I wanted to do something similar to the work "Brown" by John Oswald in which Oswald incapsulates all the energy, rhythms, and screams of James Brown in a short song. At first I thought I would make a mix full of all the ridiculous things Lil Wayne says in his songs but this task proved too daunting. I instead tried to put all of Lil Wayne in a "can". In this mix I included some of the ridiculous things he says, with the powerful beats that sell his music. I also tired to reveal the repetitive nature of some of his music as well as his narcissism. Although the mix contains over 5 of his songs his name is repeated over 3 times and he references himself in ALL his the songs. I end this mix as most rappers do with a sample. A sample he used in the end of his most famous album "Tha Carter III" from Nina Simone's "Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood". 

Plunder-phonic Lil Wayne

Michael Acevedo 
TA: Matthew Warne

The lecture on Brian Eno was life changing for me because it exposed me to Oblique Strategies! Now anytime in life when I have no idea what to do or how to start a project I just pull out my iTouch and obliquely strategize myself towards happiness. I knew for my final project that I wanted to explore the chiptune and 8-bit genres since the aforementioned genres inspired me to take Computers and Music. Furthermore, I believe 8-bit is a genre of music that has not been fully explored due to the fact that technology has moved so rapidly in the 20th and 21st century. After, an informative lab session with Warne I went out to try and create my final project. I had no idea how to start so I pulled out Oblique Strategies and was told to "Do Something Unexpected". So I thought of 8-bit music and what would be unexpected from happy good-times hero music. Obviously, the answer was DARK music for all the poor villains of video gameland. 
I was able to compose the first part of "8-bit Villainy" before hitting another roadblock. So once more, I pulled out Oblique Strategies which this time instructed me to "Use 'unqualified' people". Instead, of recording or sampling qualified and trained vocalist I decided to use the majestic vocals chords of Lyndon Baines Johnson, Keanu Reeves, and Charles Bukowski. These vocals also added the expressive nature of the human voice to the sometimes harsh computerized sound of 8-bit. The randomness of the piece is in large part due to the randomness of Oblique Strategies which constantly asked me "Is it finished" and to "Do nothing for as long as possible." While, the short nature of the sections has more to do with my perception of nintendo/8-bit music most of the original compositions were 10-20 seconds and on a loop until you finished the level and the really great pieces were over to quickly.

mu200_macevedo