5: Copyright laws? Don’t Want None.

Sir Mix-A-Lot

For todays blog post I will be discussing remix in the style of modern hip hop music more specifically Nicki Minaj’s song Anaconda. Anaconda was released back in 2014 and remixes components from the infamous song by Sir Mix-A-lot Baby got back while still adding her own remix to it. As soon as the soon begins you immediately hear a lyrics Baby got back: my anaconda don’t wan’t none unless you got buns hun and Nicki begins to rap. Then not soon after you hear a sample of baby got back music play in the background of the chorus. When Anaconda came out it was a huge hit and most people who knew of Baby got back wondered how Sir mix-a-lot felt about his song being remixed to fit for the new generation. Well, not too long after the released of Anaconda Sir mix-a-lot stated in an article “It’s amazing how people — I guess maybe because they’re not in the industry — but how people think I should be mad about the song,” said Mix-a-Lot. “I think it’s cool, she took part of the song, she made a Nicki Minaj song.'”(billboard) He then continues and stated that Baby got back also used components from a different song called Technicolor by Channel One. There’s also video evidence that he loves the song referring to Anaconda as the new Baby got back referring to it as the new generations Baby got back.

Nicki Minaj

In the reading we read about the worries of copyright infringement which is basically the using of content without permission. I assume Nicki Minaj got the permission of Sir mix-a-alot to use his song especially since she probably knew the song was going to be a hit. However, I know that copyright infringement is a a problem within the internet community especially YouTube. Youtubers, especially must be extra careful in what music they put in their videos unless the music is royalty free, fair for free use, the video will be taken down. A popular example of this comes the YouTuber NigaHiga who back in 2006 had a few videos that had now been taken down by YouTube for Copyright infringement. But one video How to be Gangsta was put back on his channel even though it used popular songs, by Soldier boy, Colbie Caillat, Flo Rida, etc. without permission from the artist. This shows a clear disparity in punishment for copyright infringement even though this demonstrates using other peoples creation without permission

 

 

 

Final word count: 414

Works Cited:

https://www.billboard.com/articles/news/6259129/sir-mix-a-lot-i-love-nicki-minajs-anaconda