THE HIP HOP APPROACH
Technology, Ambience, and Orality in Popular Music
Kevin Driscoll
CMS.400
04 March 2008
Laying the foundation
- Ground rules for this discussion
- Revealing my biases
- Reviewing the hip-hop origin myth
- Hip-hop and the academy
Fifteen-year old binaries
- Western classical v. Afro-diasporic musics
- Harmony v. Rhythm
- Progress v. Presence
- Resolution v. Repetition
(Probably a good idea to raise an eyebrow at such reductions.)
These are the breaks
Two turntables, a mixer with a crossfader, duplicate copies of the same records permit a DJ to loop recorded music continuously.
Breaks, loops, rupture, repetition.
Repetition and transformation
- Continuity
- Security
- Identification
- Circulation
- Equilibrium
"[Repetition in cultural forms reveals] philosophical insight about the shape of time" - "On Repetition In Black Culture" James Snead, 1981
Rethinking tools
1972 
1981 
1986 
1987 
1988 
Prototyping tools, reimagined and repurposed
Producing hip-hop recordings
"Rap producers construct loops of sounds and then build in critical moments, where the established rhythm is manipulated and suspended. Then, rhythmic lines reemerge at key relief points." -- Black Noise, Tricia Rose, p. 67
Nitty gritty studio view
Low-cost, high-quality production tools
Being heard, getting feedback
High-bandwidth internet, easy to use audio compression, findability
Community driven, competitive, shared resources
Case 1: Crank Dat
"I am the internet." -- Soulja Boy
Case 1: Going Official
What is at stake? What are the risks?
Lil Wayne is the future
- Bling bling 90s
- The Carter II comeback
- "Best rapper alive"
- The Dedication, Da Drought, Tha Leak
- Features by e-mail
- "The world's too different right now for record sales."
Case 2: DJ Drama Drama
What would Stetsasonic say about the raid?
Social Music
Ambience, noise, and popular music
"I don't like that word, jazz. [...] It's social music. All the social melodies out in the air. There's no jazz anymore." -- Miles Davis, Today Show interview (1:40), 1981.
