K.Flay – I Stopped Caring in ’96, Volume One
I don’t usually listen to rap or hip hop. On some very rare occasions I get exposed to a particularly good release and end up getting hooked on it. K.Flay is guilty of that. It’s a one-girl rap show from Chicago / San Francisco. I can’t recall how I came across her debut album titled “Mashed Potatoes”, but I did, and ended up putting it on loop and going back to play it some more. And after giving it a few hundred listens, I go back to her website every now and again and look for some new K.Flay material. And that is how I ended up listening to “I Stopped Caring in ’96, Volume One”, earlier this year.
“I Stopped Caring in ’96″ is a 3 volume mixtape featuring new tracks from K.Flay. Volume 1 has 3 tracks, all of them dark and gloomy, talking about being uninspired, depressed, hang-over, useless and sad. This might sound slumber and dark, but K.Flay doesn’t really get that emo and she still manages to lay down the theme while keeping her unique character. All three tracks sound well-produced, with dope beats and engaging vocals. The theme is interesting in itself and if you click through the release page you can even find a video for the second track, titled “Less Than Zero”. The whole mixtape seems to be about self-analysis, dealing with inner duality and pushing through it via artistic outpour. Seems to have worked out quite fine for K.Flay. “I Stopped Caring in ’96″ is quite listenable and highly recommendable and she’s still touring the US with gigs and putting out some new material every now and again.
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K.Flay - I Stopped Caring in '96, Volume One,
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I liked the lyrics, but I can’t believe what I’m hearing. Please tell me track 2 “Less than Zero”, didn’t just copy the entire riff from The XX – Crystalized. That is another one I would definitely label as plagiarism, and not sampling.
might be. its hiphop so its normal that they sample a lot, they care more about the lyrics, the beats are usually ripped and mashed and slightly altered to fit tempo.
i wouldnt really call it plagiarism in this case.
Actually, if you check the release page she clearly states her samples from each track. So yeah, you’re hearing XX – Crystalized there. I failed to mention the sampling credits on the review, sorry about that, makes sense that i should have mentioned them now that i think about it. But like i said on previous comment: it’s hip hop, it’s natural to sample other tracks.
Ah, the fact that she mentioned where the samples came from does do a lot for me. I still think she took a fairly large chunk, but the way she built the song around it is very creative and I like it a lot.
Will have to grab this album. Not sure how I missed it to begin with! I agree with Simon on REALLY long samples. That said, I haven’t heard track two so not sure if I’d consider it too long or not. Kind of agree with you both on this really. I’m more lenient towards hip/hop artists sampling larger chunks too. Not sure why. Ha ha. For now I guess the only thing I’ll say with confidence is, this first track is pretty freakin’ awesome!