During my time in Paris, my musical taste has experienced a rap music renaissance. It has nothing to do with being there, though there is a large french hip-hop scene, but rather it was partly inspired from Nic’s recent embrace of the genre and my own subsequent explorations. I originally got into the music just as it was going mainstream, with Ma$e’s “Harlem World” album and Busta Rhymes’ “When Disaster Strikes”, But I all but gave up on it as commercialism took hold. You’ll have to excuse me for not being oldschool enough, but hey I was born in ‘85!

Nowadays, while commercial “hip-pop” is stronger than ever, I’ve noticed the beginnings of a movement that isn’t all about money, hoes, violence, etc. Most people (in my demographic) still dismiss hip-hop as a genre or embrace the most commercial aspects of it in order not to have to worry about musical taste at (frat) parties.

Holla baq fo’: An explanation of the elements of a hip-hop song and a rundown of some great artists at varying levels of obscurity.

I find that hip-hop music is either dismissed out of hand by people or embraced for all the wrong reasons. You can’t dismiss an entire genre based on the nonsense you hear on the radio; if I have to hear “Get Low” or “Yeah” at another college party I’m going to throw that damned computer/stereo/whatever out the window. I know it’s funny to hear Lil Jon say “WHAT? OKAY!” but enough is enough. It’s possible to vary the playlist and still please the dancefloor crowd.

Let me throw out a small disclaimer here: My experience with the vast majority other people’s taste in hip-hop has been people I’ve known from Westchester County, NY and people who go to Lafayette College: essentially, white suburban kids, AKA the mainstream. There are plenty of people in the world who do not commit the above sins and it is from those people that I would invite comments and critiques on this post. But enough disclaiming, let’s get down to business.

What is a hip-hop song?

Note: While I might mention a lot of artists here, I will only link those that I recommend.

First, let me explain that when you hear a hip-hop song you are likely hearing the work of two separate artists. Very often, the music comes from a producer or a DJ and the rapping comes from the rapper, who is the one getting all the press. So when you hear Ludacris’ “Stand Up”, you’re hearing Ludacris’s vocals over music produced by Erick Sermon. Therefore, when considering new hip-hop groups, it’s just as important to know who the producer/DJ is as it is to know who’s rapping. A pretty good list of important producers/DJs in the hip-hop world can be found here.

However, there are plenty of great artists who make the music and rap over it. Erick Sermon, mentioned above, is one classic artist (originally of EPMD) who does so. Another, much more obscure artist that does so to great effect is Edan. Also, certain DJs/producers release solo albums and invite lots of guest rappers to perform over the music, such as Kutmasta Kurt [Note: I only recommend the album "Redneck Olympics" and even then only with reservations]. One problem with this formula is that the lyrics are often limited to braggadoccio (which we will come to later).

The music itself is much more widely varied than what you see on MTV. I won’t get into whether certain styles are better or worse, because it comes down to personal preference, but I just want to point out that it’s not just all that grandiose crap (in my opinion) the mainstream likes so much. A Tribe Called Quest’s music was heavily jazz-influenced, while Edan’s is very electronic and close to another genre of music called “trip-hop”.

Just like the music, there is a lot of variation in rapping styles. It might all sound the same to mom and dad, but a rapper that is good at what he does has three areas in which he must excel.

The anatomy of a rap

I would break the vocal component of hip-hop music into three components: flow, delivery, and content. The flow and delivery make up the rapper’s “style”, which is to say how the words sound, and the content stands on its own as the subject material. It’s difficult to describe in words how something sounds, but I’ll do my best.

Flow

A rapper’s flow is his ability to follow the rhythm of the music. He should speed up easily into the equivalent of sixteenth notes or slow down smoothly to half or whole notes. This is essentially the natural ability to carry a tune. Dres of Black Sheep has a really nice flow. check out their 1991 album, “A Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing”, I haven’t heard any of their new stuff yet. Faster rapping is more difficult, but it doesn’t necessarily mean it’s better. Bone Thugs ‘n’ Harmony rap at ridiculous speeds, made less challenging by their slow beats, but I don’t want to spend time on them… I can’t stand that style. Diverse is a much better fast rapper, in my opinion.

Delivery

The delivery is essentially a rapper’s ability to put feeling into the rhymes. Is he acting the part, putting emphasis on important words and changing his tone of voice appropriately, or is it deadpan and lifeless? Chali 2na of Jurassic 5 has a deep, rich voice and a pretty good delivery, especially when he raps for Ozomatli. One mainstream rapper who is a guilty pleasure of mine is Ludacris. He has a great delivery not only on each rhyme, but over the course of the whole rap. What makes him a guilty pleasure is the underdeveloped aspects of the content of his rapping, which we will address now.

Content

The first component of the content section is, as in the case with any type of music that includes a vocal element, songwriting abilty. I’m referring strictly to the mechanics of the writing: do you hear clever metaphors and grander themes throughout the song, or is it disjointed? Are the rhymes varied and interesting, or are they forced or simplistic (the worst case of which being rhyming a word with itself)? A little known Canadian duo, a rapper and a DJ who operate under the name of the latter, DJ Format, demonstrate some great wordsmithing skills (and a nice delivery). The rapper, abdominal, has a great song called “Ill Culinary Behavior” that is one long metaphor that introduces the album as if they were hosting the listener at a dinner party… really clever stuff.

The second part of content is the maturity level of the lyrics. I’d like to start of by saying that higher maturity doesn’t necessarily make for a better song: Pharcyde’s album “Bizarre Ride II the Pharcyde” is a lot of fun at around an early high school level. On the other end of the spectrum, Mos Def deals with heavy issues like racism, corporate abuses, and so on while packing a flow and a delivery that shatter that of other rappers. his album, “Black on Both Sides”, is one of my favorites in the genre.

Though immature, an important part of hip hop content is “braggadoccio”. This is a nice word people use to refer to rappers rapping about how great they are or what they’ll do to a sucka MC. This is how a lot of rappers establish themselves, especially when freestyling, and makes a nice showcase for their flow and delivery ability. You can make a few good raps out of pure braggadoccio, but its best to find a balance, as we find with Giant Panda, between that and real content.

Well, there you have it. I hope it’s easier to see the nuances in hip hop music after considering all these points. At the very least you can drop some names and pretend to know something if you get caught in a conversation about the genre. For me, Mainstream hip hop’s greatest sin is the dismal quality of the content, though there are some serious affronts to proper flow and content.

“Hip hop will simply amaze you, praise you, pay you, do whatever you say dude, but black it can’t save you.“
-Mos Def

Rock steady, beatjunkies.
-Vic.