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In my last post, I talked about how T-Pain was the most influential artist of our generation. You may or may not have agreed but hopefully you were at least exposed to a new perspective on this topic. T-Pain essentially began the huge trend of autotune filled music that we see filling up a large part of our music (mainly hip-hop/rap) Today, I want to evaluate his influence. Has it lowered the expectations for how talented modern day artists need to be?
Kanye West gave Auto-Tune a status of prestige when he released his fourth album, 808s & Heartbreak, in 2008. Having spent much of his career sampling (mostly soul) music, he decided to. (Death of Auto-Tune)' is a song written by American rapper Jay-Z. It was produced by No I.D. The song was released as a digital download on June 23, 2009, and as the first single from Jay-Z's 11th studio album, The Blueprint 3.
This is the main question that arises when people contemplate autotune’s impact on the music industry. In most cases, I don’t think autotune is actually able to override the important of actual artistic talent. An artist really does have to have a creative spark or simply talented. If this wasn’t the case, wouldn’t anyone who has a passion for music rise to stardom?
Let’s take a look at various artists in the industry. will.i.am is an interesting example. This artist’s voice is rather average (for a lack of a better term). If you have heard him without autotune, you might really think he’s just another guy singing. Not bad, but also not that good. So why is he famous? It’s his artistic talent and creativity. will.i.am has a very unique sound and vision for his music. He truly goes the extra mile to make sure that the production of all his music has a particular sound, and that the music videos for his songs are radiating a modern vibe. Take a look for yourself!
This applies to a lot of artists. Take a look at Kanye West’s 808s & Heartbreak. Kanye’s voice is not particularly good either, but his creativity and concepts that he brought out on this album made this a groundbreaking record. This album made Rolling Stone’s list of 40 most groundbreaking albums of al time. Autotune was used all over this album, but that didn’t necessarily reduce the creativity or artistry behind the music!
Chances are that if an artist reaches a point of popularity by using autotune (and completely lacks creativity/artistry), it is by luck and won’t last long. People easily discover “fake” artists, and love to expose them. You might remember Rebecca Black from 2011. Here’s a reminder of her work incase you forgot!
Black used autotune extensively, and her lack of true talent resulted in a complete annihilation of this song in the mainstream view. The production is also rather bad, and the autotune is not used with good synthesis. Friday was also essentially the only popular song that Rebecca Black made, and it can be seen how autotune cannot make up for a lack of artistry.
Autotune also inspired artists like Future, Desiigner, Travis Scott, Young Thug, Lil Yatchy etc. These artists along with various other’s have formed a new sound in music known as Trap. The vocals don’t sound like anything meaningful and the words are hard to discern. These lyrics are recorded over a beat with a deep moaning bass and shimmering hi-hats. This new sound has gathered a new following, and while it is gaining popularity, a majority of music listeners still disregard this music because it is “trashy” and “lacks creativity”.
But is this really talentless music? I think the idea of “talent” in music in itself is very subjective. What might sound creative and novel to one person, might sound absolutely awful to another (as seen in the case of Trap Music). When it comes to the use of autotune, it is important to draw the line between talentless music and unconventional music . Trap, for example, would fit in the category of unconventional because it is exploring a new sound that hasn’t existed until fairly recently. However, this different sound still has an authentic sense of creativity in that it is exploring a new sound. The difference still lies in that the popularity of these artists is dependent on creativity, rather than their use of autotune.
Let’s wrap all this up! Essentially, autotune has not enabled talentless artists to reach success in music. For an artists to be successful and/or pioneer in sound, he or she must depend greatly on the creative aspects of their music rather than autotune. The autotune is only ever used as something that complements the creativity.
