How Do Rappers Use Pitch?
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- Опубліковано 9 чер 2024
- In more ways than you probably think.
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When you think about what makes a good rapper, some of the first things to come to mind are probably intricate rhythms, clever lyrics, and a powerful message, but... pitch? Rappers don't use pitch, right? I mean, that's for singers, isn't it? But, well, it's not quite that simple. Rappers actually employ a bunch of different pitch manipulation techniques in their vocal delivery, we just never talk about it so until you know to listen for it you might never realize it's there. Over the decades, rappers have developed an incredibly sophisticated language of vocal pitch delivery that music theorists are only just now starting to untangle. Let's look at how.
Check out Dr. Komaniecki's full thesis, Analyzing The Parameters Of Flow In Rap Music: bit.ly/33p9HQM
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Also, thanks to Jareth Arnold for proofreading the script to make sure this all makes sense hopefully!
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Some additional thoughts/corrections:
1) I should note that, due to the nature of the notation here, it's more likely than normal that you might disagree with some of my transcriptions. There may be features I left out that you think should've been included, or features I put in that you don't hear. If that's the case, sorry, I did my best, but when transcribing imprecise pitch, you inevitably wind up with an imprecise transcription.
2) Another area I didn't really get into is the question of range: Rappers with low voices tend to sound different from rappers with high voices, and some groups containing both, like Tribe Called Quest and the Beastie Boys, utilize that distinction to great effect. Dr. Komaniecki briefly addresses this, but he's largely focused on the melodic contour techniques of individual rappers and I'm unaware of any other scholarship focused on that question as of yet, at least beyond the oversimplified energy/authority dichotomy. I'll keep digging, though.
Hey 12tone! May I suggest a topic for you to cover? You see, lately I’ve been wondering if the minor 2nd/9th is actually as useable in harmony as the other intervals, because it seems like the one that is most avoided; I’ve often seen it replaced by a major 7th to make voicings more digestible (e.g. Voicing a C11 chord with the F on the first octave and the E on the second octave). To me, it almost seems too dissonant to use outside of a startling or sarcastic context. What do you think?
I’ve really liked this video and the flow video by the way. I find it really cool how you’re raising these concepts in a music theory context. It’s like there’s a whole new world of musical analysis to discover!
I’m a huge Hip-Hop head and find this topic very interesting and very overlooked, and I’m really glad you and others are beginning to finally tackle this topic! In order to get to the root of what is actually going on vocally, look to no other than Rakim - the most highly regarded MC in the hip hop world. He laid down the foundation for what we think of as modern, sophisticated hip hop - not only in terms of lyrics, but in terms of flow. He came from a musical family and played saxophone before he started rapping, and has stated that he was inspired by and studied bebop musicians such as Charlie Parker, understands music theory, and wanted to become the John Coltrane of rapping, which he became. He discusses how he is emulating bebop with his voice, not only in interviews, but in his music. It is dismissive and negligent to say that every syllable - in hip hop derived from the more virtuosic gold age which is the epitome of the culture - doesn’t produce a note. When analyzing the melodic content of rap, it is often more beneficial to analyze it from the perspective perspective of jazz. There are more notes occurring than meets the ear. There is chromaticism, and also notes that fall in between the half-step thanks to the inflections of the human voice. (Like mentioned in the video) They just happen to blend into the instrumental, due to the open tonal, and sometimes polytonal nature of hip-hop beats.
Great video but I just thought I might mention that he says "room 101" not "route 101". According to some guy on genius: "Room 101 is reference to 1984 by George Orwell. Inside this room a person is subjected to their worst nightmares and tortured." Little mistake very fascinating video!
Music is like Candy.
One Always Throws The rapper Away !
Syllables in rap are like drum beats. And if drum beats didn't have a need for varied pitch we wouldn't need to have a whole kit.
no
@@teachies902 Actually yes, why would there be differently tuned Toms?
@@christoph.schneider nevermind im wrong i dont know
John Friendson hahaha
@@AWMK101 Kicks have a significantly different sound signature than a snare as they do for hi-hats. Its a lot more timbral than it is tonal, I think. Percussions also tend to have a mish-mash of different non-harmonic overtones that obfuscate their tonal function, or rather, give them percussive meaning. I think comparing a percussion to the pitch a person uses to speak is a bit far-fetched, even if I don't have the sources or the knowledge to back it up.
