A week ago today, the world woke up to a gift from a Pittsburgh−based former biomedical engineer. Gregg Gillis, better known as Girl Talk, unleashed his fifth LP, "All Day," free of charge on his label's — Illegal Art — website, and further cemented his importance in the modern musical landscape.
The album, which basically amounts to a 71−minute pump−up track, consists of over 370 samples, arranged by Gillis in bizarre, hysterical, inspired ways that boggle the mind and make spastic dancing the only option.
But what, you might be wondering, does this have to do with commercial hip−hop? Does Girl Talk "make it rain"? Yes. Yes he does. While he's never actually sampled the Fat Joe song of that name, Girl Talk has arguably done more for hip−hop in the past few years than any other DJ, recording artist, record label or biomedical engineer, for that matter.
Everyone loves Girl Talk: you, your sister, your roommate, your mom and even your lawmakers (seriously — he was discussed at a congressional hearing on copyright laws a few years ago). But what is his music? It's hip−hop lyrics layered over pop and rock melodies. Would your mom listen to The Notorious B.I.G.? Not bloody likely, but her favorite Girl Talk moment is probably 1:36 into "Smash Your Head," the fifth track on "Night Ripper" (2006), when "Juicy" (1994) is mixed with Elton John's "Tiny Dancer" (1972).
Girl Talk gets people out of their comfort zones and exploring new things. As I listen to "All Day," I constantly find myself Googling lyrics, discovering songs that I might not have otherwise ever heard. He frees these songs from obscurity, from the vaults of time and from his listener's preconceived notions of what they might be, changing the way we interact with our music.
In this way, he's following in the footsteps of Abraham Lincoln.
Our 16th president was known as the Great Emancipator. What he did to earn that oh−so−catchy nickname was inarguably more important than what Gregg Gillis does, but the thread between the two men's acts is stronger than my stupid metaphor would have you believe.
Both men accomplished feats that, before they did them, seemed impossible — albeit on very different scales. Lincoln's freeing of the slaves wasn't a little thing; it was a huge deal. The effects of the Emancipation Proclamation are still being felt today, and the fact that he was able to do what he did continues to inspire Americans.
Similarly, Girl Talk attained a level of success and fame unimaginable to other participants in the mashup/remix community. He has thus far avoided being sued into oblivion by any of the artists that he's sampled, and he has become something of a folk hero in the battle surrounding copyright laws. He, like Lincoln, has inspired a generation to act, no doubt acting as the impetus for thousands to learn to create ridiculous mashups of their own. And who knows, maybe one day one of these Girl Talk−inspired, amateur mashup artists will end up in government and actually change the highly flawed copyright laws.
Both Lincoln and Girl Talk have opened our eyes to truths that we had previously been blind to. One changed the course of American history, while the other changed the way we think of modern commercial music. Both, ultimately, are American heroes we can be proud of.
KRS−One once said, "Rap is what we do, hip−hop is who we are." Abraham Lincoln and Girl Talk might not "do" rap, but both men are undeniably hip−hop.
As of this morning, you can't dance to the Gettysburg Address — the "remixes" on Youtube.com are misleadingly titled — but I'm sure that Girl Talk could make it happen.
