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May 27, 2008

Priceless: Usher's 'Love in the Club' is 'simply a mixture of two GarageBand stock samples'...

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Digital Music News:

Usher has achieved phenomenal attention on his latest single, “Love In This Club,” though the underlying beats appear to be lifted from GarageBand. The controversy actually dates back to early April, when a sleuthing at-home producer noticed that the song contained stock samples offered by Apple. The finished track was created by high-profile producer Polow da Don.


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23 Comments

#1 thelink says:

see swarm, this is what i love about you. not only the headline and the story itself, but the visual as an added editorial bonus!

i love you daily swarm. each and every day of my life.

#2 Kevin says:

funny, my friend wrote the same thing in February
http://rawkblog.blogspot.com/2008/02/...

#3 newsworthy says:

thats right. bring it back.

#4 Michael Cain says:

If you think this is new, you need to listen to Rhianna's "Umbrella" again...and go find the EXACT drum beat in the Garageband samples file.

For the record, Hip-Hop has been sampling soul and R&B records from Day One. There should be no surprise that somebody "sampled" Garageband. A product of the times.

#5 old news says:

this is old news...not really a big deal. just because polow found the sample on a free software stock library doesnt mean much. he's still the first to put it together. look at folks who sample james brown...its not like they're digging that deep...

#6 Cheech says:

This kid is SO high

#7 RWMS says:

Okay, so what's your point here? What's the big "F'n" deal?

Usher gets a hit song and GarageBand gets put more on the map... Life is good!

FYI - One beat does not an artist make. Usher has talent, and if just the GarageBand track (raw) were released as a single, who would buy it?

Good music is good music and sometimes comes from many ideas:

Check out the song "What I like about you" from the Romantics (1980) and then "R.O.C.K In the USA" by John (Cougar)Mellencamp (1985).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jp5GhT...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MzYkjv...

Me thinks you will get the picture - (smile)

-Ron Wiles
http://www.myspace.com/ronwilesmusicshow

#8 DW says:

Definitely wack and most people know it. garageband is for WANNABE pros, THAT'S THE POINT.

RWMS, your examples have nothing to do with the issue at hand here. Nice try, though. The only picture "me" gets is that your attempted "writing" and knowledge of music is as wack as a supposed "pros" snaking a garageband loop. You and Usher are apparently peas-in-a-polow-da-pod.

"Hip hop" doesn't get much wacker than this

#9 idkidm says:

the question here is one of laziness being passed off as creativity. if the song was as good as "Umbrella," i'd feel a little differently, but this sounds like the same tired garbage.

i really hope whoever A&R'd the record reads this article though... hilarity would surely ensue.

#10 RWMS says:

"DW" here's a little update on the music biz...
The "music business" is 99% business and 1% music. It has been like this for a while.

As far as being professional, you are by definition from the moment you are paid for the service.

"proˈfessional3 [-ʃə-] adjective
earning money by performing, or giving instruction, in a sport or other activity that is a pastime for other people; not amateur
Example: a professional musician/golfer"

The "garageband is for WANNABE pros" remark speaks volumes, and is elitist in nature.

FYI - Talent, not equipment makes an artist. The public by way of purchase make CD and record sales happen. No one puts a gun to their head to do it.

Calling Usher's talent into question on one song is "Wack" as you put it. One song does not make an artist.

And if you really don't get the talent over the gear connection check out the bio on Soulja Boy.

He did a 3 million in sales of his hit song "Crank That".

*http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crank_That_%28Soulja_Boy%29

For the record, he used a demo copy of the less than stellar
"Fruity Loops" for the orginal track. (A less than $40 software to own)

CREED recorded their debut CD for $6,000 it went on to sell 6 million copies.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/My_Own_P...

Bruce Springsteen recorded Nebraska on a 4 track tape recorder.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nebraska_%28album%29

My point is, the gear is not what people care mostly about. No real artist in their right mind would make the gear the priority. It's nice to record in top notch studios,etc. But if you've got the raw talent, all that suff will fall into place soon enough.

A good song stands on it's own. Like a well written jingle.

"I am stuck on a band ____, 'cos a band ____ stuck on me"

(Let me guess, you did that without the music, hmmmm)

Look into it.

