Hip Hop culture is a genre and movement that originated in the South Bronx area of New York City around the late 1970s. Some of the early pioneers of this culture were Run DMC, Slick Rick, Public Enemy, Wu-Tang Clan, NWA, and Tupac Shakur. After a period of time, hip-hop music became more popular and its influence started reaching all over the world. There are various purposes for hip-hop music. Most of the people that listen to hip hop music are teenagers and young adults; however, there are a large amount of young and old people that listen to this genre. There are various different activities that listeners do while accompanying hip-hop music. Certain activities that people associate with hip-hop music are relaxation, dancing, exercising, and studying. Because of hip-hop music vast sub-genres, it draws a large crowd of diverse fans.
For instance, there is East Coast rap, West Coast rap, R&B, Underground rap, Latin rap and many other different types of subgenres. Because of this, hip-hop culture that attracts various people with different musical preferences and it is part of the reason why hip-hop music is so popular today. Many types of musicians and artists perform hip-hop music and almost anyone can become a hip-hop artist. This culture of music is very diverse and inclusive. Hip Hop music used to be transmitted through CDs, vinyl, and radio. However, as technology improved, Hip Hop music can be transmitted in many other ways. For example, now through streaming apps like Apple Music and Spotify. Because of this, people can listen to Hip-Hop music on their phones and computers anywhere and anytime.
There are no restrictions on what instrument can be used in this culture. Therefore, are a vast amount of instruments used to create hip-hop music. Most of the instruments used are electrophones such as synthesizers, computers, turntables, keyboards, samplers, and drum machines. However, there are also various membranophones, chordophones, idiophones, and aerophones used to create this music. The popular chordophones used are guitars, violins, and even harps. Some of the popular aerophones include flutes, clarinets, saxophones, horns, and trumpets. The main membranophones used in this culture are various types of drums. Some of its popular idiophones include symbols, hi-hats, steel drums, cowbells, pianos, and many more.
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Most of the electrophones such as computers turntables keyboards and samplers are made out of wood, plastics, and metals. The most commons metals used to make instruments for hip-hop music are gold, cobalt, copper, nickel, and iron. These instruments do not signify or represent anything and they do not have any extra-musical associations. Depending on the artist, the sounds of the instruments may blend together or stand apart. Most of the time, it is a combination of both homogeneous and heterogeneous sounds. The characteristics and features contained in hip-hop music are very diverse. This genre is known for its unique and unorthodox styles.
To analyze what hip-hop music sounds like it is important to define and understand its various rhythms, melodies, harmonies, and forms. Harmony in hip-hop music usually contains constant intervals to provide a more soothing tone to add emphasis on certain lyrics. However, there are instances of dissonant intervals used in hip-hop music but it is uncommon. Many melodies in hip-hop music generally center on just a few notes to highlight certain syllables. According to Ethan Hein, who has a degree in music technology and a doctoral fellow in music education from New York University, “Hip-hop verses usually bob gently around a single central pitch, jumping up or down to emphasize certain syllables. It’s common to end phrases with a descending figure”(Hien, Visualizing Hip-Hop melodies).
However, as hip-hop gets more popular and more diverse, there are various examples of artists that use a wide variation of pitch in the melody in their music. One example of this is the artist, Post Malone. Post Malone raised to popularity in 2015 for his wide variations of pitch in his melodies and his distinctive style. There are various textures used in Hip Hop music but the most common type is polyphonic. Certain songs in hip-hop use monophonic and homophonic texture but it is rare. An example of the monophonic texture being used in hip-hop music is with Kanye West’s song: “I Love Kanye”.
This song consists of Kanye rapping and nothing else. There are also instances of songs using multiple textures. For example, the hip-hop artist Desiigner alternates both polyphonic and homophonic texture throughout his song, Tiimmy Turner. Most common Hip-Hop music contains different types of rhythmic patterns, depending on the artist’s creativity. They might choose to have various beats repetitions and changes in a single song. Usually, this genre contains polyrhythmic patterns in its songs. Some of the most common meters used in hip-hop are duple or quadruple meter, but there are examples of nontraditional rhythms in Hip Hop that use triple meter instead.
One example of this would be the Atlanta based artists, Migos. Migos tend to rap in triple meter in most of their songs to provide a different sound to the genre. Initially, many old school artists and fans were not fond of this flow, but this type of music has started to become more and more popular. Strophic form is the most common form used in hip-hop music. However, depending on the artist, there are instances of other types of form being used in hip-hop songs. The timbre and dynamics are also very important characteristics in defining and describing hip-hop music. There are many diverse and distinctive sounds in the hip-hop genre. The artists of this genre use their creativity and feature a number of different styles, instruments, and production to create songs that are pleasurable to their audience. These artists used their lyrical ability and/or their voice to create songs and express your emotions to the listener.
Artists such as Kendrick Lamar, J Cole, Biggie Smalls, Mos Def, and Tupac use their lyrical ability to express their emotions and opinions. Artists such as Kanye West, Kid Cudi, xxxtentacion, and Drake used are unique styles, flows, and voices to express themselves. One example of this is in xxxtentacion’s song “Jocelyn Flores” where he uses a study strong guitar and a soft voice to express a very sad and somber emotion. The timbre of this music can be described as dark, clear, and focused. On the opposite side of the spectrum, and Kid Cudi’s song “Surfin”. He uses very loud trumpets and heavy drums to express his happiness. The timbre of this song can be described as brassy, bright, and powerful. Hip-hop culture is a culture and genre that continues to grow and diversify. People from all over the world listen to this type of music and anyone can create this genre of music. This music is becoming more and more popular and will soon become one of the most popular genres of the world.
