By Year (Analysis of Rap Songs)

• Max Landis - Modern Hip Hop And Why Everyone Is Getting Their Butt Licked
  • Summary: In the '90s male rappers would often say they wouldn't go down on a woman. The female rappers would often say, though, that they get their assholes licked, as a way of showing that they have power over men. There was a dry period of female rappers from 2005-2012ish, but in that interim period Lil' Wayne and Drake started rapping about going down on women and normalized the idea, and now we're in a situation where, if you listen to the radio, you'll hear a lot(?) of rappers rapping about getting their buttholes licked.

1979

1979 - Sugar Hill Gang - Rapper's Delight

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rKTUAESacQM
Length: 14:45 (extremely unusual compared to today's rap)

• I think it's cool to have longer songs, but it shouldn't be at the expense of quality
• Hank's lyrics are awesome
• it's interesting that this was released as a single, whereas most rap songs nowadays are released as albums
• Wonder Mike's lyrics are awesome
• The delivery of these guys isn't as emotional as BIG / Tupac / Eminem.
• Big Bad Hank:
  • He breaks an unwritten rule by conceding that a competitor of his might be more desirable than him in some way:
    • "He may be very sexy, or even cute," (referring to Superman)
  • He breaks another rule by rhyming a word with itself:
    •  

      I go to the balls and then ring the bell
      Because I am the man with the clientele
      And if ya ask me why I rock so well,
      A Big Bang, I got clientele

1979 - King Tim III - Fatback

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ig3313DhcB8


1979 - Funky 4+1 - Rappin & Rocking The House
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fUUyGxRoDQY

1980

1980 - MC Spicer - Adventures of Super Rhymes

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nkGLco0tGqc
- the similarity to Rapper's Delight is unmistakeable
- it has the same bass line (I think the bass may come in later)

History of the Amen Break:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5SaFTm2bcac
- A key point they make is that the release of the sampler in the 1980s is largely what made hip hop possible



1981

1981 - Dr. Jeckyll & Mr. Hyde - Genius Rap

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fEusjv45hjg
- They have an awesome loop; I can't remember the song it's from. I bet a much better rap song could be created with that loop.

1981 - Sugar Hill Gang - Apache
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vQObWW06VAM
- The lyrics are noticeably not as good as Rapper's Delight
- The stanzas are very short
- The song keeps returning to the chorus, which makes it 


1981 - Grandmaster Flash - The Adventures Of Grandmaster Flash On The Wheels Of Steel
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gXNzMVLqIHg
- This is pretty awesome. I can't say I've ever heard anything like this before. It reminds me of 1) the way people will cut apart people's words nowadays to make them rap, and 2) EDM mixes. But unlike #1 it is using lots of different sources, and unlike #2 it is constantly switching between things.


1982

1982 - Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five - The Message

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gqky4dSGJnE



1984

1984 - Run-D.M.C.: Run-D.M.C.

1985

1985 - LL Cool J: Radio

1986

1986 - Run-D.M.C.: Raising Hell
1986 - Beastie Boys: Licensed to Ill

1987

1987 - Boogie Down Productions: Criminal Minded
1987 - Eric B & Rakim: Paid in Full

1988

http://www.cracked.com/blog/the-5-greatest-moments-in-freddy-kruegers-music-video/

1988 - Biz Markie: Goin' Off
1988 - Slick Rick: The Great Adventures of Slick Rick
1988 - EPMD: Strictly Business
1988 - Big Daddy Kane: Long Live the Kane
1988 - Public Enemy: It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back
1988 - N.W.A: Straight Outta Compton
1988 - MC Lyte: Lyte as a Rock
1988 - Ultramagnetic MC's: Critical Beatdown
1988 - Jungle Brothers: Straight out the Jungle

1989

1989 - De La Soul: 3 Feet High & Rising
1989 - Beastie Boys: Paul's Boutique
1989 - Queen Latifah: All Hail the Queen
1989 - Jungle Brothers: Done by the Forces of Nature

1990
1990 - Digital Underground - Sex Packets
The Humpty Dance
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cj9_yW8tZxs
Length: 6:32
- It's pretty awful
- It's funny
- The guy has an unusual voice, which is a plus.
- It plays a hi-hat on every 8th note through the whole song that gets really annoying. Interestingly, ATCQ's "Electric Relaxation" also has a high-hat on every 8th note, but it isn't as annoying because it's quieter and has a softer attack.
- It's drawn out to 6:32. It could probably be cut to one-third that length.

