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PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY ANGELA CESERE AND BEN SIMON/Daly
Mash-up phenom Gregg Gillis
gets messy with samples
By Punit Mattoo I Daily Arts Writer
Clipse art
Duo's furious second
disc a masterpiece
By BRIAN CHEN
DailyArts Writer
After lawsuits, label politics and
frustrating delays of the Clipse's
sophomore effort Hell Hath No
Fury, it's easy to understand the
inspiration behind the album's title.
But what's surprising is the degree
of influence their anger has had in
the outcome of the final product.
In the opening track, the Ezekiel
25:17 passage from "Pulp Fiction"
offers clarification - Samuel L.
Jackson waxing poetic about "the
path of the righteous man" and "the
finder of lost children." It's grandi-
ose, but it's just ornamentation of
two guys laying "vengeance" upon
their enemies. Likewise, underlying
Malice and Pusha T's brilliant lyrics
and the Neptunes' impeccable pro-
duction is the raw sound of fury and
vitriol, unifying the album's varie-
gated tracks and establishing Hell
Hath No Fury asa cohesive classic.
Lyrically, the duo operates on
a previously untapped stratum of
emotion. It's the same drug-dealer
subject matter as in their debut, Lord
Willin', but now the content is more
caustic. There are still the memora-
ble one-liners ("OpentheFrigidaire,
twenty-five to life in here"), but this
time around the Clipsehaveinfused
their deft wordplay with a searing
wrath - every word and syllable is
meant to draw blood.
In "We Got It For Cheap," Pusha
raps, "No serum could cure /All the
pain I've endured / From crack to
rap / To back to sellin' it pure." For
further elucidation, brother Mal-
ice explains, "Pyrex and powder, it
was back to the norm / Through all
the adversity the fury was born."
Later, in "Ain't Cha," Pusha churl-
ishly sneers, "Oh, you just gon' take
We're a little worried about those sunglasses, but the album is still pretty damn good.
G reggGillis is amodern-day
Clark Kent.
During the week, Gil-
lis punches in at a biomedical
engineering company in sleepy,
suburban Pittsburgh. But once
the weekend hits, he plays host
to riotous blowouts around the
world under his increasingly pop-
ular moniker Girl Talk. Gillis's
second life remains a mystery to
his fellow employees who have
somehow managed to avoid read-
ing any of the snowballing blog
posts and magazine articles her-
alding last year's party mash-up
album, Night Ripper, as one of the
most fun releases in recent mem-
ory. Comprised of more than 250
samples from 164 artists - rang-
ing from the Ying Yang Twins to
the Pixies and even James Tay-
lor - Night Ripper is a frenzied
amalgamation of bits and pieces
of songs you've heard, but layered
upon each other and warped into
something that warrants no other
response than a simultaneous
balance of sheer adulation and
confusion.
The transformation into a DJ-
ing weekend warrior started well
before 24-year-old Gillis gradu-
ated from Case Western Univer-
sity. He was part of the obligatory
high school band, although the
group's incorporation of sam-
pling to accompany its noise-rock
sound provided the jump-off for
his future music projects. After
starting with the "sound collag-
es" he crafted from slightly more
obscure tracks, Gillis shifted
toward well-known Top 40 hits,
and it's the latter that has become
the bulk of his repertoire.
"I've always been a pop-music
fan, but just as I started making
music, I got into a lot more stan-
dard forms," Gillis explained.
"(Night Ripper) is abstract, but its
kind of a watered-down version
of what I've been doing over the
past few years."
The incorporation of readily
recognizable songs wasn't, how-
ever, a blatant attempt to appeal
to the masses.
Gillis emphasized the fur and
innovation involved in trans-
forming such popular cuts, saying
he "always thought there was a
huge power to kinda just 'recon-
textualize' familiar sources of
material." Newer recordings with
tighter production and the spread
of "click-and-play" tracks have
also persuaded him to stay away
from older songs and their more
loosely organized structure.
Despite increasing exposure
and high-profile gigs that even
landed him a spot on Chinese
television celebrating the Chi-
nese New Year in Vegas with
Kanye West, Gillis hasn't heard
any feedback from artists he's
sampled.
Labels have gotten in touch
with him though, and surpris-
ingly, not with legal papers.
