A Rhythmic History of Hip-Hop Essay -- Hip Hop Music Beat Essays

A Rhythmic History of Hip-Hop Hip-hop, which originally began more than 20 years ago, has undergone many changes during its lifetime. The music has always remained centered in urban landscapes, with most performers of the music rising up from the inner-city neighborhoods. Throughout its history, hip-hop has centered on the rhythm of the beat rather than the melody, which shows the connection between modern hip-hop and traditional African tribal music, often featuring complex polyrhythms and little to no melody. Hip-hop has also featured heavy bass sounds through out its history, with the rhythms hitting the second and fourth beat of each measure hard with either a heavy bass drum or a bass guitar. Hip-hop beats have evolved in many different ways throughout their twenty-year history, yet they are all centered around rhythm and feature heavy, syncopated bass. For my field report, I chose to compose a number of different hip-hop beats, each one emulating a different style of beat from the history of hip-hop. I composed five different beats. The first is an emulation of a beat from the mid-eighties, the second is based on a gangster rap beat from the west coast during the early nineties, the third is based on a beat from New York City during the early nineties, the fourth based on a beat from the south during the late nineties, and the fifth is based on a beat from New York City during the late nineties. For two of the beats I used samples, which is a common practice in the construction of hip-hop beats. The other beats are all originals, yet they are not as long in length as those that contain samples. The first beat is one that is based on the song . South Bronx. by Boogie Down Productions, which was released in 198... ...t, and it does have a sad and reflective tone to it. My song features a sample from the song "Ballad of the Thin Man" by Bob Dylan. The beat is still repetitive, which has proven to be the one constant between all the beats that I chose to emulate. Most of my beats succeeded in trying to capture the feeling of a different time and a different area in music. As is evident by the difference in the beats that came out of New York, Los Angeles, and the South, whatever area the beat comes from has an influence on how those beats will sound. The time from which a beat came also has an influence on how it sounds, with the old school beats sounding quite different from the modern beats. While hip-hop beats have progressed and changed over time, there have also been constants, such as repetition and rhythmic complexity, that remain as similarities between all the beats.