I wish more music theorists were as willing to ask, “What’d I Miss?”
"France is following us into revolution, there is no more status quo."
They basically missed the late 80's.
Stop
Music theorists, we get the job done
That was a clever reference but the hamilton fandom’s arrival and unnecessary emphasising of the joke by reciting lyrics made it much less funny
Wow! Thank you so much for featuring my work on your wonderful channel. I'm extremely flattered, and I hope that your excellent work here inspires more analysis of rap music!
This was fantastic.
Huh. What a crossover. I wonder what a collab would look like.
Clipping is immediately what I thought of when I saw the title, before I even started the video. They have a new album coming out and I cannot wait.
October with a horror concept album two years in a row, they’re spoiling us.
The funny thing os that the new one is sort of a continuation of the old one. Songs that weren't able to make it into Addiction to Blood, but also some new stuff. An entire album of B-side!
Ghost Kai, Clipping has proven over and over that even their B-sides are brilliant and worth paying attention to, so I am super excited.
@@ghostkai8713 it's not B-sides though, it was planned from the beginning. they wrote all the songs for it during a few year period, but when they came to the label they said it was too much for one record, so they picked 3 singles for each record and separated the rest of the material based from there. it's definitely not like odds and ends or loose change
I'm going to uni for a music degree this year, and I totally plan on writing papers on hip hop music theory. Hopefully I can contribute a little to the academic study of a genre and culture I love and respect.
Awesome! Shoot me an email or Twitter DM if I can ever help!
Robert Komaniecki Are you a rapper?
@@AWMK101 Nope, I'm a music prof!
@@robertkomaniecki6627 that's awesome, I probably will lol
Robert Komaniecki I assume the professor who wrote the paper mentioned in the video? 😁
I know this isn't a Q&A, but how do you decide what to draw? Do you plan it out, or do you just write the script and then draw what comes to you?
I am not a fan of rap, and I used to totally throw it aside as "not music." I'm still not a fan of rap, but over the past while I've begun to respect it as a much more intricate and skillful genre that what appears on the surface. This video definitely contributed to my knowledge of what I now consider one of the greatest genres of music, even though I am not a fan.
This comment definitely makes me happy to see, so if you don't mind, I'll share a personal experience in relation to yours.
Nowadays, I even rap myself, and have for a few years now, but it wasn't always that way. Having grown up listening to a large span of genres, although mainly British Invasion Rock, Proto and Neo-Punk, and alternatives like Lauren Hoffman, I imagine it must have been easier for me to see the appeal and validity to Rap and Hip-Hop as genres. However, there was a period in my life where although I wasn't vehemently against it as an artform, I couldn't find any appeal to it. It just challenged a lot of things I knew about music and expression. As the years have gone by though, it's become my most consumed type of music, and I'm always learning as a rapper and songwriter.
I have to ask you then, were you the type of person to completely reject Rap as a valid genre? This isn't meant for hate, I'm moreso curious about your experiences and views, and how they've changed.
@@wes.9353 I certainly was that kind of person, back in the day.
My journey to discovering my love of hip-hop was kind of weird.
First it was, "I only listen to Rock music."
Then it became, "I only listen to Rock music, and music from Psychopathic Records." Yes, I was a Juggalo, don't @ me. lmao
Then I discovered the Rhymesayers, and my whole musical perspective changed. Mostly Aesop Rock, but also Eyedea and Abilities, MF Doom... a shit ton of great underground artists showed me that hip-hop wasn't just the "guns and drugs and bitches" shit I was hearing on the radio. In fact, it could be some of the most complex and heartfelt music out there.
These days, I listen to all kinds of shit. After that revelation, I realized that my views on music were narrow-minded. I started expanding that horizon, and found that I loved Folk music, and swing, and jazz, and blues. Even some pop music. And that Hip-hop contained bits of all of them.
Aesop Rock is my favorite artist of all time. Not just musical artist, artist in general. Mostly because I have a massive respect for the insane skills that he has, but also because his music opened my mind to the possibilities.
