INFLUENCE
Many times, I think of the best way to create new stuff, whether it is on projects I work on with other people or on things I just do for myself. I have read books, listened to people say things that would influence and I have watched a ton of videos on the subject.
I recently got a simple lecture from Hip Hop on a probable way to doing it.
I love music and I always want to go beyond just listening to the tune, I want to be immersed in the tune and find ways to deconstruct each part of the song. In the process of doing this, I get to realize (especially with Hip Hop) the sampling done on each track.
Going through the most popular tracks that have been on my playlist in the past year, I realize that there lessons I might have learnt just by listening in my keen kinda way.
Check out some classics and Use Elements from them
One way to make good work or even great work is to check out the work of people in your creative endeavor and take some parts of it to further enhance your work.
Listening to some hip hop tracks like Black Beatles, it doesn't seem like there was any influence to the passive listener but to a person who listens carefully and is very knowledgeable about music, a persisting sound on the song is from Secret Mission KS (Synapse’s Dune 2).
So the viral song taught me to not always look to build from ground up but sometimes fetch inspiration (Sample) existing work and put a unique twist to it.
In popular hip hop songs there are many examples of these (most hip hop albums are heavily influenced by the works of other artists);
Jay Z’s song the Story of O.J samples the work of Nina Simone; Four Women (My Skin is Black), He also sampled Late Nights & Heartbreaks the work of Hannah Williams & the Affirmations in 4:44
Kendrick Lamar’s DNA. track samples the first line off Rick James’s live performance of Mary Jane and He also uses the style of rap Juvenile used on the song Ha to make his lines flow on the track Element.
Mask Off by Future features a flute tune that I thought was made by the producers but it's from Tommy Butlers & Carlton William’s Prison Song
The list of such songs goes on and on; so my point is try checking out some classics and see how they can influence your work.
External Influences
I know that it is easier to take influence from the work of people that are in similar endeavours but amazing works can be birthed by finding influences from areas that might be unexpected.
Drake’s song KMT features a sample of Sonic the Hedgehog soundtrack (His World by Tomoya Ohtani)
It's possible to find work that might not be related to yours but can adequately serve as influence on being better at what you do.
Find recent Works that You like
A first listen to Kendrick Lamar’s track Loyalty. would definitely sound like you are listening to a track you know (if you are into popular music). He sampled Bruno Mars’s 24K Magic and I found it very impressive because most people sample works that are a bit old and he sampled a song that was very recent.
I know that we might need to do some heavy searching when we are searching for inspiration but even recent works are that are very good should be a source of influence to bringing out magic.
Other People’s Influence
Sometimes what influenced others might work for you as well. I don't mean doing exactly what the next person has done but trying to find influence from the work that others were influenced by.
Choose Your Weapon by Hiatus Kaiyote was source for sampled materials on Kendrick Lamar and Drake Albums
James Brown’s work has heavily influenced a ton of artists and creators in general. His song Get up offa that thing has influenced a ton of work; click here to check it out.
Sample Your own work
I believe a good way to get inspired is to look at your own work and try to draw some inspiration for new material from it. It can be using part of your old work, taking what you have learnt how to do better from your past work and applying it on new work or doing a reverse of what you did on past work.
Drake sampled his own work on the Jorja Interlude track of his More life album; he took part of the Doing it wrong song from his Take care album as his inspiration.
J. Cole’s song Neighbors made with the beat of his other song Forbidden Fruit in reverse.
So this my opinion and in many ways I look to various places for influence with the aim of try to get motivated to do more.
