Unskilled professionalism
21
Unskilled professionalism On practices of rap music production Tomasz Kukołowicz Institute of Applied Social Sciences University of Warsaw 7th Conference of the Research Network Sociology of the Arts
-
Upload
tomasz-kukolowicz -
Category
Documents
-
view
149 -
download
0
description
The status of rap as a music genre has been questioned. Although by general public it is classified as music, it draws hardly any attention of musicologists. In this presentation I offer an explanation of this paradox. I argue that while rap music and other popular music genres are consumed in a similar way, for example as radio hits and albums, radically different communities of practice are at stake during the process of recording. In my analysis I focus on the practices of music recording as a key factor explaining the disputed status of rap.
Transcript of Unskilled professionalism
Unskilled professionalism
On practices of rap music production
Tomasz Kukołowicz
Institute of Applied Social SciencesUniversity of Warsaw
7th Conference of the Research Network Sociology of the Arts6 September 2012, Vienna, Austria
Source: Robert Walser, Rhythm, Rhyme, and Rhetoric in the Music of Public Enemy, Ethnomusicology Vol. 39, No. 2, (Spring - Summer, 1995), p. 201.
Fight
the Power
Public
Enemy
Rap as music
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rap_music
„Hip hop music, also called hip-hop,[1][2] rap music[2][3][4] or hip-hop music,[2][5] is a musical genre consisting of a stylized rhythmic music that commonly accompanies rapping, a rhythmic and rhyming speech that is chanted.”
[2] -> ^ a b c d e Encyclopædia Britannica article on rap, retrieved from britannica.com
See also: C. Larkin (ed.), The Encyclopedia of Popular Music, Vol. IV, Macmillan, London 1998 (3. Ed.), pp. 2540-2541.
Objections to including rapin the category "music”
1. Hip hop music is not original2. Hip hop is not melodious3. Hip hop doesn't require "musical" skills
listed by Rober Walser
Sampling
ChicGood Times
1979
1979The Sugarhill GangRapper’s Delight
Objection 1. Hip hop music is not original
Sampling as copyright infringement in the USA
1990-19942 Live Crew v. Roy Orbison, Oh, Pretty Woman
Source: en.wikipedia.org
1991Vanilla Ice v. David Bowie & Queen, Under Pressure
1991Biz Markie v. Gilbert O'Sullivan, Alone Again (Naturally)
Objection 1. Hip hop music is not original
Objection 2. Hip hop is not melodious
Transcription of a Polish rap recording ‘I believe that...’, WWO, 2002
The transcription’s author
• Student of the Fryderyk Chopin University• of Music, Warsaw• The Department of Sound Engineering• Doubts whether rap belongs to music
Objection 2. Hip hop is not melodious
INTROSAXOPHONE
BASS GLISSANDO
Objection 2. Hip hop is not melodiousBASS, SAXOPHONE x 12
6th repetion- no saxophone
7th repet.- no strange sound
FLUTE (9th repetition)
3rd + 4th repetionion of bass and sax
„STRANGE” SOUND
HARPSICHORD (PIANO) x 6
Altogehter 5 INSTRUMENTS
Messy transcription?
from: [email protected]: [email protected]: Fri, Dec 9, 2011 at 7:50 PMsubject: Packet of notes...
Now the song:I did not write everything because actually my hand doesn't allow me to copy things efficiently and duplicate the same notes ;)
Objection 2. Hip hop is not melodious
Rap & theory of tonal music
Fred Lerdahl & Ray Jackendoff, A Generative Theory of Tonal MusicCambridge, MIT Press, 1983
Rhythmic structure = grouping structure + metrical structure
Rules of forming groups:1. Nonoverlapping: If a group G1 contains part of a group G2, it must
contain all of G2.2. Adjacency: only contiguous sequences can constitute a group.3. Recursion: the rules are the same for all levels (from 16th notes to the
whole piece)• loop (break + melody), usually 2 measures -> ‘composed’• the whole piece -> mechanical repetition of the loop (with simple modifications)
☑
☑
Objection 2. Hip hop is not melodious
Crew’s members
Objection 3. Hip hop doesn't require "musical" skills
Crew’s members
Objection 3. Hip hop doesn't require "musical" skills
Pezet(MC)
DJPanda
Noon (Producer)No composer!
Sampling as a technical solution
AKAI MPC 60A ‘legendary’ sampler
FL SutioA computer programme which offers similar features to samplers
Objection 3. Hip hop doesn't require "musical" skills
FL Studio (1/4)
FL Studio (2/4)
FL Studio (3/4)
FL Studio (4/4)
Knowledge
Sampler / PC
rational– Max Weber
based on literacy– Jack Goody
Professional musician’s mind
Paper Producer’s hands
Performance
Free improvisationOrchestra
‘Instrumental’
Rap recording Concert
