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Plagiarism???

MacieiiijjjMJ

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Hello people! Recently I heard about the plagiarism that MJ supposely did. When I say this, I mean the song "Billie Jean". Internet says, that Michael copied some elements from songs "Ghetto Life" by Rick James, and "State of Indepedence" by Donna summer, and then put them on Billie Jean. I don't know what to think about it, is this even true? Please help me...
 
I Can't Go For That (No Can Do) by Hall and Oates was a big influence on Michael writing Billie Jean.
 
It has been confirmed by Quincy Jones that Michael Jackson stole a lot of things musically:

"I hate to get into this publicly, but Michael [Jackson] stole a lot of stuff. He stole a lot of songs ā€¦ The notes don't lie, man" (Quincy Jones, Vulture Interview)

Rick James also told JeffrƩ Phillips (former fiancƩ of La Toya Jackson) that 'Billie Jean' actually copied musical elements from his 'Ghetto Life' song.

It appears that Michael Jackson later also copied musical elements from Rick James ('Leave Me Alone' sounds suspiciously similar to Rick James' 'Forever And A Day' song).
 
Over the years Quincy Jones became a bitter old man., so I wouldn't trust what he says. And if Michael did steal anything why didn't Quincy call Michael out for it while making those albums? He seemed happy to sit back and let it happen at the time.

And from I've heard of those 2 Rick James songs in Ghetto Life that song and Billie Jean have the same drum beat (A drum beat that's been used in tons of songs) but I don't hear any similarities other than that. And with Forever And A Day I can hear where Michael got the inspiration for Leave Me Alone but I wouldn't say Michael plagraised anything. Both songs sound completly different to me.
 
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mj_frenzy said:
It has been confirmed by Quincy Jones that Michael Jackson stole a lot of things musically:

"I hate to get into this publicly, but Michael [Jackson] stole a lot of stuff. He stole a lot of songs ā€¦ The notes don't lie, man" (Quincy Jones, Vulture Interview)

Rick James also told JeffrƩ Phillips (former fiancƩ of La Toya Jackson) that 'Billie Jean' actually copied musical elements from his 'Ghetto Life' song.

It appears that Michael Jackson later also copied musical elements from Rick James ('Leave Me Alone' sounds suspiciously similar to Rick James' 'Forever And A Day' song).
Click to expand...
Good artists copy, great artists steal.
Picasso was referring to the fact that good artists and great artists work very differently:
  • A good artist will see another artists style and then try and emulate that style as closely as they can.
  • A great artist will select elements from another artists work and incorporate it into their own unique mix of influences.
A good artist simply copies another personā€™s art. A great artist selectively takes (steals) elements from multiple sources and then creatively combines their influences to create something that is uniquely their own.
Click to expand...
www.creativethinkinghub.com

Good artists copy, great artists steal

All great artists STEAL - Here's what this means & how you can use it to become massively more creative.
www.creativethinkinghub.com www.creativethinkinghub.com
 
@MacieiiijjjMJ

There is no big story here.
Artists in all genres and art forms find inspiration in each other. Zack Snyder is currently developing an entire film universe in space borrowing heavily from Star Wars and a Japanese Samurai film called Seven Samurai. Star Wars itself borrowed heavily from Another Japanese film called "The Hidden Fortress".

It is the same with music. The Billie Jean main beat is very straightforward and can be heard in songs before and after Billie Jean.
 
mj_frenzy said:
It has been confirmed by Quincy Jones that Michael Jackson stole a lot of things musically:
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Quincy started life as a gangster, so it takes one to know one :) I wonder if the stories Professor Griff tells us about Quincy are real. If they are, it wouldn't surprise me.
 
xam said:
He was a little gangster. Look into his story. He did some crazy stuff.
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According to one interview clip I just saw this is when he was 11. Whether he was actually involved in gangster activity I haven't looked into. If he grew up around that stuff, OK, but to my mind that doesn't make him a gangster. He said he wanted to be one, didn't say he was one.
 
zinniabooklover said:
According to one interview clip I just saw this is when he was 11. Whether he was actually involved in gangster activity I haven't looked into. If he grew up around that stuff, OK, but to my mind that doesn't make him a gangster. He said he wanted to be one, didn't say he was one.
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Quincy admits it himself. It's nothing new.
 
zinniabooklover said:
Yeah, I just saw that. That's what I mentioned.
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ā€œI wanted to be a gangster until I was 11, in Chicago,ā€ Jones told Dre, noting his father was a carpenter for the ruthless Jones Boys gang where he and his brother regularly encountered guns, money and dead bodies. ā€œItā€™s Chicago, itā€™s in the water ā€” I donā€™t know what it is,ā€ Jones added. ā€œYou wanna be what you see, and thatā€™s all we ever saw.

ā€œSo there was an armory,ā€ Jones continued. ā€œWe broke into the armory and eventually I broke into all the supervisorsā€™ rooms and there was one where I saw a little piano in the room and I closed the door. Something said to me, ā€˜Idiot, go back in that room!ā€™ I went back in the room and touched the piano and every drop of blood in my body said, ā€˜This is what youā€™re gonna do for the rest of your life.ā€™ And it saved my life.ā€

-----
That's my definition of a little gangster, what he was doing and what he was encountering. If you hear some of his interviews, he tells you the stuff he got up to.
 
xam said:
ā€œI wanted to be a gangster until I was 11, in Chicago,ā€ Jones told Dre, noting his father was a carpenter for the ruthless Jones Boys gang where he and his brother regularly encountered guns, money and dead bodies. ā€œItā€™s Chicago, itā€™s in the water ā€” I donā€™t know what it is,ā€ Jones added. ā€œYou wanna be what you see, and thatā€™s all we ever saw.

ā€œSo there was an armory,ā€ Jones continued. ā€œWe broke into the armory and eventually I broke into all the supervisorsā€™ rooms and there was one where I saw a little piano in the room and I closed the door. Something said to me, ā€˜Idiot, go back in that room!ā€™ I went back in the room and touched the piano and every drop of blood in my body said, ā€˜This is what youā€™re gonna do for the rest of your life.ā€™ And it saved my life.ā€

-----
That's my definition of a little gangster, what he was doing and what he was encountering. If you hear some of his interviews, he tells you the stuff he got up to.
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He was a child.
 
xam said:
"every day we saw dead bodies..."
He was a little gangster, hanging around with the most notorious criminals of his time.
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You do you and I'll do me. I have my own interpretation, as I said. I'll stick to that.

xam said:
Quincy started life as a gangster, so it takes one to know one :) I wonder if the stories Professor Griff tells us about Quincy are real. If they are, it wouldn't surprise me.
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Interesting.
 
zinniabooklover said:
There's plenty.
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0:54-1:25
Take note of when Quincy says gansters (describing himself). There are much more colourful interviews than this, if you want to know what he got up to as a little gangster.

Feel free to ignore all the articles describing his gangster past, let alone what he got up to as an adult - from key 'famous' people.
 
Mister_Jay_Tee said:
No such thing as redemption in the real world. You only get one chance to get it right. Just like that drug dealer Teddy Riley.
Click to expand...
Everyone knows redemption only comes from Mr Bitter. Even Q knows to contact him directly. He's in the Thought Police department.
 
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