The T.I. - Numa Numa - OZone Connection

There are no new ideas. Nearly everything that you've seen, heard, or read has been done before. Let me illustrate my point--

You may or may not be familiar with the rapper T.I. I guess he's popular with the kids these days. I saw a story on CNN that he was arrested for a weapons possession charge just prior to attending a BET awards show. I guess he was trying to get his bodyguard to buy $12,000 worth of machine guns for him, since he was unable to buy them himself due to a previous drug charge. What?!? A rapper arrested for guns and drugs?? Way to break a stereotype, T.I. Anyway, I guess if the mainstream media makes your arrest national news, then you've "made it" in the business.


It turns out that T.I. has a popular song called "Live Your Life" featuring the lovely Rihanna singing the back-up hook. You may remember Rihanna from getting beat-up by her boyfriend about a month ago. Somehow, that was national news also. Anyway, I know that this song is popular because it's been playing over the speaker system at the local grocery store. Take a listen to the hook from this song on YouTube. Ok? Remember what that sounds like.

If this doesn't sound unnervingly familiar, then maybe you haven't been on the Internets very long. That hook is nearly identical to the "Numa Numa" guy's song. Remember him? Take a listen to refresh your memory:




So T.I. ripped off a fat internet star? Not quite. Turns out that Gary Brolsma (the fat kid in the video) just lifted this song from a Moldovan boy-pop group called O-Zone. For reals. But as if all this wasn't enough, you really have to take a look at the original video from this band. It's cringe-worthy enough to sit through the whole four minutes. They're singing on the wing of an airplane, for Christ's sake!


There you have it. A L.A. based American rapper gets famous by sampling an Internet YouTube star who in turn sampled a Moldovan pop band. So it goes...