It was art. It was led by the same impulse that had primitive man stare at the rocks beneath his feet and the walls that enclosed him and render his own crude likeness. The mashup was a humble idea, but one that spoke to a something deep within the human psyche. In Latin inspirare, from which we derive the word inspiration, meant that man had been touched by the divine. Girl Talk was moved by the gods.
The Magic iPod, which the Noisey staff has been playing with for the last hour in a state of mild ecstasy, allows us to assume this divinity for ourselves. You can drag 2007’s biggest rap tracks onto that year’s finest pop-punk tracks and immediately create something of wonder. The possibilities are almost endless.
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It turns out, for example, that Kanye West’s “Touch The Sky” always belonged over “Hey There Delilah” by Plain White T’s. In fact, “Touch The Sky” works beautifully over Vanessa Carlton’s “A Thousand Miles.” Rick Rubin missed a trick on Jay Z’s “99 Problems” when he decided not to call Rivers Cuomo; “Island in the Sun” is its true basis. Soulja Boy’s “Crank That” over Panic! At the Disco’s “I Write Sins, Not Tragedies” is magical.
Go, create. Feel the divine move through you. Put J-Kwon’s “Tipsy” over Franz Ferdinand’s “Take Me Out.”
(And donate to the ACLU while you’re there; that’s why the website shuns ads).
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