In music, there is a huge difference between blatant copying, sampling and interpolation. Last week, Flavour made a post “copy copy akaria” and KCEE caught the sub lashing out at Flavour and throwing tantrums on the timeline about Flavour trying to “gate-keep culture.”
I have also seen some people pointing out some songs from Flavour, saying that he also copied from old hits as well.
Let’s get things straight.
Flavour has sampled previous hits in his songs. That is not a secret. It is the same way Burna boy and Kanye West have sampled a lot of songs.
The difference between sampling and blatant copying is that when you sample, you give a nod or credit to your source.
A sampler does not try to hide his source. He retains the lyrics, or beats or melodies of the original song being sampled to signpost the audience to his source of inspiration. This is what Flavour has done.
Blatant copying, on the other hand, is akin to plagiarism. It obfuscates the source and tries to pass off the product as an original invention.
Unfortunately, this looks like what is happening in this case. KCEE’s new single ‘Netfliss’ appears to be a less-inspiring knock-off of Flavour’s ‘Doings’ down to a T.
This is not the first time KCEE has jumped on a progressive trend and tried to pass it off as his own.
Last year, Kolaboy introduced the Igbo oja flute into Amapiano, creating a new sound he called ‘Kolapiano’.
Guess who came knocking? KCEE. Jumped on the trend, called his own ‘Ojapiano’ and started parading himself as the inventor of the sub-genre.
Dear KCEE, no one is trying to gate-keep a genre or sound. The only thing we are asking is that you do things properly.
If you want to sample, sample.
If you want to copy, can you add some creativity while at it?
Stop doing ‘Calvin Plein’ and ‘Ralph Lavren’ in music.
It may work for knock-off shirts and shoes but it kind of demeans your art.
You are capable of original music. You gave us ‘Limpopo’ and ‘Pull Over’ so we know you have it in you. Look within and give us something uniquely yours.
In all of this, I am glad Flavour never commented on this further. He didn’t even call your name. You were the one that personalised the sub and I wished you have looked away - allowing everything to just be mere speculation.
No one wins when the family feuds. So, sheathe your sword and give us music.
PS: Interpolation is recreating a particular melody or parts of it in a new song. It is less stringent than sampling and is easier to pull off. But, this is story for another day.
Udo.
Kelvin Alaneme,
