We get plenty of emails every day from musicians around the globe and we actually open most of them… like 88% of them.
We get plenty of emails every day from musicians around the globe and we actually open most of them… like 88% of them.
So when we got a press release artist from Newport News R&B artist Robbie Russell, we were excited to see a local voice in the R&B scene. His song, “1inaMILLION,” is actually not that bad either
“Hello my name is Robbie Russell and I am a rapper/singer from Newport News, VA. Ive grown up around the Richmond area as well and I am a fan of your page,” Russell said to us in an email. (thanks for reading BTW!) His email continued (bold added for emphasis): “I have submitted my song 1inaMILLION to your page and I just released the music video to it, so I was wondering how I could get the video featured on your page?”
Check it out below:
It’s a decent video, and it was shot locally with Peninsula Fine Arts Center down in Newport News. He’s got some smooth dancers and a decent voice. I was all ready to give him props and post the video as is.
And then my intrepid Assistant, Amy David, pointed something out… it’s a freak’n Aaliyah song.
Yea, back in 1997 when she was still alive, the R&B wunderkind dropped (yea ready?) “One In A Million.”
Sadly Russel makes no mention to the original in his press release or in the info section for the video itself, instead calling it “his song” in the original e-mail. I know borrowing and sampling is part of the modern music scene, especially in hip hop, and and he may have changed some lyrics, but in the end this is as much his song as it is yours or mine.
When I emailed him asking about if he planned to credit the now-dead singer, he told me to contact his management. But I really don’t care enough to do that.
Maybe some of ya’ll disagree, but I just wanted to make sure when folks get pumped for Russel’s decent track they realize it’s good because its almost beat-for-beat an Aaliyah classic because he’s not telling anyone.
And for the rest of you aspiring musicians out there, please keep sending us your tracks, we dig it, but don’t send us unattributed covers cause that shit is tacky.