@@wes.9353 Well I am big into music, and in what I'll call "music class culture," they put a lot of emphasis on older genres (eg classical, jazz) and I thought that if there is no "music theory" involved in the music then it doesn't really count as music. I later realized that even though rap is very different than what we may cover in class, it isn't just simply talking, like I thought as a person who almost never listened to rap. There is a lot of nuance and "rap theory theory" involved so I definitely respect it as music.
@Jo T This is where I disagree. There's objective measures to an artist's flow patterns, commonality of metaphor, similes, double entendres, etcetera, as well as vocal depth/complexities, and subject matter variation. But look at Folk Punk, Hardcore, and even a lot of Disco from back in the day. It's human expression, and even if it is basic, it's relatable and listenable to a large amount of people who eke enjoyment out of it. You can rate the process of the art, but you can't tell people how to feel about it.
@@tysonplett3328 Actually, a great example is Nirvana. As much as I do enjoy some of their music, it's not coming from musical savants. Kurt was not a good singer, or lyricist. It was the combination of what each instrument and member had to offer, put together in the right way, that made people like it.
Speaking of clipping, the song Shooter from the EP Wriggle uses a 12 Tone Row as a bass line.
Specifically, the intro, chorus, and outro use the row: C G Ab A F# F E Bb Db Eb D B
Each of the verses use different transformations of the row.
The first verse uses:
R0: B D Eb Db Bb E F F# A Ab G C
RI3: E Db C D F B Bb A F# G Ab Eb
The second verse uses:
I8: Ab Db C B D Eb E Bb G F F# A
P2: D A Bb B Ab G F# C Eb F E Db
And the third verse uses:
I4: E A Ab G Bb B C F# Eb Db D F
RI8: A F# F G Bb E Eb D B C Db Ab
But they don't actually use I4. The replace the A with a G to make a darker sound similar to how R5 starts.
Also the stories (specifically Story 2 and Story 7) go super crazy with the time signatures.
Speaking of clipping.. he made need to invest in nail clippers. Detracts from the video when I see those things
Mason Morris was gonna say the same thing didn’t notice til 10 minutes in but golllllyyyyy
grape conqs I don’t know much about this guy - looks like he might play classical guitar.
this is fucking amazing
i too am constantly plagued by Ben Shapiro's garbage takes on music
Lol bens a classical musician of course he has horrible takes on music
@@Enderrock424 as a classical musician, we don't claim him
Josh Lyphout understandable
@@joshlyphout4983 don't know much about the situation, but... who would want to??? Other than another elitist
@@joshlyphout4983 As a Jewish person, I feel likewise about him
I’m a huge Hip-Hop head and find this topic very interesting and very overlooked! I’ve been studying this on my own for over a decade and always wondered when the day would come when hip-hop would start to become academic. In order to get to the root of what is actually going on vocally, look to no other than Rakim - the most highly regarded MC in the hip hop world. He laid down the foundation for what we think of as modern, sophisticated hip hop - not only in terms of lyrics, but in terms of flow. He came from a musical family and played saxophone before he started rapping, and has stated that he was inspired by and studied bebop musicians such as Charlie Parker, understands music theory, and wanted to become the John Coltrane of rapping, which he became. He discusses how he is emulating bebop with his voice, not only in interviews, but in his music. It is dismissive and negligent to say that every syllable - in hip hop derived from the more virtuosic gold age which is the epitome of the culture - doesn’t produce a note. When analyzing the melodic content of rap, it is often more beneficial to analyze it from the perspective of jazz. There are more notes occurring than meets the ear. There is chromaticism, and also notes that fall in between the half-step thanks to the inflections of the human voice. (Like mentioned in the video) They just happen to blend into the instrumental, due to the open tonal, and sometimes polytonal nature of hip-hop beats.
Ayyeee thank you. And also many rappers rap in a note .. it is clear as day. Some of them even got training so they can rap on a note. Eminems Rap God is a great example... the flow mostly stays around on one note.. but it is a note and it is in tune with the synth. Really some rappers go through the same training as voice actors do... but not enough. Most of the best rappers do come out of musical families though and often sang in choir etc...