-Ron Wiles
http://www.myspace.com/ronwilesmusicshow

#11 DW says:

Now you're saying "here's a little update on the music biz...
The "music business" is 99% business and 1% music"

Then why were you attempting to defend the supposed MUSICALITY of this wack shit?

And then later attempt to prove the supposed musical talent of a person by SALES?

Plus, your additional "examples" STILL have nothing to do with the issue at hand, just like your earlier irrelevant examples.

#12 DukeMushroom says:

Question is...

Then what's stopping some Garage Band User from using the same samples and then just singing something different on top, creating their own Copyright from the same Music Bed???

Love to see that battle out in court!

#13 RWMS says:

I have spoken, nuff said. Get a new topic to wreck your brains here.

#14 Steven Patrick Morrissey says:

usher's a twat. the song's garbage. it's a hit. lather. rinse. repeat.

move on.

#15 wa-wa-wa-whaaaatt? says:

apparently rwms either cannot read his own writing or he is commissioned by usher to write paradox b.s.:

RWMS:
"The "music business" is 99% business and 1% music. It has been like this for a while.
Talent, not equipment makes an artist. The public by way of purchase make CD and record sales happen. No one puts a gun to their head to do it."

so if it's 99% business, then why does talent count?

the point here is clear and nothing more, its not about being a professional, or an amateur.

ITS MERELY THAT A TWO YEAR OLD COULD DRAG THE CLIPS FROM THE MEDIA WINDOW AND PUT THEM INTO A TRACK AND OVERDUB USHER'S VOCALS.

this can't even be considered sampling, because when sampling you actually have to do a little bit of what a musician does...

pathetic

#16 RWMS says:

Jeez,

When it gets to the point that so called musicians make more noise on these comment boards than notable music elswhere. I really have to throw out the talent flag!

FYI - It's a bright yellow one like the kind the NFL uses and it says.

(insert whistle sfx)

"YOU HAVE NO TALENT THAT HAS BEEN NOTABLE ENOUGH TO SPEAK OF OR WRITE ABOUT, STOP YOUR BITCHIN'!"

DMGTH

-Ron Wiles
http://www.myspace.com/ronwilesmusicshow

#17 wa-wa-wa-whaaaatt? says:

hey ron, let me know then how important usher's work will be when compared to steve reich, phillip glass, beethoven, the beatles, or even, come on, kanye west?

#18 VH Juan says:

DW - 2 RWMS - 0

#19 polowww says:

this guys a dumb ass

#20 DW says:

Um, wouldn't that be a "_NO_ talent" flag? And what the hell is that ANYWAY? I've never heard of those, but apparently they must be fairly large to contain all that text in ALL CAPS.

Or perhaps that text is merely what YOU see, since you seem to be more than familiar with that sentiment being hurled your way.

At any rate, if it's some kind of attempted play off of an american football "penalty" flag it would definitely _have_ to be a "NO talent" flag. Throwing a "talent" flag would indicate someone had committed talent.

Plus, didn't you already claim you had said "'nuff"?

I didn't think you'd dig yourself any deeper after your ridiculous comment that defending the amateur status of "Garageband" was supposedly "elitist". But your latest attempt at insulting humor coupled with your exceptionally hypocritical "do more good than harm" twaddle after telling people you think they have no talent is pathetic.

#21 Usher Co-Assistant says:

lucas is a smelly girl

#22 frost says:

I think its a fake...i never found that loop in garageband. if its real can he prove it by providing the loops?

#23 my name doesnt realy mater much says:

its such a shame the majority of america and the world for that matter is brainwashed into buying this so called popular music. this is just a simple example or how uninspiring, unoriginal, and unintelligent this pop/rnb is today, the beats are so sad compared to the cutting edge sampled tunes from the old days, dj premier for example and also dr dre (james brown as some1 said earlier) which were way ahead of there time as far as finding new sound palets got, but also the lyrics are in the cold light of day, undenyably unacceptable i n any which way u think about it. open your eyes

this is my main reason for turning to dance and electronic musics from hiphop which i started making, because althought most digital music doesnt have any lyrics, the sounds are so much more unique and the songs say so much more in a sense of meaning and unspoken message, even if that message is still 'bounce around and have a good time', at least it says it with sexism, rascism, generalisation, and acceptable low quality,

the synth is my voice and the drum machine my heart beat

one love,

from London


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