A student recently brought this mashup by Nate Ramsey to my attention:
Of course, this is the mashup of the Cardi B/Megan Thee Stallion hit, "WAP" and the last movement of Antonín Dvořák's ninth symphony (known as the "New World") that we all saw coming.
Just kidding. No one saw this coming. But maybe we should have! Most mashups that feature classical music are constructed as A+B mashups with the classical piece as the instrumental backing, and a cappella (non-pitched) rap vocals placed on top. As long as the beats align, there doesn't have to be any special connection between the two pieces being mashed up. But in this case, there is. One of the things that this movement of the New World Symphony is famous for is being the inspiration for the main theme from the movie Jaws, by John Williams. It begins with a simple half-step alternation of B and C (scale degrees five and six in E minor). The similarity to Jaws is well-documented, but I think that mashup artist Nate Ramsey picked up on another similarity, that of the famous Allegro con fuoco and "WAP" by Cardi B (featuring Megan Thee Stallion).
The first three measures of Dvořák's bass line are shown here (the line is played at octaves by the rest of the strings):
The first three measures of the (synthesized) bass line to "WAP" are shown here:
I'm certainly not claiming that this song was influenced by the New World Symphony, but the similarity exists, regardless of intention. A great mashup artist will notice little similarities between unrelated tracks, and create a new piece of music that just...works.
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