To say that rap doesn't have intonation is to be wholly ignorant of the genre. PHDs really are worthless titles when i see what they usually write... But it goes back to Aristotle who wrote in a book that ants are solitary creatures like swans and do not have a queen like bees do. Smart idiots :P
Agni Das Agni Das Yes haha it’s pretty funny actually. Intellectuals run in circles trying so hard to figure out a problem when they completely neglect the fact that the answer is already coming straight out of the originators mouth, whether it’s in interviews or in the music itself. Late 80s hip-hop artists were literally giving tutorials of what hip-hop is in their lyrical content haha. In regards to Eminem, he often has a more complex delivery that comes with a flurry of notes, but then might simplify his flow and do a hook here and there that is more centered around a single note sing-song type of thing, particularly in the second half of his career. His main influence was coming from rappers like Rakim and that school of hip-hop, which he also mentions in his lyrical content.
I personally feel like artists such as Polo G and NoCap (and many more especially in the south) have spent a lot of time in theory. Not that they are absolutely mind blowing, but when I hear songs like Polo G's "Rapstar," and "21" I can't help but think he was anything less than meticulous.
@@dudelove5316 Yes, most of the greatest MCs have had serious musical training and possess an in depth understanding.
Wait, are you implying you're going to do a video about autotune?
Pleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleaseplease
I also want this.
take that ben shapiro
We all know Ben Shapiro isn't hip to well-analyzed pieces (WAP for short)
I knew Diggs is insanely talented, but I never considered this aspect of his performances. Awesome
Hello 12Tone. I just finished my Ph.D. in music composition and music theory, but my dissertation paper was on what classical music composers could learn about text setting from hip-hop/rap artists. I really enjoyed this video. Thank you for covering this.
"Taking Off" off the original album by clipping is an extreme example... There's basically very little pitch information in the entire song, it is all veeery monotone, BUT: he starts of the first verse with a (pretty slow) quarternote flow, then goes to a eigth note flow, then to eigth note triplets and then to sixteenth notes. The hook is the first thing that you hear in the song that is not a pretty much uniquely uniform rythmical pattern. So basically, the beat stays pretty much the same and the pitch doesn't change either, but the "hierarchy" is clarified only by the flow (and it is very well clarified and very easy to hear). Getting into the second verse, he strays away from the simple rythmical patterns found in the first verse, but keeps an overall faster flow, and as soon as he reaches the hook again with its (very simple) flow, it's absolutely obvious he's back in the hook independently from the lyrics because the flow is so different. Listening to the song back, there's very little pitch information to be found, but the flow switches are very obvious in my opinion.
Man, the pitch of your voice in your videos is underrated.
Yeah i assumed he'd use that as an example of how general speech is full of pitch.
@@qwertyasdf66 and good use of cadence to land his points, as without seeing his body language, the pace can see odd. Good work
Outkast comes to mind, especially B.O.B
Oh man the music theory of rap is utterly fascinating to me and clipping. is one of my favorite bands so yeah, this is a Very Good Video.
Oh please..
Caution: This video may contain facts and logic.
You've said on "'how is that not just signing?' it's a fair question and I think the best answer is... Who cares"
This reminds me of Tyler the Creator who said that winning a rap award was bitter sweet, because it also implied that he's not considered a singer.
I'm kinda wondering if a "who cares" would be fine in that context.
It may be, maybe Tyler would rather have no significant distinction, and just be awarded as a singer.
Btw I'm not judging your "who cares" since it's a good answer in the right context, and you did immediately provide a much fuller answer. I'm just pondering what would be more appropriate in the context of Tyler's award
Tyler the creator isn't just a rapper, but at the sametime you can say he is as rapper as the genre is very fluid, and the music he makes shows the fluidity of rap, and it's at the point of the truth is in the eye of the beholder, as he raps but with heavy jazz, folk, and blues, influences and sometimes the influences take over rap and rap becomes the influence, so to me "who cares" is right.
I remember when I heard Story 2 by clipping. and the lengthening odd timing immediately attracted a huge nerd like me
Since this is Daveed Diggs you’re analyzing, it feels like the appropriate place to share: Hamilton was the bridge that took me from being an insular musical theatre fan to noticing and appreciating the intricacies of rap and hip hop music. 🙏
do you just recognize diggs from hamilton or have you acquainted yourself with clipping?