1990 - Public Enemy (group): Fear of a Black Planet
1990 - A Tribe Called Quest: People's Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm
1990 - X-Clan: To the East, Blackwards
1990 - Ice Cube: AmeriKKKa's Most Wanted
1990 - Poor Righteous Teachers: Holy Intellect
1990 - Brand Nubian: One for All

1991
1991 - Gang Starr: Step in the Arena
1991 - De La Soul: De La Soul Is Dead
1991 - Main Source: Breaking Atoms
1991 - Cypress Hill: Cypress Hill
1991 - A Tribe Called Quest: The Low End Theory
1991 - Scarface: Mr. Scarface Is Back

1992
1992 - Redman: Whut? Thee Album
1992 - The Pharcyde: Bizarre Ride II the Pharcyde
1992 - Dr. Dre: The Chronic

1993
1993 - Souls of Mischief: 93 'til Infinity
1993 - Wu-Tang Clan: Enter the Wu-Tang
1993 - Snoop Doggy Dogg: Doggystyle

1994
1994 - Nas: Illmatic
1994 - Organized Konfusion: Stress: The Extinction Agenda
1994 - Notorious B.I.G.: Ready to Die
1994 - Common Sense: Resurrection

1995
1995 - Mobb Deep: The Infamous
1995 - Raekwon: Only Built 4 Cuban Linx

1996
1996 - The Fugees: The Score
1996 - Jay-Z: Reasonable Doubt
1996 - Eminem - Infinite

1997
1997 - The Slim Shady EP 

1998
1998 - DMX: It's Dark and Hell Is Hot
1998 - Lauryn Hill: The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill
1998 - Outkast: Aquemini

1999
1999 - Eminem: The Slim Shady LP

2000

2000 - The Marshal Mathers LP
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k20xzVy4Xbs

General Thoughts
- he was 28 when it was released
- he conveys a LOT of emotion in his voice; he SOUNDS angry or happy or annoyed. It reminds me of when I was playing piano pieces and would need to really concentrate to be able to put my emotion into the song. If I didn't concentrate I would play it in a really flat way that sounded much worse. It also reminds me of method acting.
- he will often change the emotion with which he delivers his lines even within a single song, or single stanza; he doesn't stay in one mood the entire time. It makes it feel less predictable.

Under The Influence
- does a good job of showing the difference between a good rapper and a bad rapper. One guy gives a totally flat delivery, like an elementary school kid reading out loud for class.
- It also does a good job of showing the importance of recording with a good mic. Eminem's lines come through crisply, whereas Bizarre's lyrics sound muffled.
- Proof's stanza stays on the same cadence for too long; it becomes tiresome. It would've been better if he did it for a few lines and then transitioned to something else.

Recovery
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0TZfZ-VJ ... re=related
- his singing isn't so great
- he's rapping about his life, but his life isn't really exciting. It was more exciting when he was rapping about his fake life on the Slim Shady LP.
- he should have tested his ideas on a smaller scale to see if he was taking his rap in the right direction. This is what comedians do.



2001

2001 - Jay-Z: The Blueprint


2004

2004 - Kanye West - College Dropout

Jesus Walks
- he does a great job of filling up the song with sound; it seems like he tries to put in a sound for a variety of different frequencies: the snare drum takes the really high frequency, women in the background are a little lower, guys in the background are lower, and then the bass drum is the lowest.

Never Let Me Down
- at the end of Jay-Z's first appearance they have some female voices come in, and it's kind of jarring how they're at the same volume as Jay-Z, it's harder than it should be to make out what he's saying.



2009

2009 - M.I.A. - Paper Planes
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ewRjZoRtu0Y
- The song uses sound effects to fill the rhythm where there would normally be lyrics.
- The song is more melodic than a lot of prior rap.
- The song is extremely repetitive.
- The song uses unique sounds (as far as I can tell).

