Best of Chicago voting is live now. Vote for your favorites »
In 1983, Steinski was a 32-year-old ad man–significantly–and hip-hop nerd who, along with his friend Doug DiFranco, won a Tommy Boy promotional contest judged by Afrika Bambaataa and other notables. Their winning entry, “Lesson One – The Payoff Mix,” a remix of “Play That Beat, Mr. D.J.” by G.L.O.B.E. and Whiz Kid, was too weird to be much for dancing but found an audience on dance radio, and subsequently became a hugely important underground hit. Important because “Lesson One” and its follow-ups (which can be downloaded here) went on to influence people like DJ Shadow, Cut Chemist (Brainfreeze and Product Placement are enormously indebted to Steinski and Double Dee’s sound), DJ Spooky, the Dust Brothers, Girl Talk, and Prince Paul. Underground because its density of samples made it impossible to release commercially.
“But the law is an ass. Profit isn’t the issue for Steinski, and except in a speculative way (will ‘trivialization’ reduce Walter Cronkite’s market value?), it’s not the issue for CBS either. The issue is who gets to use this stuff, and for what–whether the public has any claim on the output of public artists whose creations would mean nothing without it. In an age when all products of the mind have been commodified, the freedom to sell equals the freedom to disseminate. It means access, control. That’s what’s really at stake in Steinski’s work.
