This is a partial transcript of the discussion about Hip Hop and the impact that new technology has had on it over the years since it was formed. Our speakers on the subject matter was performing and recording artist Will Cooper of the local band “Red Army” as well as Ohio University Audio Production Professor Eddie Ashworth.

50 sec -1:36.
its a real skill, its a musical skill. putting beats together is just as much arranging as any other kind of arrangements. again its all technical tools that allow people who want to make music make music. just having these tools doesn’t guarantee everyone is going to make great beats… people with great talent and a good ear make the great beats. Its just like anything else. the style they’re comfortable with and the tools that would allow them to create that style, the computer is a tool that allows them to do this…

continued to 2:09
The thing about hip hop sound is the movement. You’ve got more and more groups like Rage Against the Machine where you have the guitarist imitating a DJ. He takes the guitar and scratches his pick against his guitar to make it sound like a DJ scratching the turntables and you’ve got groups like Sublime and so many groups that want their music to have that flavor because they see it as another thing added on that allows them to express themselves.

4:06
It’s the future. It’s a great time to be an independent artist without a doubt. The major record companies are going out.

4:45 – 5:30
I think the internet goes with everything, even outside promotion. Music is being release now through the internet and being consumed by the audience of musicians like Lil Wayne because he’s revolutionary in that sense. For example in Vibe they did an article about the top 77 songs Lil Wayne has released this year and all these songs he released are for free. They’re songs you get off mixtape websites and stuff like that and all of this is being consumed for free. Those mixtapes create a swell of anticipation for his album.

8:00
I’ll probably get it offline or wait for you to buy it and burn it off you. These people love this music and enjoy this music so as a artist and musician it makes me sometimes wonder how much is my music worth today. If Radiohead goes on the internet and gives away their record for free and everybody can listen to it for free and Lil Wayne can put out 200 songs in a year and everybody has that music for free then is music worth anything to anybody. It makes me ask questions about what is the relationship between the artist and music. Most young people in my generation feel like they should have it for free like they place no value on songs. Getting music off internet, people get 1 or 2 songs. A lot of people don’t have the concept of an album anymore. Jay-Z’s American Gangster is a concept record. All the songs are related with one concept or cohesive idea. They pick and choose their songs to make their own playlist. The idea of an album like Marvin Gaye’s “What’s Going on?” or Curtis Mayfield’s “Superfly”–this whole overarching idea, you can’t get the full effect of it without listening to it from beginning to end. It’s gone. People get music before it comes out out of order.

10:05 – 11:23
The only thing I don’t like about technology right now is I was brought up in a household with vinyl. I’m a DJ, I’m always throwing them on and listening. Now there’s programs like Final Scratch instead of using vinyl and turntables people got their laptops with turntables and mixers. Instead of having vinyl, or wax you have mp3. You have a playlist and scratch it digitally and move to the next song in the mix. It’s cool people follow technology, it’s fast it’s easy, you don’t have to lug around crates, all you’ve got to do is carry your laptop, maybe a turntable or Final Scratch. I’m an old head. Vinyl/Wax is special.

13:10 – 15:14
It’s hard to get excited about an audio file. You don’t even have the artwork. Back in the day groups like Funkadelic and the Beatles–their artwork was an extension of the album. You have a Funkadelic cover you could listen to the record and read all the cartoons on the album cover and go along with the music. Now people don’t even know what the album cover looks like. It doesn’t even matter because it’s this big anyway (in reference to iTunes album artwork image sizes). Lupe Fiasco was really hurt by people leaking his record, it was leaked in the wrong order so critics reviewed his album before it was even complete. He was getting 2 or 3 stars on his record before it was even made. He had to go back in the studio, totally redo the album. He couldn’t get his original idea realized before getting spat on. His new album coming out around Christmas–he isn’t going to record it until about 2 weeks before it’s actually released in stores. It’s written in his rhyme book, but he’s not going to record it until two weeks before it drops. The sound quality is not as good as sound quality on a CD. You get accustomed to hearing low quality music with mp3s.

15:50 – 16:20
As the format gets smaller, the experience gets smaller. The more convenient it is… I’m with you, the iPhone–download that sucker–I’m all for that. But at the same time that convenience takes something away from this too. People are hungry for that. That’s why vinyl is experiencing a resurgence right now.