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Twin Town High (vol. 8) |
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DJ's spin fat beats
Wednesday 13 August @ 11:35:03 |
 story and illustration by Alexander Hage
The music you’re likely to hear in the Fifth Element record store today is a far cry from the stuff Hip-Hoppers were making at its birth 20 or 30 years ago. Even the past five years have seen Hip-Hop grow significantly. Like all relatively new art forms in the long history of music, rapping and Deejaying are still rapidly evolving. An international body of artists that grows faster than the population of China is tugging Hip-Hop in several different directions simultaneously, from jazz DJs to rap-metal makers. Yes, they’re developing and improving, but not at a constant rate. As is lamented (ironically) by so many rhymers, rap has hit a wall, and is, for the most part, limited to lines about the rapper’s life, how he’s better than other rappers, and most commonly, rapping itself. Meanwhile, sample-based music has taken off, leaving the realm of back-up beats and progressing to the creation of entire moods and soundscapes in every genre between New York, Beijing, Moscow and Lagos.
One reason for this phenomenon may be that sampling is so convenient. Whenever a DJ wants a certain sound, a background harmony, or a horn section, she recycles it. She goes into her collection of records (or finds a new one) and drops it right into the song. Besides expensive turntables, sampling is cheap and immediate; there’s no need to involve other people, or pay more to contact musicians. A DJ can produce whole tracks with any instrument he wants and never leave the studio. These recordings come out heavy-hitting and diverse thanks to the miracle of sampling.
Rjd2’s 2002 album Deadringer provides the perfect example of modern sampling in action and is nothing short of a masterpiece. He picks the perfect samples for his songs and combines the danceable rhythm of Hip-Hop with a more classical song structure, including hooks, bridges, beginnings and ends. The CD includes rapping on three tracks, tastefully matched with the music. Track one, “The Horror” is, perhaps, the best on the 16-song album; in addition to a knock-out synth hook, it manifests its theme with lines sampled from old horror films. As he erects a ghastly opus, it could be Rjd2’s own twisted genius muttering, “I will amuse myself with terror”. The album only builds from there, with the get-the-crowd-moving “Good Times Roll Part 1,” a mellowed-out middle, and a beautiful remix of an old soul song titled “Work” to bring the collection to a close.
To catch up, rap needs to develop more or possibly head in an entirely new direction. Writing about writing can come off well—I do listen to Blueprint and Brother Ali, but even their songs are best when describing city characters and true stories. DJs, on the other hand, tend to be able to tell a story anytime they feel like it. Each song on DJ Shadow’s Private Press brings a new state of mind with it. On one track, Shadow conjures the emotions of doing ninety on the freeway; the next he conveys wordless world-weary despair. It’s amazing to think that a five-minute instrumental can instill such strong emotions in a listener.
The mysterious Rhymesayer Ant is another artist who manages to delve deeply into the emotions of his audience. On his two most recent collaborations, Shadows on the Sun with Brother Ali, and Atmosphere’s God Loves Ugly, Ant displays a superb talent for matching MCs’ lyrical moods with appropriate sounds. Beats such as those for “Shrapnel” and “Picket Fence” contribute as much, if not more, than the rhymes themselves.
There are some rappers out there operating in the more sophisticated terrain occupied by their turn-table-based brethren. Def Jux records artists and NYC natives Aesop Rock and El-P (El Producto, known for his audio production) write lyrics so advanced they often cross over into the sublime. The combo construct abstract scenes and metaphors that demonstrate a rare, original approach to Hip-Hop. As of yet, though, they are almost the only example I’ve run across that consistently compares, in terms of the level of complexity, with the art of turntableism.
Deejaying is so versatile it reaches into nearly every realm of music. It may have started simply with samples of rap, funk and soul records, but most beats nowadays include string sections, pianos, vocal harmonies and obscure rhythms. Whereas the expansion of rap is left at slam poetry and spoken word, DJs such as Spooky and Swamp record with famous jazz musicians, and bands like the Cinematic Orchestra and Fog regularly include turntables in their repertoire. Even the blues have adopted DJs into their circle. If anyone’s checked out a CD called Wish I was in Heaven Sittin’ Down by R. L. Burnside, it includes some of the most interesting use of scratching yet recorded and proves that the turntable is, in fact, an instrument.
The amazing thing about these collaborations is that they not only work, they work well. Sampling and scratching easily make their entrance into different genres and add a new level to the music. The DJ’s nearly complete acceptance into the music community as an instrumentalist is proof of the progress sample-based music has made.
Unfortunately, DJs alone have crossed this barrier; despite their best attempts ,rappers still often lack the respect of the music world. This is not an attack on rap—rap has come a long way and there are many talented rhymers in the world. Spinning records has found its niche and taken off as an advanced art form; ideally, rapping can do the same. Hip-Hop is developing, and as radical new writers take the lead, rap will grow in new directions and (hopefully) follow the path Deejaying has taken, traveling into new spheres and exploring the infinite musical possibilities the human imagination has to offer.
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