The Clincher on the Lo and Carey scandal
I'm a Mariah fan so, indulge me. MC got knocked back into the spotlight last month when Irv Gotti (President of Murder Inc. Records) comes forward and states on record that he was specifically instructed to recreate Mariah and Ja Rule's "If We" ontop of J.Lo's "I'm Real" remix.
Now I've just found out that the Diva Carey is recording in the Bahamas with a producer known as 7 Aurelius. Not only is the DJ part of the Murder Inc Family, the pairing was also initiated by Irv Gotti. Coincidence? What is this, a Spielberg movie? I don't think so. Stuff like this doesn't just happen. I am, in a way, glad that Mariah hasn't been making noise about this as of late because to me, this thing now smells foul. Irv Gotti comes off as a man who'd bend any which way. I was wondering why Gotti didn't come forward sooner and why her came forward now, or at all for that matter? Well it would seem as though with a little more controversy, he has dished out the 15 seconds of fame needed to put the pairing that he set up into the spotlight. Motive hunnie, motive!
I'm not saying there was no steal. I checked records and stories going back awhile and I realised that Mariah made little noise about the remix. Mariah mostly complained (that is the few times that she did) about the original version being pinched from her Loverboy loop. Mariah had to actually re-write and re-record the first single to Glitter because the track's sample was pinched for Jennifer Lopez's "I'm Real" (the original, not the remix), which was recorded around a month later but released months before Glitter. The soundtrack had to be held back until the movie was ready for release. So even though it was Carey's genius and she initially recorded her track first, it never got heard because it was replicated with Lopez's track and the J.Lo album was released before Glitter.
Whatzup? This is the way I piece it together. Mariah calls Yellow Orchestra Publishers about their track, asking for the rights to use it as the loop for one of her new songs, Loverboy. A month later Jennifer Lopez calls for the same song to be used as a loop for one of her songs. Mariah and Ja Rule record "If We" for Glitter and right after the track is done, Irv Gotti gets a call from Tommy Mottola. Mottola requests for a remix to be done specifically mentioning "like Mariah's" as a point of inspiration.
Everyone shuts the hell up while Carey claims the ideas were hers and stolen. At press conferences she makes mention of it. "How does a loop that I locked down for one of my songs appear on a Jennifer Lopez track a couple of months later, before I can release mine?" Carey was quoted saying at an interview meer weeks before her breakdown. Finally the diva breaks down and no one, absolutely no one, says anything in her defense.
Mariah starts working on her new album, she hires 7 Aurelius through Irv Gotti. Gotti comes forward three weeks before recording sessions begin. He now claims, it's all true, the remix was pinched from Mariah's "If We". Yellow Orchestra Publishers are now brave enough to come forward. They give proof of Mariah's claims, that she had the initial idea to use the loop and got proper permittion a month or so before Lopez.
Carey still remains silent as everyone from the cleaning lady to the hottest Radio DJ in New York claims that Mottola has been offering money in exchange for bad comments and publicity. Do note that everything from the past five paragraphs are facts that are backed by the interview with Gotti, statements made on air by New York's WBLS (107.5 FM) DJ Wendy Williams and documents and statements brought forward by the Yellow Orchestra Publishers.
Why bother, why care? To me it's a simple question of ethics. In a country that markets "the dream" of making it with just one big idea, how can a record company steal two from its own artist and bystanders only yell foul when it suits them. You think this is common practice and just, you're cynical. There is nothing common about this and even less just! The straight and narrow still calls for a whistle or a stand whenever one believes it's right.
You have permission to call me naive, but make sure you don't believe it! If this is what you've come to except from an industry built by those who loved the art, you're cynical. If I had to choose between, I'd stand where I am curently firm. There is no pride in being shrewd and no greatness in slithering. If you must crawl for your cause it is none at all.
For those who repeatedly say that this is the buisness, you have never written a song, sung it, produced it or created anything of value. For if you did, you would treasure its place and shudder at the thought of it being handed to another. (Just Noise)
|