I would argue that Ol' Dirty definitely also deserves honorable mention when it comes to rappers singing. His and Macy Gray's rendition of Don't Go Breaking My Heart is nothing short of amazing.
If you can tune drums... (toms, snare, kick, etc) ... then it would make sense that any noise that comes out of your lungs through your throat is going to be some kind of pitch or note or key or whatever. I'm probably butchering the terminology but you know whatI mean.
Probably my personal favorite example... Tech N9ne. 100% rap + 100% vocal control
I think Krizz Kaliko beats Tech in vocal control.
@@GhostSamaritanmeant the band as a whole but i absolutely agree. Tech has the frontman swag and all but Krizz kaliko is the driving talent and force behind the music. And they pull it off fully choreographed live flawlessly. Seriously one of the best live shows I've ever been to.
Weird thing is I didnt like kalikos solo stuff as much. But then, I wouldn't like tech as much without krizz kaliko. They work well together
The rap group Bone Thugs-n-Harmony does all of these extensively. They're extremely varied in their ability to mix singing and rapping and I really recommend it.
A fascinating insight into an area of music often ignored in academia. On the subject of vocal styles that don't strictly adhere to the classical pitch system, I'd love to see a similar take on the more aggressive vocal styles used mainly in metal.
something i noticed on my ~50th listen of to pimp a butterfly is that kendrick often raps on the fifth of the key, but in a more speechy kind of way, in a way connecting his voice to the beat
I still prefer CLPPNG over Splendor and Missery, but my got Clipping in general is so good
CLPPNG almost gave me tinnitus lol
I respectfully disagree with the first point, but the second I get behind easily. Lol
Easily one of the my all time favorite groups. (Honestly it’s them and Mr. Bungle) And Splendor and Misery is easily like... in my top 3 albums.
@@GhostSamaritan bro have u heard midcity lmao
Sprech·ge·sang
/ˈSHprekɡəˌzäNG/
noun MUSIC
noun: Sprechgesang
a style of dramatic vocalization intermediate between speech and song.
German, literally ‘speech song'
Often used in Disney films when they're about to start singing and dancing.
I would translate it with "speech singing", since "Gesang" refers more to the action itself than to some kind of musical piece. Early German rappers like Die Fantastischen Vier rappers called their rapping sometimes "Sprechgesang", to give it some local context, I guess. It didn't sound like opera though, but like this: ua-cam.com/video/I7ZSjkdx0AA/v-deo.html :)
@@stefan1024 that's fuckin awesome thank you ❤️🤙
What's the point of this comment?
Wouldn’t it be /ˈSHpreSH.ɡə.ˌzaNG/
Broad IPA:
/ʃpreʃ.ɡə.ˌzaŋ/
Narrow IPA:
[ˈʃʷpʀɛç.ɡə.ˌzaŋ]
8:50 wow. This just explained something I wondered. In D-2's Set Me Free, Yoongi's voice sounds wobbly and not perfectly on pitch. Now he has some singing training and Bangtan are all notorious perfectionists, so I wondered why he didn't just record the thing over and over until he got a perfect take. Well, you just told me why!
Straight Outta Compton, my first rap album experience, amazed me with their use of pitch in their vocals. Each one had a unique timbre (tam-bur) and pitch level, and each one delivered their lines as much melodically as rhythmically. and you can't attempt to copy what they do without incorporating pitch into your voice. in addition to the brilliant use of samples and other elements, not to mention the lyrical depth, they opened my mind to what was possible in what was then a fairly new style. i can't rap, i never could, but i love what good hip hop artists can do, whether mc, dj, or whatever.
Saw clipping. live, opening for the Flaming Lips, they were great.
