The bling that shakes the barley
Messiah J and The Expert aim to put Dublin hip-hop on the map. To do so, they must tackle several deep-set prejudices – such as the belief that Irish people can’t rap.
Ed Power, 08 Nov 2006
Listen carefully to This I Have To Hear, the new album from Messiah J and The Expert, and you might get more than you’d bargained for. As a shout-out to astute fans, the Dublin hip-hop duo have illicitly sampled several well known pop stars. Obviously, no names are mentioned – so early into their career the last thing Messiah J and The Expert ( aka John Fitzgerald and Cian Galvin ) need is a zillion dollar lawsuit care of the mainstream record industry. Perhaps they’re simply getting off on the sense of danger?
“It’s just a bit of fun,” explains, Galvin, beat master to Fitzgerald’s street-preacher rapper. “We did it for the one guy out there who picks up on the sample and goes ‘yeah – fair dues – they’re willing to take chances’.”
Sampling, in fact, has caused the pair no end of heartache. Their first album, 2002’s What’s Confusing You?, contained a Dean Martin sample – the track in question was a concert favourite but, fearing they would be sued out of existence, Galvin and FitzGerald exorcised it from their songbook.
“Clearance is such a big issue nowadays,” explains FitzGerald, who raps at 100-mph on stage and speaks twice as fast in person. “An album like the Beastie Boy’s Paul’s Boutique [pieced almost entirely together from from samples] could never be made today.”
Artists will routinely demand 60 per cent of royalties in exchange for permission to sample their work, continues Galvin. Considering the average hip-hop track may contain three or four samples, this would require Messiah J and the Expert to hand over 180 per cent of their profits. You do the math.
Besides, sampling, Galvin believes, has become a lazy way of cribbing off more talented musicians. As an example, he cites Kanye West’s ‘Touch The Sky’, which lifts Curtis Mayfield’s ‘Move On Up’ in its entirely.
“That’s just so lame – taking someone else’s song,” says Galvin sniffily. “Puff Daddy did it as well obviously, when he rapped over The Police’s ‘Every Breath You Take’. You could just sense him waiting for the cash to roll in.”
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