| 'D.O.A. (Death of Auto-Tune)' | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Single by Jay-Z | ||||
| from the album The Blueprint 3 | ||||
| Released | June 5, 2009 (airplay) | |||
| Format | ||||
| Recorded | 2009 | |||
| Studio | Avex Honolulu Studios (Honolulu, Hawaii) | |||
| Genre | ||||
| Length | 4:15 | |||
| Label | ||||
| Songwriter(s) |
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| Producer(s) | No I.D. | |||
| Jay-Z singles chronology | ||||
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| Audio sample | ||||
'D.O.A. (Death of Auto-Tune)' | ||||
'D.O.A. (Death of Auto-Tune)' is a song written by American rapper Jay-Z. It was produced by No I.D. The song was released as a digital download on June 23, 2009, and as the first single from Jay-Z's 11th studio album, The Blueprint 3. The song made its world premiere on the New York radio station Hot 97 on June 5.[1] Its lyrics address the overusage of Auto-Tune in the music industry. The song samples 'In the Space' by French composer Janko Nilović.[2] The bridge is inspired by Steam's 'Na Na Hey Hey Kiss Him Goodbye' and interpolates lyrics from Kanye West's 'Big Brother', and 'You're Nobody (Till Somebody Kills You)' by The Notorious B.I.G.. The song won Jay-Z his eighth Grammy Award, and his second for Best Rap Solo Performance.
Writing and inspiration[edit]
Before making 'D.O.A. (Death of Auto-Tune)', Kanye West and Jay-Z had recorded an Auto-Tune song. However, Kanye heard the instrumental by No I.D. and thought about making an anti-Auto-Tune song. They then removed all the songs that contained Auto-Tune from The Blueprint 3 to further their point.[3] Jay-Z himself stated that the point of the song was to 'draw a line in the sand', saying that while he appreciated the use of the Auto-Tune by artists with an ear for melody like T-Pain and Kanye West, far too many people had jumped onto the technology and were using it as a crutch.[1] One of the partial inspirations for Jay-Z to write the song was hearing Auto-Tune being used in an advertisement for Wendy's fast-food chain. It made him feel that what was once a trend had become a gimmick.[4] The title is also a reference to the medical term 'D.O.A.' or 'Dead on Arrival'. The song makes a reference to The Notorious B.I.G. song 'You're Nobody ('Till Somebody Kills You)'. Jay-Z sampled a portion of The Notorious B.I.G.'s freestyle 'Wake Up Show Freestyle'.[5]
Music video[edit]
On June 27, 2009, a trailer for the video was released.[6] The music video (directed by Anthony Mandler) was shot and aired immediately after the 2009 BET Awards on June 28.[citation needed]The video shows Jay in scenes such as a deserted factory building, a bar with a band, and playing card games in a kitchen. Actor Harvey Keitel cameos in the video as a card player in the kitchen of New York's exclusive restaurant, Rao's. Basketball player LeBron James also makes a cameo appearance.[citation needed]
The video was nominated for Best Male Video and Best Hip-Hop Video at the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards. It did not win either of the categories, losing to T.I.'s 'Live Your Life' and Eminem's 'We Made You' respectively.
The video ranked at #17 on BET's Notarized: Top 100 Videos of 2009 countdown.
Responses[edit]
On June 9, R&B artist Trey Songz released an unofficial remix of the song on his blog. Renamed 'Death of Autotune Kellz', it was directed at artist R. Kelly for using the effect on a previous mixtape.[7] Rappers AZ and Jay Rock have also both recorded remixes. Royce da 5'9' has released two remixes of it, one by himself and one with fellow Slaughterhouse members Joe Budden, Crooked I, and Joell Ortiz. Singer Avery Storm has also made a remix using the songs instrumental supporting the death of auto-tune. Bone Thugs-N-Harmony have also made a remix to the song featuring all five members. Rapper The Game released a diss track in response to the song entitled 'I'm So Wavy (Death of Hov)', going at Jay-Z for what Game perceives as him being behind the times in the hip-hop industry, and his stance that Jay-Z being 39 years old means he's too old to stay in the music scene, evidenced with lyrics such as 'D.O.A.? No. T-Pain stays, old nigga goes.' DJ Webstar was also critical of Jay-Z for the track in an interview with RealTalkNY, saying:
Jay-Z, he has a lot of fans, he's done a lot for hip-hop. Just because you're rich and you have more money than a lot of new artists coming up, such as myself, doesn't mean everything you say is right. I'm a fan of Jay-Z. I was shocked when he did that. Mary J and Drake just did a song with Auto-Tune. Drake and the whole Young Money just did Auto-Tune. If you take every song off the radio, what would you have? I was listening to the radio and Jay said the people don't wanna hear Auto-Tune no more. The biggest records of the year all had Auto-Tune — who are you to say people don't wanna hear it?[8]
In an October interview with Tim Westwood, Lil Wayne also criticized the track, throwing support toward T-Pain as a known user of it:
Stop it, stop it. No, there's no such thing as 'Death of Auto-Tune'. T-Pain is my dude. He's on everybody's single. He's been on everybody's single, and he had auto-tune on every single one of them. So, every song I do with him, he better have auto-tune on it. I love it. Keep your auto-tune popping. Auto-tune ain't dead. You've got the whole game using that.[9]
On August 31, 2009, the music group, Bone Thugs-n-Harmony recorded a remix of the song. It was released officially on their MySpace page. The song includes the 5 united members singing separate verses along with Jay-Z singing the original chorus. The song has also been remixed by rappers such as Lil Wayne and Asher Roth.
