The birds and the beats
mommy, where does hip-hop come from?
by Adam Brown
The Metropolitan
Recently, I was told that hip-hop music wasn't anything but "clicks and whistles."
Sadly, this closed-minded view of rap music is all too common among those who assume that MCs never rhyme about anything but drugs, sex and murder.
Hip-hop music is anything but merely "clicks and whistles." It is, at its heart, poetry set to a song known as a "beat." Beats are usually structured just like normal songs, with clear verse and chorus sections.
Often, producers compose and create the beats on computer programs like Fruityloops, CoolEdit or Wav Surfer before the rapper even begins writing lyrics.
Beats often include more instruments than just drums. Most advanced computer programs give producers the ability to electronically compose using instruments from pianos to violins to guitars and everything in between. The amount of time put into composing a beat, or an entire album's worth of beats, is astonishing.
Producers, such as Pharell Williams and Dr. Dre use these programs and devote their entire lives to making other people famous. Without Dre, we would never have had Slim Shady, or 50 Cent. Legendary mogul Suge Knight made Tupac Shakur and Snoop Dogg stars. Countless other producers have launched many current superstars' careers with their original, computer generated beats.
Other times, producers or DJs create a new song by looping together old records and mixing in scratches and sounds of their own. Different scratches and sounds, when used properly, can turn an old, tired song into the Next Big Thing.
The musical talent necessary to successfully accomplish this is perplexing because timing is the key element. Arguably, the hardest thing about being a DJ is performing live because most only have two turntables, yet some use hundreds of records during the course of their show.
Not only that, but they actually cue the albums to the desired position without ever losing the rhythmic feel of the song. Just watching these guys swap out and spin records for a few hours is exhausting.
Some groups actually have a live band that plays the beats behind the MCs. Groups such as the Harlem Underground Band perfected the hip hop sound in the 1980s, and groups like The Roots are still using it today.
This is perhaps even more respectable because their concerts are incredible. The audience gets to actually see the musicians responsible for the funky sounds blasting out of the speakers. It gives the group a feel of togetherness, and this is what music used to be about.
But that was before the computer age, and in this age, new musical capabilities are just beginning to be explored. Hip-hop musicians today can combine the sounds of hundreds of instruments, which they mix onto a single track before any vocalization is present. The layered sound this produces is unlike anything else in the music world.
Where else could a person hear a song which includes thought-provoking poetry and (potentially) contains percussion, woodwind, brass and string instruments? Remember that question the next time you think hip-hop is nothing more than clicks and whistles. |
