is pretty distinct too.  He's done so many mashups I'm used to that.  Did he do that?

CT:  No, that is DJ Danger Mouse that did it.

TC:  I mean there has been so many with Jay Z, like doing the "Bittersweet Symphony" one, that I'm kind of getting used to it actually.

CT:  Do you listen to that any differently than you would Lil Wayne, where it's his (Lil Wayne's) original song that is rock.

TC:  I think I tend to enjoy, depending on the song they mash it up with, the Jay Z more because it is songs like "Bittersweet Symphony" that you know and you like and have heard a lot of times.  But I would probably say good job Lil Wayne for making a new song.

CT:  Lets say Jay Z is mashed up with a rock song, is that a rock song to you?  Or is it something totally different?

TC:  It is something different.

CT:  Would you call Lil Wayne's "Hot Revolver" a rock song?

TC:  I would call that a rock song, just not a rock singer as much, but it's a rock song.  He's trying.

CT:  So say a rock artist like Daughtry has the intention of going over to rap music.  Would that change your opinion of them?

TC:  No but they might not be good. [Laughs]  It wouldn't change my opinion of them but I wouldn't buy their music if it wasn't good. 

CT:  Very fair.  Do you think rap/rock combination music has a place in popular music and is a legitimate genre?

TC:  I don't know if it is a legitimate genre, because a lot of them are too similar [to either rap or rock].  Even though they try to branch over, I feel like most of them really lean one way or  the other.  I wouldn't call it its own genre, it's more of a blend.  But, you can definitely tell when you listen to a song which one's which.  Like I'd call the Grey Album rap and Lil Wayne rock.  Even thought they are a blend, I think there's a difference.

CT:  Is the blurring or shading of inter-genre lines a good thing, or is it frustrating like seeing your food on your plate touch.

TC:  I actually mix all my food together so it doesn't bother me at all.  It's fine, it doesn't bother me at all.  Especially for a lot of people, I know they get sick of the same thing so it works out for them too.

CT:  So in general you'd say it is a good thing?

TC:  Yeah, it's a good thing, if they can do it.