At the Raleigh show, it was kinda awesome, most of the room just stood around and just watched as a the center, right in front of the stage was just going nuts. I loved it. And oooooh man, those jolts in Baby Don’t Sleep... I feel it throughout my body
@@EldritchNoise Their music is made for big, and loud sound systems; and the one where I saw them, at the Rebel, in Toronto, is great. I had VIP tickets, so I was front row center, and I got to meet the Lips and get their autograph. Walked out of that show with all the lights burned into my retinas, and my insides turned to mush, from the wall of sound. Ended up being one of the most memorable shows I have seen.
yes i've been waiting for some analysis like this, hip hop vocals are so rich with technique and effects
It's so crazy to think that in the future we might witness actual rap education in schools next to jazz and classical.
It really makes you wonder how refined and serious this genre can get.
If “rap” is stylized talking and musical theater is stylized drama then it makes sense to have a musical where all the non-sung lines are “rap”, Sprechstimme, Sprechgesang or whatever you want to call it.
Hamilton.
Thank you for making this video, I have been wondering about this topic for a while.
this is one of my favorite topics you've tackled, thx for the birthday gift ✨🥺
literally a copy paste of another comment. Ugh youtube comment sections Am I right? *joke*
Happy birthday again
clipping. is good shit. glad to see em brought up
IM SO HAPPY YOURE TALKING ABOUT SPLENDOR AND MISERY. i love that album so much.
I only want to know if anyone else recognized The Cremation of Sam McGee. This is the first time I've heard it referenced by anyone outside of my own family.
Should have scrolled down farther before I commented.
I heard it every summer growing up. One of the staff at the boy scout camp I went to would perform it at the Friday night campfire. It's one of my favorite poems.
thank you for this video!!! something ive been wondering about for a while, always in the back of my head when listening to my favourite rap artists, how they use pitch. you are a genius to me !!
Saul Williams does that whole speech to rap to singing transitioning thing extremely well.
Yeppa that 4th drop for the cadence fall! Good pickup, tis perfect for dropping a line you aren't personally attached to or wanna show ya disaffected etc. Dope
I really appreciate your hip hop videos!
So glad you used Splendor and Misery for your examples in this. Incredible album, love clipping.
This was a great video. Thanks 12tone
It might be a fun and interesting project to compare rappers techniques to being drama to their performances, with similar or different techniques used by metal singers who utilize scream/growl/roar/whatever you want to call it.
Amaazing video, I seached for a video for this since some time now
I am definitely not a rap or hip hop fan, but this video has really opened my mind. Thanks dude! I enjoyed this so much.
Splendour & Misery is one of my favourite records of all time and it makes me so happy to see it get more love
I'm loving these videos on rapping. I would love to hear your thoughts on another often-overlooked music genre; video game music. There's a lot of pretty complex stuff going on in classic video game music. You could talk about how to create a looping melody that doesn't drive people insane to listen to over and over again. Or the idea of motifs, one of my favorite video game/ film techniques. Of course, Star Wars is the absolute apex of the use of the motif, having different motifs for each character.
Just some ideas for future videos. lol
what a fantastic video. I am not a fan of rap, but I love some things. this has helped me to understand more the intricacies of this underrated style. thank you
Please keep doing rap + hip hop music theory videos! They're really interesting
I really enjoy your videos and the topics you cover. I think this one is my favorite though cause you quoted "The Cremation of Sam McGee". Brilliant!
The rhyme of hiphop generally makes me so jealous. So clever lines. So clever.
Hip hop is not clever, it has good metaphors but it doesn't take much knowledge to write about nothing but drugs sex and murder
Sometimes, sometimes.
@@Dynamic_Editor I do like some rap, like Wu Tang clan and Eminem, but really that's it. Those are the ones who have dignity. All modern hip hop is just the same thing, all the same videos, all the same samples and rhythm. Don't call fucking racist just because I don't like your music.
Well I admire the lyrics I'VE heard.
@@Dynamic_Editor and yes, it's cause I'm pissed at Gucci gang. Let me compare the lyrics to that song to death portrait by Lorna shore
Gucci gang:
"Gucci gang" × 100000000
Death portrait:
"Playing with the thought is exiting enticing
These familiar voices become mesmerizing
Slicing and prying manipulative conniving
Taking control of bounds to sacrificing"
My case rests
ayyyyyyy another clipping. fan let's go
Splendor & Misery was probably my fav album by them until Visions of Bodies Being Burned. Good music choice, and more importantly, great video!
