Is it possible for a DJ who makes his living stealing beats and samples from other people's music, cutting them up, and calling them his own to be ripped off himself? Girl Talk's Gregg Gillis thinks it is, telling MTV News that he thinks several high-profile rappers and producers—in particular, Kanye West, whose song "Stronger" uses a backbeat lifted from the Daft Punk track "Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger"—are biting his style. Just before his gig at Bonnaroo, Gillis had this to say:
I've opened for Kanye this year in Vegas..and I'm sure he showed up a second before he had to play and didn't see me or know I was playing, but you have to wonder about [the similarities]…I've played in the same building as so many celebrities, and [2006's Night Ripper has] gotten around enough that I'd think you'd probably hear it."
That's some tight logic, my friend.
UPDATE: OK, after watching the video (at the prompting of Gillis himself—see below), we have to concede that it sounds like Gillis' comments were taken out of context, so we apologize for propagating this rumor further (although we certainly weren't the only ones.) Still, this should be a good PR lesson for you, Gregg: Whenever a member of the press is trying to coax you into drawing parallels between your music and someone else's, don't play along. They're either setting you up to mock you for your hubris, or they're trying to start a feud. Either way, it's bound to be picked up by bloggers looking to fill a slow news Friday afternoon.