The song was ranked best song of the year 2009 by MTV.[10]
Time magazine ranked it number 8 on their list of the best songs of 2009.[11]
Live performances[edit]
Two days after the song premiered on Hot 97, Jay-Z made an appearance at the annual Summer Jam concert at Giants Stadium and performed the song live for the first time.[12] Towards the end of his set, he was surprised by the appearance of T-Pain who joined him onstage. He later performed 'D.O.A. (Death of Auto-Tune)' during the 2009 BET Awards.
Charts[edit]
When Did Kanye First Use Auto Tune Basic
The song made a 'Hot Shot Debut' at #24 on the Billboard Hot 100 based on downloads. It has also reached the top 50 of the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs, peaking at #43.
| Chart (2009) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| UK Singles Chart*[13] | 79 |
| U.S. Billboard Hot 100[14] | 24 |
| U.S. BillboardHot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs[15] | 43 |
| U.S. BillboardHot Rap Tracks[16] | 15 |
- * No official release; charted due to downloads only
When Did Kanye First Use Auto Tune 8
References[edit]
- ^ abSchwartz, Barry (2009-06-06). 'Jay-Z Premieres New Song, 'D.O.A.': 'Death Of Auto-Tune''. MTV. Retrieved 2009-06-21.
- ^Hart, Ronald (2009-06-10). 'D.O.A. (Death of Auto-Tune)'. Billboard. Nielsen Business Media, Inc. Archived from the original on June 24, 2009. Retrieved 2009-06-10.
- ^Reid, Shaheem (2009-06-30). 'Kanye West Promises Jay-Z's 'Anti-Auto-Tune' Blueprint 3 Will Be 'Amazing''. MTV. Retrieved 2009-07-17.
- ^Shaheem, Reid (October 2009). 'Jay-Z Blames Wendy's Commercial -- Partially -- For His 'Death Of Auto-Tune''. MTV. MTV Networks. Retrieved 2009-06-10.
- ^'Jay-Z Caught Stealing Biggie Ryhmes...Again!!!'. YouTube. 2009-09-17. Retrieved 2012-02-12.
- ^'Jay-Z 'D.O.A.' Trailer'. Youngandthefly.com. Archived from the original on 2012-02-24. Retrieved 2012-02-12.
- ^Death Of Autotune Kellz My Response Accessed 2009-06-09.
- ^'DJ Webstar, Ron Browz & No ID Discuss Jay-Z's, 'Death Of Auto-tune''. RealTalkNY. Archived from the original on 2009-09-23. Retrieved 2009-08-28.
- ^'Lil Wayne on Jay-Z's 'D.O.A.' Track: 'Auto-Tune Ain't Dead … T-Pain Is My Dude''.
- ^'The Best Songs Of 2009, In Bigger Than The Sound - Music, Celebrity, Artist News'. MTV. 2009-12-09. Retrieved 2012-02-12.
- ^'The Top 10 Everything Of 2009'. Time. 2009-12-08.
- ^Shaheem, Reid (2009-06-08). 'Jay-Z Makes Surprise Appearance At Summer Jam'. MTV. MTV Networks. Retrieved 2009-06-09.
- ^[1]Archived March 14, 2009, at the Wayback Machine
- ^'Top 100 Music Hits, Top 100 Music Charts, Top 100 Songs & The Hot 100'. Billboard.com. Retrieved 2012-02-12.
- ^'D.O.A. (Death Of Auto-Tune)' (Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart), Billboard, June 21, 2009.
- ^[2][dead link]
External links[edit]
When Did Kanye First Use Auto Tunes
- 'D.O.A (Death of Auto-Tune)' Official Video FINAL CUT on YouTube
- Bone Thugs-n-Harmony – D.O.A. Remix on YouTube