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Originality by Sipho Fako
As a musician from Cape Town,
I have encountered the term originality for as long as I have written tracks.
In my rookie days I bit popular lyrics and mixed them with my own creating what I thought was world class verses.
This however was clearly seen as wack by the majority. The reason being that it lacked originality.
A few years later, after much practice I was writing my own bite-free verses. These verses spoke about my life, in my way. Listening to local acts like ProKid and HHP helped a lot in the structuring of songs - hook,verse,hook or verse,hook,verse,hook etc. I mainly used this method of structuring my tracks and talking about my life in them. This worked for them and was working for me. I was so glad that I could finally be 100% original till I was told that my
So this thing of originality, what did it exactly mean? I didn't think I
A few years later, after much practice I was writing my own bite-free verses. These verses spoke about my life, in my way. Listening to local acts like ProKid and HHP helped a lot in the structuring of songs - hook,verse,hook or verse,hook,verse,hook etc. I mainly used this method of structuring my tracks and talking about my life in them. This worked for them and was working for me. I was so glad that I could finally be 100% original till I was told that my
product wasn't actually that original.
So this thing of originality, what did it exactly mean? I didn't think I
sounded like anybody else.Matter of fact I've been told I don't sound like anybody else. I didn’t bite, I wrote about my own life.
This surely made me 100% original.
As I had this mental argument, a few things got me thinking as to what actually determined the originality of an artist's mixtape. Was there even such a things as a 100% original album or mixtape? Should originality only be based on the message in the songs? Should a reviewer ignore the fact that there are thousands of rappers who have spoken about their life stories and views on tracks? Should the fact that the beats used, though being fresh as hell, be viewed as 100% original even if there is a similar sound out there? Can't a reviewer just ignore the song structure, it has been used and all, but can't he/she let the message cloud all of that.
Too many questions clogged my head as I tired myself in thinking about this thing called originality. I used to think it just meant something new and not cloned but when I actually thought about it, it went further than that. Perhaps you might disagree, which I totally respect, but this concept is surely more complex than we think. What's your point, is what most of you are thinking right now. And I'm afraid I don’t have much of point. Guess I'm just trying to make you see that penetrating these taken-for-granted concepts can actually give us a better perspective. Ultimately improving the way we make music and handle constructive criticism.
One Love
Mr. Fako.
As I had this mental argument, a few things got me thinking as to what actually determined the originality of an artist's mixtape. Was there even such a things as a 100% original album or mixtape? Should originality only be based on the message in the songs? Should a reviewer ignore the fact that there are thousands of rappers who have spoken about their life stories and views on tracks? Should the fact that the beats used, though being fresh as hell, be viewed as 100% original even if there is a similar sound out there? Can't a reviewer just ignore the song structure, it has been used and all, but can't he/she let the message cloud all of that.
Too many questions clogged my head as I tired myself in thinking about this thing called originality. I used to think it just meant something new and not cloned but when I actually thought about it, it went further than that. Perhaps you might disagree, which I totally respect, but this concept is surely more complex than we think. What's your point, is what most of you are thinking right now. And I'm afraid I don’t have much of point. Guess I'm just trying to make you see that penetrating these taken-for-granted concepts can actually give us a better perspective. Ultimately improving the way we make music and handle constructive criticism.
One Love
Mr. Fako.
Article By Sipho Fako
