Will I Am Guilty.

music from the heart or from other people!?!

OK, So say you’re Will.i.am. You went to fashion school, you’ve won tons of awards for your own music and for producing other artists, and you’re one of eleven artists to have a #1 and #2 on Billboard simultaneously (Boom Boom Pow and I Gotta Feeling). You’re looking at your setlist for your new album. You need one more track to round it out. You’re on a deadline. Do you hope for new inspiration to come to you as you sit in the studio, or do you stealthily steal a song from a not so well known DJ/artist who only released 1000 original copies of his debut solo CD, which scored a 3.5 star rating from Allmusic ?

So let’s analyze our friend will.i.am. for a second, born William James Adams, Jr. He’s been rapping since before 1991 and was discovered by Easy-E of NWA (his first song was delightfully titled “Merry Motherf**king XMAS" haha). So he’s been at this music game for almost 2 decades (more than long enough to reach his 10,000 hours). He's put in time, devoted his life to music, exuberates passion on and off the stage, and is a superstar! So why cheat? Why steal?

"It was a lack of finalising legalities before releasing the record, clearance was not done and that was what it was about." (he claims here which also includes details on a tribute concert the peas will be holding). The Peas apparently claim they simply hadn't yet contacted Adam Freeland for legal permission. But haven't we heard that defense before though Mr. I. Am? Weren't you forced to take out a Daft Punk sample in one of your songs, I Got it From My Momma, in 2007 because you hadn't yet cleared it with the gods of robo-future-Francsaise-Techno??

Here's a couple of "samples" people aren't as aware of (here's the part where this becomes an expose)...

"Pump It" from 2005's Monkey Business. I.AM claims he was inspired by the Turkish Dick Dale song "Misirlou" to record a song in its style. However, what he did instead was TAKE THE ACTUAL SONG AND PUT VOCALS OVER IT!! Just like he did with Freeland's "Mancry"!! Granted, this time he gave credit where credit was due to the son gs writer but again instead of using a song as inspiration he used the song itself!

"Clumsy", produced by Will.I.Am. but on stagemate Fergie's solo CD The Dutchess, is really a collection of samples from 3 different songs with Fergie's vocals over top. (Of course my source on this is wikipedia though so don't take this as gold).

Here's an instance of where I.AM. did the right thing - "Rock That Body" from the Pea's 2009 release The E.N.D. which includes samples from "It Takes Two" and what sounds to me (so unofficially) strangely like Daft Punk. Then again, I.Am. is using similar synthetic instrumentsas the French Duo so this may just be a coincidence.

At first I thought the buzz about the Freeland "sample" was only hype because of the simplicity of the song itself but at a closer listen "Party All the Time" features identical drum fills as "Mancry". Days later, Will.I.Am admitted to stealing the song. Closer analysis shows that he's done this in the past and relies heavily on sampling the work of other artists (which is a huge trend in hip-hop anyway).

So what does this mean? Should I.Am. be sued? Should Freeland make more off this one oversight than he probably did on sales of his entire career? Should the Pea's be robbed of their likely Album of the Year recognition?? NO!

All that this points to is that music in our current age is free free free free! (Spotify anyone??) Any song, album, and even dis cography is only clicks away - easily accessible and priceless (literally). The question is, where is the line drawn? Just at listenening? What about burning these songs to a CD and passing it to a friend? What about posting an MP3 on a blog without legal permission?? No, most of us would agree where it crosses into moral and legal wrongness is passing off another artists song as your own and Will.I.Am broke this musicians code.

Here's my opinion: The Pea's should pay simply because it will never be legal to break copyright law. However,what this is an example of is the results of the decreasing price of music (there is none!) and the increasing number of artists out there. Because of these two things I.Am thought he'd be able to get away with this "sample" - because he thought no one would notice the similarities. Or he just forgot to ask our man Adam? Dragging this out however may get Freeland some listens so if I were his lawyer I'd probably take Will.I.Am. to court.

We have copyright laws for a reason Mr. I.Am.

Here you decide: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AbJ5kHfIhC4