The non-intimidation of bad singing is really clever. Reminds me of Adam Neely's video on CCM and "musicking" as a verb. The way hip hop is/was musicked is way different than going to an opera
I feel this video 100%. For me, rap vocals is both pitch and percussion. If you're taking requests, I would really appreciate a video on the phonetic alphabet and how different rhyme schemes in hip hop correspond to regular drum patterns.
Oh, thanks man, I'll watch your video in a minute. I'm listening to rap/hip hop right now, and I don't usually do this, but it's pretty cool.
I was already excited for another video on hip hop, but when you pulled out Splendor & Misery I knew it would be even better :D
I've recently been thinking a lot about the similarities between freestyling and Jazz scatting, (and by extension Jazz soloing) I'm not expert on either but as it turns out they are not that far removed from one another and make for a verry interesting and impresive combination.
Great video but I just thought I might mention that he says "room 101" not "route 101". According to some guy on genius: "Room 101 is reference to 1984 by George Orwell. Inside this room a person is subjected to their worst nightmares and tortured." Little mistake very fascinating video!
Dude! Much appreciation for turning me on to Splendor & Misery! What an awesome album!
thank you for your contribution to rhythm science
You should make one on using these tips!
12tone's manuscript budget must be huge
Can you do more hip hop analysis? Literally any topic love u
I peronally have a hard time feeling emotion out of rapping, but it's still goddamn impressive how complex it gets. Being a big metal fan, I get *how* non pitched (or not to our normal 12 tone system) carries emotion and appeal, I just wish I enjoyed rap more.
On a related note, it might make a really cool video if you took different styles of vocals in different genres and picked apart some differing techniques, maybe make like a tree branching off from speech and singing as the base. I hope this gets through, I'd love to see something like that or at least to get the idea out there. :)
I love to hear people who are able to stand on this middle ground, and I appreciate seeing this comment, so thanks b.
What I will say though, is that it's clear to me you understand some of the complexities and skills it truly takes to be a rapper, just like any other genre. So I'd really encourage you to try and expose yourself to rap on a deeper level, and try to get used to it. It's totally possible to train yourself to enjoy new things.
I used to be into a lot of things, but metalhead was my descriptor. I wanted to be in a band. Didn't understand or get enjoyment out of rap for a long time. But, then it clicked, and lo and behold, I'm a rap artist. I wouldn't change a thing, it's just more for me to learn and get happiness from.
It's okay if hip hop doesn't do it for you. We can appreciate the value music has for others without personally enjoying it. If you insist, I'd recommend listening to a wide variety of rap because it varies A LOT. Perhaps you'd like Death Grips because of their Industrial sound (they're a bit much for me). I personally like a calmer sound with more of a focus on rhyme scheme and sampling like a lot of the rappers on Stone Throws. Overall, if you don't like what you're hearing, try a different scene.
if you're a metal fan you might wanna check out some trap metal stuff in the vein of city morgue, scarlxrd, blckk, itsoktocry, shinigami etc. some songs/artists are more metal than others (some of the artists i listed dont even Mostly do that style but have sometimes done it) and if you go into it thinking of it as metal, its not very good metal tbh, but it might be a good middle ground for you cuz it kinda blends influences. also its almost cliche by now but if u want a hiphop song you can easily feel emotion from, check out dance with the devil by immortal technique. that song is fuckin devastating
You might have finally convinced me to sign up. I desperately want to hear an 18 year old discuss Rob Zombie from a music history perspective...
Very cool and informative and interesting!
"we need to address of the elephant in the room" you mean that coke nail?
It's a great video, but I couldn't stop staring at it, I hope he doesn't take it in a wrong way. Just please clean it up lol
it isn't just the one nail though, it's all of them. You can see the other hand briefly at 1:32 if you go frame by frame.
pure gold.
I know rap is complicated but I always thought it was something you just learn by ear. Never thought it would get its own music theory or something. This definitely disproves the idea that there’s nothing left under the sun.
I just listened to Splendor & Misery for the first time the other day! Such an incredible album.
Rex Harrison spoke in pitch in My Fair Lady. To me, rappers are doing the same thing. So I’m surprised this subject wasn’t tackled in some form in the past.
