Northwestern alum Mo Greene (Communication ‘08) and Communication sophomore Chet Hanks will meet this weekend to discuss their entanglement in a battle of white and purple.
Greene and Hanks have communicated through a mutual friend and plan to address accusations claiming Hanks based his viral song “White and Purple (Northwestern Remix)” on Greene’s “White & Purple (NU Anthem 2010).”
While Greene said he is happy to befriend Hanks and thank him for the free press, he also has no problem taking the quarrel to the next level.
“If what he wants out of this whole situation is beef, I’ll throw him on the George Foreman Grill with the quickness,” Greene said. “I didn’t ask for Tom Hanks’ son to possibly do a rip-off of my song, to have blogs throw my name around.”
It all started when Greene’s phone rang out like a Vegas slot machine that just landed all cherries. A three-minute cacophony alerted him of more than 65 missed calls and text messages, as well as an onslaught of Facebook and blog posts, most of which paid tribute to Greene and criticized Hanks.
Greene’s “White & Purple (NU Anthem 2010)” has been available on his Facebook page since the NU-Illinois football game at Wrigley Field in November. Roughly 36 hours after Greene heard about Hanks’ alleged copycat song, direct e-mails from Facebook alerted Greene his song had maxed out the site’s permitted 16,000 downloads.
Because of the wide ripple cast by Hanks’ single, Mo Greene – whose real name is Morgan Jackson – was blowing up.
Hanks declined to comment but spoke through his manager, second-year School of Continuing Studies student Briggs Goldberg.
“We like the track and we like Mo,” Briggs said. “We have friends in comMonday, but we plan on sitting down with him.”
Greene said two recording agencies have expressed interest in him because of the Internet clamor.
Both NU songs are adapted from hip-hop artist Wiz Khalifa’s hit “Black and Yellow,” which has been revamped by college emcees nationwide to promote their school spirit.
To Greene, Hanks’ version is not serving the right purpose. He said his song shows “love to my boys on the football team.”
“It’s a little disrespectful to the place that’s providing you with a top-notch education,” Greene said, “and the only thing you’re getting from it or putting in your artwork are blunts, big cups, Long Island (Iced Teas) and, to quote a blog, ‘deflowering freshmen.'”
“I try to do the songs as an appreciation thing,” he said. “Whether that turns me into a hip hop artist is not the point.”
Greene does not call what Hanks did stealing, but he does call it “lazy.”
“You’ve got to at least do your research and make sure no one else has done a version of that song for the same school or city you’re from,” he said.
When asked if his spat with Hanks could turn into an NU version of the famous 1990s rap war between Biggie Smalls and Tupac Shakur, Greene laughed and suggested the two could battle at Dillo Day.
“There are several publications online that have reached out to me specifically to gauge my interest in a similar type of rap battle with Chet,” Greene said. “But that’s not necessarily what my goal is. In the most blunt of terms: I’m a real emcee.”
“I’ve been on stage with stars like Common and Talib Kweli, Lupe Fiasco, I’ve done songs with Norah Jones – so this is my life. Honestly, a little rap beef from someone who happens to go to the same school I did is not that high on my agenda,” he said. “But look, if he’s trying to throw some disrespect out there, you best believe I’m not going to let him get away with that.”