Almost two years before his
distributor, Illegal Art, released
NightRipper, theyputoutthe now-
iconic The GreyAlbum - blending
The Beatles' The White Album
and Jay-Z's The Black Album - to
fanfare from listeners and critics,
and legal injunctions courtesy of
record-label lawyers who felt it
impinged upon their copyrights.
But with today's record indus-
try in a state of sales shock, label
representatives he spoke with
seemed to welcome and appreci-
ate the increased exposure for
their artists.
"I think a lot of people who
heard it kind of realized the
potential value in it, rather than
the perceived harm it could do,"
Gillis said.
The open distribution of Night
Ripper has helped him develop an
almost rabid fan base - especially
on college campuses. Tomorrow's
show sold out quickly after tickets
went up for sale. Concert orga-
nizer/student group New Beat
Happening moved it to a larger
venue only to see the concert sell
out again. Judging by Facebook
pictures of a concert near the
Ohio State University and recaps
of other performances, it's clear
his live shows are unlike other
standard lap-top DJ gigs. Fro-
zen Kraftwerkesque figures are
replaced by near chaos as Gillis
throws himself into his music and
his fans crowd him on stage, act-
ing like drunken, rogue backup
dancers.
Gillis recalled a highlight from
a show last year, a performance
following his sister's 10-year high
school reunion over Thanksgiving
Break. A typical rowdy show, with
the stage flooded with listeners,
devolved into chaos and ended
with him unintentionally stage-
diving. The result was something
seemingly out of "Spinal Tap."
"I flew over my dad's head and
hit my face on one of my sister's
best friends from high school,"
said Gillis. "And I got up and my
front left tooth was cracked. So
I lost a tooth and my mom was
freaking out."
Wild antics aside, the music
is what draws the fans in. The
lucky few who got tickets to the
show should expect to hear their
favorite clips of Night Ripper with
remixes of various tracks off the
album. Within the supposed per-
formance abstraction, there is
some semblance of order. "I have
a template set up, you know, right
now I can go through it like a song
where you need to know when to
click at the right time and all that
sort of thing, just like normal
band songs," said Gillis.
New elements will get mixed in
and bits and pieces Gillis is tired of
or just don't seem to work will get
pushed aside. The changes have
worked so far, creating almost
legendary performances. Ann
Arbor tomorrow night shouldn't
be any different.
This article originally
ran February 15, 2007
without asking, ain't cha? /You just
grabbing, you ain't earning forshit,
that's too old fashioned," while
Malice taunts, "If it seems like the
walls are closing in, it's only cause
they are, motherfucker." If this
isn't the livid rap of the wrathful,
nothing is.
The Neptunes produce the entire
album, providing a singularly eclec-
tic collection of beats.From the hell-
ish rapture of "Keys Open Doors"
to the throbbing 808s in "Trill,"
Pharrell Williams and Chad Hugo
run the gamut of musical inspi-
ration. To list briefly some of the
instruments: organs, steel drums,
accordions, tambourines - the
production can be challenging, but
it's always rewarding, as the beats'
abrasive dissonance complements
the Clipse's vengeful verses.
But while the Clipse never fail
to impress lyrically, there are often
glaring contradictions in their
meanings. In "Trill," Pusha states,
"Rarely do I toot my own horn,"
belying his opening boast, "Fear
'em, as soon as you hear 'em, upon
my arrival the dope dealers cheer
'em." Meanwhile, the nefarious
machinations of "Chinese New
Year" provide a stark contrast to
the guilt-ridden admissions in the
album's closer "Nightmares." These
inconsistencies are dismissible
nonetheless, if only because the
duo sells every shameless boast and
inward confession with unflinching
conviction.
Whereas most rappers rush
their sophomore album to ride the
wave of success from their debut,
the Clipse were left in label limbo,
forced to simmer to the point of
explosion. Now the moment of
catharsis has come, and the result
is one of the most exciting releases
in rap's history. At a point when the
genre needed it most, Hell Hath No
Fury is an adrenaline shot to hip
hop's failing heart, reviving the rap
game to a state of consciousness.
This article originally
ran Dec. 13, 2006.
To: ALYc, ANNIE, hRtN t, FNAROL,
' ,THANKS FOR A GREAT
SPRING TERM.
SEE YOU IN THE FALL.
-NANCY PANTSY
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