From 1930’s blues to 50’s country bang up to modern charts, reply songs or answer songs have been around for a long time. Sporty Thievz' No Pigeons after TLC’s No Scrubs, Frankee’s F.U.R.B response to Eamon's I Don't Want You Back the list goes on. Within hip-hop especially reply songs have become battle cries for MC’s to challenge and mock each other with classic examples found throughout the rivalry and records of Biggie and Tupac.
Another man not afraid of speaking his mind and stirring up some controversy is Jay-Z. The first single from his eagerly awaited The Blueprint 3 album Death of Autotune serves as a call out to all the fake rappers with pretensions of being R & B singers who make advert friendly pop-hop purely for iTunes and ringtones.
The response songs to Jay-Z’s single have been numerous and in Rise of Autotune Jersey born Bizz tries his hand at fighting back and taking a shot at one of the rulers of the game.
Sadly he fails and his song rather than challenging or attacking the original with a witty clever response serves simply to embody everything Jay-Z is vilifying on his single. To parody the live sound of the original the backing is overly synthesised and Bizz’s vocals are obviously autotuned however this sound has become so popular it just makes the track appear clichéd and banal. Lyrically he seems to have nothing to say and spends two minutes name checking actors and going on about wanting his songs to be ringtones so he can make more money whilst repetitively stating he means no disrespect.
Rather than making an impact Rise of Autotune not only proves all Jay-Z’s points but also makes you realises what a great track the original is. I am sure Bizz has a lot more to offer than this and he shouldn’t be chastised for his eagerness to ride a bigger more famous rappers coat tails for a bit of publicity.
Lets hope he learns his lesson, drops the autotune and comes back with something raw and original next time and tries to break the mould rather than simply copying it.
By: Alex Humphrey