Good morning, and welcome to life after Super Bowl 47! Tell me that wasn’t one of the craziest games you’ve ever seen. BTW if you want to see a review of the ads, click here.
NEWS & NOTES!
The latest episode of the Voice Over Cafe is up! Go here to check it out. And yes, you can hear another goofy Totally True Tale.
My next Edge Studio webinar is Thursday, February 7 @8PM. The Subject: Rates, Negotiating, and Invoicing. Click on the link for more information: http://www.edgestudio.com/voice-over-business-and-money-201. I hope you can make it!
As a child of the 80’s, I was exposed to rap in high school: Run DMC, Beastie Boys, Slick Rick, etc. and I enjoyed some of it but never really got into it. My opinion of it was, like many people’s, ill-informed. I thought some of it was cool & clever, but the majority was a pile of angry, unoriginal, violent noise thrown together by a bunch of talent-free thugs.
Then I watched the documentary “Something from Nothing: The Art of Rap” hosted by Ice-T.
Ice-T went to New York, Detroit, and LA to interview everyone from Snoop Dog to Common to Eminem to Mos Def and all the grandaddies of rap from the early 80’s. He asked them how they work, how they compose, what inspires them, and who their favorite fellow artists are. All were asked to “free-style” for the camera (improvisational rap) and they were brilliant! These men and women are poets, gifted lyricists & composers who bust their hump every day to make music that speaks to their fans and themselves.
My favorite part of the film is when Doug E. Fresh quoted Melle Mel:
“A picture can express a thousand words to describe all the beauty of life you give,
And if the world was yours to do over I know you’ll paint a better place to live,
Where the colors would swirl for the boys and girls to join in peace and harmony
Where mirrors stand on walls so grand as far the eyes are able to see.”
I don’t about you guys, but that’s art.
So, what does rap have to do with voiceovers? Maybe everything, maybe nothing, but I felt a connection with these artists when it came to how seriously they take their craft, how hard they work, how impassioned they are about what they do. And dude, I would KILL to sound like some of these guys. So rich, so articulate, so expressive. Damn boyee!
TIP OF THE WEEK: A common topic amongst the rappers was the lack of respect for their art form. Everybody thinks they can do what MC’s and rappers do. “You just talk, right?”. Sound familiar?
Yes, some the songs’ subject matter are about sex, violence, drugs, and other forms of anti-social behavior. Well, some voice talents narrate erotica, divisive political spots, and commercials for products of questionable effectiveness for far less money. Who’s right, who’s wrong, I don’t know. I don’t even think there is a “right” or “wrong” is this case. People have a calling and people need to feed their families. If you can do both at the same time, you are a lucky person!
QUOTE OF THE WEEK: If you can’t be a muse, at least be amusing! Anomymous
STUFF!: Ed Koch passed away last week. I’d always liked watching him on the news when I was growing up because he was such a character. That and he hosted Saturday Night Live, twice!
My favorite Ed Koch moment:
Koch went to a senior citizen center in the Bronx and was immediately asked about crime and what he intended to do about it. He said, “Crime is terrible. A judge I know was mugged this week and do you know what he did? He called a press conference and said the mugging would in no way affect his judicial decisions in matters of that kind.”
An elderly woman stood up and shouted, “Then mug him again!”
To quote The New York Times obituary, “Mr. Koch is survived by New York itself”
From my crib, this is MC Tommy D for Yo! GKN Raps. Hallah at ya boy…