The Hood Internet brings back the mash-up

Mash-up artists visit Mojo's this weekend.

By Gabrielle Lipton

Published Sept. 18, 2009

Mash-up artists The Hood Internet have to work hard to legitimize their now booming art form. With thousands of young adults now thinking they can produce music by simply stitching a couple songs together with no regard to the actual art behind it, mash-ups are everywhere. Anyone who argues that mash-ups are unoriginal have some pretty strong factual evidence for their position — the mixed songs are already written, beats are not terribly difficult to pair and anyone who has taken a music theory class knows how to compile harmonies.

But with two sides to every argument, The Hood Internet provides musical evidence to support the other: Their mash-ups raise the bar. Although perhaps not yet as widespread as Girl Talk (nor famous for any undressing schemes either), The Hood Internet has a growing fan base proving their legitimacy when, in many musical minds, the heyday of mash-ups has come and gone.

Chicago musicians Aaron Brink and Steve Reiddell, also known as ABX and STV SLV, respectively, formed The Hood Internet in early 2007. With all of their music available for free on the their heavily visited blog, new mixes uploaded often, links to entire album downloads and updates on upcoming shows, it is clear why they appeal to many more than just practiced internet-music junkies.

Aside from accessibility, simplicity defines their appeal. Their music is not jumpy, transition-ridden or overly beat-driven like many mash-ups. Their overarching formula is basic: combining a hip-hop or rap song with one of the indie or alternative genre. Falling into the "versus" sub-genre of mash-ups, songs such as "Air You a Hypnotist? (DOOM vs. the Flaming Lips)" place a capella lyrics — generally from the hip-hop song — on top of instrumental loops from a chosen indie song. The clever titles have been given thought as well.

This method does not require lots of technical work, but their ear for pairing songs is above average, which explains their growing popularity. For example, "Collide You a Drank (T-Pain vs. Cloud Cult)" combines the mellow and wistful sounding chord progressions of both songs, uses Cloud Cult's driving beat to speed up T-Pains lyrics, and results in a mash-up that retains the sentiment of both songs and a danceable beat.

"I Love Friction (Asher Roth vs. the Pains of Being Pure at Heart)" gives a catchy yet full-toned and captivating melody to light and trivial lyrics. The track, "Two Weeks of Hip Hop (Dead Prez vs. Grizzly Bear)," would work well in a club or with math homework, a perfect combination of songs that are cerebral, yet emotionally charged.

Their careful selection of songs to mix merges the two genres in a way that enhances the songs rather than rendering it a struggling mess that becomes boring to listen to after the first couple of loops have passed. Expanding a typical hip-hop song by setting the lyrics to an epic indie musical background both poeticizes the former and hypes up the latter; the songs seamlessly work off one another rather than competing.

The Hood Internet makes it sound as if the two genres were made to go hand-in-hand. With shows coming up everywhere from New York to North Carolina, as well as the one here in Columbia, it is clear they have successfully made their way in the midst of so many Internet mash-up artists.

So though mash-ups might be on their way down, The Hood Internet is on their way up, and their show at Mojo's on Sept. 18 is proof. Even though the songs they put together are not their own, the way they couple them is, and this is from where their originality and artistry stems. They're bringing mash-ups back into style.