General Trends

• I think the trend I'm noticing is that now that we have cheap computers and cheap music processing software, we're seeing rap with a much bigger focus on what has traditionally been called the "production" (melody / sound effects / instruments), whereas when rap was first getting started there was a much greater emphasis on the lyrics.
  • Examples:
    • Kanye West is the guy who I think really made this style of rap.
    • Chance the Rapper - Angels feat. Saba

2011


2011 - Lil Wayne - Tha Carter IV
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fcTZohD1 ... re=related
General Thoughts
- he references a LOT of things; reminds me of Family Guy
- he's got this one trick that he's figured out, and he uses it over and over again. And it works. It's a lot like Family Guy.
- the trick is to reinterpret what something means, or to take a figure of speech and make it literal. It's hard to put it into words.
- his reinterprets things in a way that's really funny.
- the production is fantastic; the melodies / sound effects are great.

How To Love
- it's really impressive that he's able to shift smoothly from rapping to singing; i can't think of any other rapper who's been able to do that. Eminem's attempts have been pretty bad imo.
- He's actually able to stay in tune; he knows how to sing. With Eminem, it SOUNDS strained.

President Carter
- amazing melody
- he's using unusual instruments...that may have something to do with why it sounds so fresh.


2013

2013 - The Lonely Island - The Wack Album
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wack_Album

12. I Run NY
http://vimeo.com/67935588
Speed: 81 bpm
Structure: Hook - Stanza (4 couplets) - Hook - Stanza (5 couplets) - Hook - Stanza (6 couplets) - Hook
This is not a good song, but I want to be able to clearly articulate why it's bad.
1. The lyrics are bad.
2. The underlying looping sample is also bad.
2. The hook is also bad.
- The looping sound clip starts on the same note on its 1st and 5th beat, which makes it sound more repetitive.
- Their rhymes frequently force them to pause their speaking to make things land on the beat, which sounds unnatural.



4. Diaper Money
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3V35jvY0u7I
Speed: 80 bpm
Structure: 4 bars of intro --> 4 bars of transition lyrics --> 2 couplets --> 5 bars of transition lyrics --> 3 couplets --> 1 bar of transition --> 4 couplets --> 2 bars of filler lyrics to end it.
This is a good song that could have been a phenomenal song; IMO it's just got too much filler in it, and not enough lyrics.
- It's really interesting to note that they actually don't rhyme the end of their lines that often; there are a lot more internal rhymes instead. They also have repeating rhythms.
What I would change:
1. Try switching 4 of those 5 bars of transition lyrics after the first stanza into another 2 couplets for the first stanza. I might put one of the new couplets between the two existing couplets, just to mix up the tempo of his rapping, because in the original song he stays pretty rapid-fire the whole time.

How did Samberg come up with his lyrics?
- He probably started by trying to think of some adult thing he wanted to rap about. Note that getting your grave plot is a more ridiculous thing to brag about than other adult things, like finishing your will, buying a house, having a child. So maybe he tried to think of something that was somewhat reasonable for an adult to do, but also a little unusual (and thus surprising to the listener). Note that they kind of build up to that more-unusual behavior (buying a graveplot), instead of starting with it. Instead they start with something more common (buying diapers)
- Actually, they may have been going off the typical things that rappers talk about: money, women, and houses. The first stanza covers money, the second covers women, and the third covers houses / land. So they may have been thinking, "Ok if a typical rapper is bragging about drug money, what kind of money might a real 30-something man be dealing with?"
- Another thing I've noticed is that 3 of Samberg's couplets reference things a typical rapper might say: 1) "are you afraid of death?", 2) "I did it my way", 3) "tricked out". So maybe he looked at rap songs to try to get ideas for 3 different rap-like things that he could say, and then tried to figure out how to spin the rap-like things so that they seem ridiculous.




2013 - [Amateur on YouTube] - Tap It: The NSA Slow Jam
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mkojjUahxAk
- This is an amateur rap song that is very good in some ways, and not good in other ways; I think it should be interesting to figure out why it isn't good. For example, it sounds very "empty"; there's a lot of empty sound-space that other songs would have filled with interesting sounds.
- The second stanza is too short; the song goes from the first stanza to the hook to the second stanza and then back to the hook too quickly.

2013 - Dan Bull [YouTuber]
https://www.youtube.com/user/douglby
His first uploads are in 2009.