Mixing & Matching: The artform of Mashups

Yesterday morning ZeumMasters had a special presentation by DJ Earworm ...and dont worry its not an ear bug. DJ Earworm creates what are known as "mashups." A mashup is a combination of differents songs lyrics and background music. For example, you would put MIM'S "this is why im hot" lyrics and add them to Rihanna's "Umbrella" music. And its not just like the mix songs you hear on the radio, they're 2 different things.

While the mixing we hear on the radio starts out as one song and then gradually you hear a second song fading in, a mashup uses the same song beat and takes out the lyrics from a different song and gets added to the beat. Its like a new song. You can download an acapella version of a song and and instrumental version of another song and mash them together( hint the term "mash-up")

I don't consider myself a really "technically connected" person, meaning it may take me a while to pick up on things on the computer. But when DJ Earworm was explaining everything to us and showing us how we could create mashups, i was really following along. I love music. Its a huge part of my like.

Music does so much; it gives people something to move to, and it can change peoples moods too. Its a form of expression. I could really connect to the concept of mashups because when i listen to songs on the radio i think to myself "that would be cool if i could put these words with that beat". I was really into the workshop because it gave me a chance to see that i can do stuff like that. He explained that mashups work when you choses songs whose key and tempo are the same, and my mind was thinking of so many songs that would sound good together.It was neat to hear it from someone who got into doing it by accident. I think it also opened up a lot of people mind's by showing them different things and forms that they can do with music. Being able to have the opportunity to hear from and have this presentation done by DJ Earworm was also influencial to Zeum because it gave us different ideas about how we could maybe incorporate mashups into the Zeum environment, such as MPL.

DJ Earworm showed us some examples of mashups he didnt like, and he showed us one of his more popular one's named " United State of Pop," which is shown below;

All in all the presentation was really fun and opened my mind. It gave me a chance to think about music and the different things that i can do with it.

Talking about Hip Hop

This morning we had an amazing workshop about gender and power in hip hop.

Hip hop is something I always loved to listen to because not only did I grow up on hip hop, it's a part of my culture. However, what I learned during this workshop was that a lot of mainstream hip hop is controlled by these rich white, old men that have the choice and power on whether to put certain hip hop in the media or not. Also, the media has a way of only showing the public, hip hop that they think should be what the public needs to here. And that the public they are thinking about making money off of is the youth.

There was some great discussion that went throughout the workshop and I was able to give a lot of input on what I thought about hip hop.

I noticed that because a lot of things I see and hear on the internet, such as on youtube and on other cool websites, I think are being held back and sometimes interesting for the public to hear on the radio but are not given that opportunity. To be specific, a lot of music that is always on the radio mostly has the same message...such as talking about the sexuality of both male and female, turf issues, violence, weapons, politics, drugs, and sometimes about where their from and how things set off in their hood/neighborhood.

During this workshop, the group and I were asked an agree or disagree question on whether it matters if you personally care more about listening to the beat rather than the lyrics or vice versa. I told everyone that the beat of the music determines whether or not I want to listen to the rap/song or not. This is because the tone and base of the beat gives me the opportunity "to lean wit' it, rock wit' it" to the lyrics.

Sorry to say, but if I, JJ, don't have the opportunity "to lean wit' it, rock wit' it" to the beat then, something is really wrong with this song because leaning and rocking to the beat gives me a feel to the lyrics and make me want to say, "This song GO"! When I say that, it means that I really like this rap/song/music and when a person such as I, don't know the lyrics to a rap/song, it only frustrates me when I cannot "lean wit' it, rock wit' it" to the beat.

In others people's opinions, they said that the lyrics attract them more rather than the beat because they would like to actually get a message out of the rap/song/music instead of just leaning with it and rocking with and to the beat.

The workshop made me feel open to saying everything that was on my mind about hip hop. It felt like there was no right or wrong answer and that anything I said, other people in the workshop could relate to and speak on more about what I had to say. -JJ

'Killin it with Dance

Anybody can dance. Anybody can perform. Whether you're amazing or horrible it feels nice to just get yourself out there. Dancing can be a way of expressing yourself or just a way to let out stress after a hard day at work or school. Having a way to escape from life and just dance is good for you. You can forget about life's. Dancing is like a vacation for your mind.

I'm making a documentary about dance. In my movie I want to show that good things can come from dancing whether or not you're good at it.

Performance is a big deal at Zeum. We have our production stage in our main gallery and our stage in the Music Video production lab so it's crucial that we help kids realize that they can perform too even if they think they're really bad at it. Everyone has a performer inside them, you just have to bring it out of them. For the kids that come here it's a big deal to be up on stage. A lot of them get nervous because they think they can't do it but with a little encouragement they get into their performances and put on good shows. After doing their thing on stage a lot of times they get excited and have a little self-esteem boost.

With my video I want to show the positive effects of dancing on people's lives and that anyone can experience these things because anyone can dance. I'm gonna interview a few big name dance teachers about what get them started in dancing and what dancing has done for them in their lives. My video will show their interview with me and then will go into a video of them actually dancing. I'll do the same thing with people who are in dance companies and then take it down to people who simply take classes and then take it down to people who do it just for fun.

I've been dancing for 4 years. I mainly do hip hop dance. I started taking dance classes just to see what it was like. I had always seen people dance and though "Wow, I wish I could do that."

After a while I was motivated by the compliments I started getting. It's the best feeling to have someone ask me "How'd you do that?" or have a teacher tell me to keep the good work cuz i was "killin' it."

Dancing has helped not only to boost my self-esteem but also to get me through some tough times. When I dance i can forget about everything going on around me and just focus on the dancing I'm doing. Nothing else matters. I can go home after dancing and feel like I accomplished what I needed to that day. I'm at my best mentally after I've danced. I can think better having let out all my stress and energy in dance. I get my endorphins flowing so I feel pumped up but I'm more at ease so I can think better. And after getting all tired out I can sleep better too. So dancing can benefit you both mentally and physically.