There may not be another artist on the planet who has thrown more insults at members of the musical community than Keith Richards. Everybody from his own bandmates to David Bowie, Led Zeppelin, Prince and P. Diddy have been unfortunate enough to face the vicious wrath of The Rolling Stones guitarist.
Hip-hop is an area of music alien to Richards, and he has no interest in familiarising himself with the genre. The art of sampling is a foreign concept to the snarling Stones guitarist, who sees it as an act of stealing rather than reinterpreting an old song into a new realm. His problem with Diddy, however, stemmed from the rapper’s use of The Police song ‘Every Breath You Take’ as part of his now-iconic track, ‘I’ll Be Missing You’.
Diddy teamed up with Biggie Smalls’ widow Faith Evans on the song, which was released in tribute to the late rapper. Contentiously, Sting wasn’t asked for permission ahead of the sample, and The Police songwriter now pockets 100% of the song’s royalties. Of course, ‘I’ll Be Missing You’ was a gargantuan hit for Diddy and spent 11 weeks lodged at the top of the Billboard Hot 100. The song also went to number one in the United Kingdom, Spain, Australia, Germany, Denmark, and many more countries.
However, one person who didn’t buy the record is Keith Richards, who ranted about the release during an interview with MTV News. “What a bereft of imagination (sic). What a piece of crap, You know, come up with something on your own. That’s what it’s all about,” he fumed. “What’s the point? Nobody minds (you) being influenced by somebody, even heavily influenced by somebody, but at least add something to it instead of just taking it.”
MTV reached out to Diddy for a response, and fortunately, the rapper wasn’t offended by Keith’s words. Over the phone, he told the publication: “He must’ve been high when he did that interview, but I forgive him”.
Some 18 years later, Richards re-affirmed his stance and claimed that everyone who listens to hip-hop is “tone-deaf”. He told the New York Daily News: “Rap — so many words, so little said. What rap did that was impressive was to show there are so many tone-deaf people out there. All they need is a drum beat and somebody yelling over it, and they’re happy. There’s an enormous market for people who can’t tell one note from another.”
Meanwhile, in 2007, the veteran musician told Rolling Stone: “Hip-hop leaves me cold. But there are some people out there who think it’s the meaning of life. I don’t wanna be yelled at, I wanna be sung to. I never really understood why someone would want to have some gangster from LA poking his fingers in your face. As I say, it don’t grab me. I mean the rhythms are boring – they’re all done on computers.”
It’s unlikely Richards will ever reassess his opinion on hip-hop or understand its appeal. Sampling is a crucial part of the genre’s DNA, and it’s an art form which is significantly more challenging than producers like Diddy make it look.
