2014’s highly successful Hip-Hop single “Anaconda” by rapper Nicki Minaj is a clear-cut example of storytelling theories that a writer should present the familiar but in a new exciting way.
This song is a perfect example of the concept that Kirby Fergurson presents that ‘everything is a remix’. “Anaconda” was Minaj’s second single from her latest album, “The Pinkprint” (also another play on words, perhaps even arguably a homage to rapper Jay-Z’s successful album ‘The Blueprint’) , that was highly acclaimed at an international level, and even earned Minaj a nomination for ‘Best Rap Song’ at the Annual Grammy Awards. ‘Anaconda’ became an icon for the zeitgeist of 2014. Even through all the success of the song, it was noted that the song heavily sampled the hit 1992 song “Baby Got Back” by Sir Mix-a-Lot.
Minaj’s hit single sampled the beat and lyrics from Mix-a-Lot’s original song. A certain lyric from Mix-a-Lot’s original single is the main chorus of Minaj’s single. This could be considered as Minaj is paying homage to a famous hip-hop song that addressed the particular female body part that Minaj has become internationally famous and recognized as: the butt. Minaj heavily sampling the 1992 classic could review the idea that was spoken about in class that creation requires influence; that no idea is truly original.
The elements of creativity discussed by Kirby Fergurson in “Everything is a Remix” says that all ideas are a copy of other ideas that are transformed, so having something else, like a new moral or spin to the original idea, then the new morals and ideals are combined with the original idea to create the new and improved idea. This theory is exhibited in Minaj’s ‘Anaconda’ in that she took a famous song that its entire basis lyrically is sexually objectifying women and their bodies and added her own spin to it, so copying the original idea and transforming it, that sexually targets the male body while also claiming back the Mix-a-Lot’s objectifying of women and empowering the female body and sexuality rather than have it express that female are sex toy for the male gaze. This also could address the theory of storytelling lectured by Pixar’s Andrew Stanton’s that rebel against the normal, that through storytelling in her verses Minaj modifies the Hip-Hop convention of sexually objectifying women and places it on males.
The interesting thing about Minaj sampling “Baby Got Back” is that the original 1992 actual sampled another song, 1986’s “Technicolor” by Channel One. Truly proving that no idea is truly original and everything is, as Ferguson suggests, a remix. Hip-Hop and Rap originated by sampling other musicians’ work, really revisiting that to create something new artists go back to the old and try to duplicate and revamp it. In the case of “Anaconda” it was a triumph as the single was more successful that Mix-a-Lot’s single.
The true question is when does paying homage to another story or idea become plagiarism? Minaj, yes took a very popular and familiar song and presented it in a new way, but does it mean that it’s ok that the beat and tempo, and lyrics of ‘Baby Got Back” was used without even subtly trying to disguise it. Not only musically does “Anaconda” pays homage to 1992 classic but through the visual storytelling in the music video of the song it still pays homage to the song, through identical chorography and phallic symbols of fruit. Is Minaj still paying homage? And when does it turn illegal to sample another’s idea?
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