Balarama Music

Frusciante Friday: Tricky Interpolations

{Apr 09}

Doug2000s john frusciante, red hot chili peppers, tricky No Comments

So I just realized today that I haven’t covered any hip-hop for the site yet. I also realized that today is Friday which means only one thing: Frusciante Friday! Luckily, Frusciante is such a varied musician that he has done collaborations with a bunch of hip-hop artists so we have a lot to choose from. My original pick for today will have to be saved for later as it’s an interpolation of a popular Beatles’ song (so I’d like to do it following that song in the countdown), but luckily, the song I have for you guys today is also an interpolation!

I know a bunch of you guys are scratching your head at that big word I just used twice so let’s go over that first off. For a straight definition, interpolation is the abrupt change of elements while still continuing the first idea. This process was generally used in the classical world in order to stretch out musical ideas & phrases to give diversity to pieces (and, let’s be honest, as filler too). A great example of this would be Mozart’s Piano Sonata No. 10. Look at that – classical music discussion in a blog post about hip-hop music; now you know why you keep coming back for more. Anyway, interpolation still goes on today, but it is now known widely as the same practice as “sampling” & “covering.” While covering is just a bad term to lump it with, sampling & interpolation are not that far off in reality. In fact, it’s one of those things where all interpolations are samples, but not all samples are interpolations. A good example of the difference would be the classic sampling war over “Ice Ice Baby.” We all know it samples Queen’s “Under Pressure,” but the lyrical and musical differences in the songs are huge with the only thing really connecting them is that (in)famous bass line. The rest of the music is changed, the tone is quite different, and the lyrics don’t even belong in the same grouping. See the difference? But if that’s a good indication as to what isn’t an interpolation, then what is? Well our song choice today is!

More