There also seems to be some degree of rap harmony in the chorus of the song "Action Satisfaction" by Jurassic Five.
I gotta listen to this album
Whoop! More rapsplanations please :)
Brilliant!
I feel like you always upload your videos at 1.5 playback speed, so I slow it down to 0.5, but that's not enough to retain all the cascade of information of words and sounds, so I'm constantely pausing and going back 5 sec, or more. By the time the video ends: I lost my job, my aunt got married to a divorce lawyer, some white hair appeared on my bangs, I'm going through menopause, the USA no longer exist, India colonized Mars with cows and they multiplied so much that they're all over the red planet, also there are no longer cows on Hearth now, the Sun will expand and cosume Earth in just a moment. But i'm happy, I die, everything comes to an end, finally, but it was worth it. I learned how rappers use pitch.
As I've been developing my personal style for my music I now exclusively rap/sing in that sung verse style. every 4 or 2 bars I will switch up the melody and rhythm of the verse, Its the only way I can write for some reason. I started off singing when I was younger but slowly added more and more intricate rhyming in the lyrics. to the point where the fast rapping and very melodic singing are kinda equal parts present. Trying to meld this with my electronic beat production I've developed seperately is proving to be not very simple but I'm getting there 😂
I think the trap trope of the supertonic slam with the x-1 cadence (rapping in tones that feel like 222222222222231 for example) is kinda like imitating a dub bass with the vocal line. You could call scat styles "imitating an instrument" too. As another technique label, I mean.
To add to why the third technique is the most rare but Daveed Diggs seems to use it a lot, I think it has a lot to do with the experimental, industrial nature of the beats that clipping. uses. Their songs often don't have a really sturdy and prominent beat like traditional hip-hop does so him using his voice to emphasize the beat is particularly important.
Excellent video, and thank you so much for teaching me about Rob Zombie!
this is for the people who say rap isn't music
Super interesting!
Oh shit, now I've finally watched every 12-Tone video. What am I gonna do for the next week!? Beato had better have some cool new stuff to tide me over...
"I can't use conventional examples, so I'll use clipping instead"
Damn, I wouldn't even call it a compromise
Thanks for the video. About to go check out Dr. Robert Komeni....errr spelling. But you get it.
Recently just finished reading Dr. Komaniecki's Thesis AND listening to clipping.'s discography, so timely vid! (at least for me)
Only wish that Komaniecki's paper had gone more in depth (it focuses more on breadth), and that clipping. was a little less... sonically challenging (their second album, CLPPNG, is the least noisy), but both are recommended for anyone who wants to expand their ideas about what rap can do/be.
This is a subject I'm really interested in, atonality that doesn't sound out of place and even having a single instrument slip in and out of it really confuses me. It can sound REALLY wrong when the ear fails to disconnect it from the stricter rules of the harmony you have, but it can really add color to the harmony in ways that don't even make sense if you really look at them. At least slightly sliding notes and avoiding resonant frequencies etc. really helps in my experience, but I'd love theorists to really dig into this.
I always noticed this, especially in something like Backseat Freestyle where Kendrick seems to be slightly "bending up" during the hook
You've covered rap and microtonal music, have you done 7-note eastern tuning yet? I'm thinking in particular of Thai classical music and singing as that's where I live, but of course it also includes other areas of South and Southeast Asia.
Dmx use's pitch in intresting ways in his rap verses. Mostly he ramps up and down in pitch towards the end of phrases. But also switches into a off kilter sequence of notes and near melodic phrasing. And sometimes he straight up "transposes" his voice up and down serveral semitones for sections. Even though he had his success back in the day. He's still an underated artist IMO. I think he was held back by his gangster rap style and image from reaching his true heights as a artist.
Yooo bizzy bone shout out !!!!! That's 100 percent accurate Soo happy you said that
I heard that first second of Daveed Diggs' brilliant voice and immediately thought "Oooh, so that's the name of his group!"
Yeeeeeeah!
just opened this video but I hope he talks about Danny Brown, his usage of the high pitched voice contrasted against his real voice (like on AE) is very interesting
Yessssss, Clipping 💜