I’m so proud of Gummy Soul. I’ve already blogged about them here. But what they are going through now highlights how much work an artist has to go through to protect his or her self. It also makes me appreciate hip hop artists from way back with all the sampling struggles that producers have had to endure.
Let’s back up. Amerigo Gazaway of Gummy Soul did yet another successful mashup record: Bizarre Tribe, pairing The Pharcyde with A Tribe Called Quest. (His first was Fela Soul). However, for the instrumentals, he actually sampled the source material that Tribe had sampled! So he’s doing the same thing. Anyway, Sony has shut them down even though it was a free download. I can’t link you to the record. Thank the Lord I downloaded it way back when it came out!
Anyway, go to the Bizarre Tribe website to learn about how you can help out. And definitely read their open letter to Sony which is a beautiful discourse on hip hop and artistic freedom of expression.
So much respect.
