Our reading on plunderphonics was intriguing, and the idea of exploring artists utilizing existing recordings with minimal changes for their work made me think of some of my favorite rap artists. One great example of this is the rap clique Griselda, a group of rappers from Buffalo, New York, who have made a name for themselves based on their from-the-streets style which mixes griminess with a bit of luxury. Rappers Westside Gunn, Conway the Machine and Benny the Butcher make up the grouping, and the former two most often and effectively utilize plunderphonics, for example, this intro for Gunn’s album “Pray for Paris.” It is simply a portion of audio from an auction of da Vinci’s art.
Those two in particular enjoy using moments from WWE broadcasts to help set the tone in their projects. Like the article mentioned, plunderphonics stresses the typical norms of what’s acceptable in music, and eventually as the WWE caught wind of their sounds being used. Gunn’s album “Pray for Paris” ended up being taken off of streaming services and reuploaded without the WWE portions.
Plunderphonics is the norm in this style of music, with Palmolive by Freddie Gibbs being another example of how these sounds are used. In this one, Gibbs utilizes a recording from standup comedy by Dap ‘Sugar’ Willie as a humorous anecdote which both serves as an outro and introduces the next song, which is in part about being betrayed by a friend.
These recordings aren’t samples in the typical sense of using sound to create a beat, but they do help create meaning and a sense of story as listeners take in these albums. Plunderphonics can be bad when the original creators of the sounds aren’t properly compensated, but it’s an incredibly useful and valuable practice, especially in rap. Benny the Butcher used sound of a reporter referring to his record label as a gang as a way to show his legitimacy in terms of rapping what he lives.
One last example, Kendrick Lamar’s use of recorded sound in his song BLOOD. The song’s message isn’t clear, but one read is that it’s just about an innocent black man being shot and killed. Using sound from Fox News broadcasters ignoring how he’s talked about how problematic that is in society just further grounds his message and shows the real world effects that are expressed in his music.