Approaches to Modern Hip Hop Music & its Production

Molly Moran Upper Sixth

The ways in which the modern consumer listens to music are changing more rapidly than ever before. Constant technological advances mean that the musicians and producers of today have to pay increased attention to the development of musical ideas, the amplification or recording of any live instruments, and the mixing of a track. They are also compelled to consider the context of their music and ensure that the integrity of a genre or style is kept.

These considerations are magnified in a genre such as hip hop, in which musicians often write to convey personal issues or give opinion on current sociopolitical controversies. The flexibility that this offers has allowed the genre to be introduced to a wider demographic and reach new media. Therefore, the increasing ambitions of artists and the new media that they are taking their music to have led to the development of new approaches to composition and recording. It is the decision of a musician/group and their production team as to when the medium of performance and context of the music are the conclusive factors in the creative process. In 2015, composer Lin-Manuel Miranda was met with undivided acclaim when he brought ‘Hamilton: An American Musical’ (depicting the life of the American Founding Father) to the Broadway stage. It has been deemed a cultural phenomenon for its “sublime conjunction of radioready hip hop (as well as R&B, Brit pop and traditional showstoppers)”. Historian Ron Chernow, author of ‘Alexander Hamilton’ (the biography on which Miranda based the musical), was surprised to find the first 40 pages of his book condensed into a 4 minute song. This show has been the first look into rap and hip hop for many of its audience members and this has spread further with the release of the original Broadway cast album and the ‘Hamilton Mixtape’, in which established artists including John Legend and Wiz Khalifa have remixed or covered some of the musical’s best-loved numbers. The creative team behind ‘Hamilton’ realised that the approach to the recording of this cast album would have to differ to the recording of other musicals’ albums, let alone a ‘traditional’ hip hop album.

A cast album recording is usually a quick process, with all the vocals and accompanying instruments being recorded within a few days. Very little is done to edit the recordings, as the unpolished sound is the perfect souvenir for an audience member to take away. However, Miranda added extra edits to the recording so that all of the emotions could be conveyed realistically and each character’s personality traits be reflected in the recording of the score. In doing this, the album maintains the conditions of a musical theatre album, whilst also obtaining the distinctiveness of the hip hop genre. Derik Lee, an engineer on the cast album, said: “I really could flex my muscles here in approaching this as a hip-hop or pop album.”

An example of the differences between the recording of ‘Hamilton’ in contrast to its contemporary musicals is the setup of musical theatre singers compared to that of hip hop and rap artists. Musical theatre singers usually require sight lines to the other performers that their character is interacting with, as they would on a stage. This means that the area in which they record has to be larger, in order to accommodate for the unique angles at which the singers require the vocals booths to be. This cast album was recorded in two Avatar studios in New York. To rent both of these spaces for the 46 days of recording and editing time cost the team a small fortune, but it was a price that they were willing to pay to allow the actors to give the best possible performance. Additionally, the musical used a lot of fresh talent making their Broadway debut, meaning that they did not have experience recording and ‘were not sure what to listen to or how to approach the microphone’. Time had to be spent teaching these performers how they can help create the best possible recording. The vocals were not the only instruments affected by the different approach to recording; the percussion was also adapted to demonstrate new characteristics. For example, Questlove (drummer and joint frontman of a band called The Roots) overdubbed a percussion part in which he hit a table to create a drum sound, recorded with a Neumann U67 microphone. The sound produced created a new, interesting timbre which further embellished the original percussion part.

Lin Manuel-Miranda’s musical numbers are littered with references to the hip hop style and some of its own founding fathers. Going no further than the first song, there are nods to the likes of Snoop Dogg and Drake with the repetition of “What’s Your Name?” directed towards the protagonist, as well as the rising harmonies as the ensemble sings “New York” quoting the Jay-Z and Alicia Keys song ‘Empire State of Mind’. These are joined by a reference in the song ‘Yorktown’ and the call “we have one shot to live another day”, which seems to mirror Eminem’s ‘Lose Yourself ’, in which he raps, “You only get one shot, do not miss your chance to blow.”

[T]he closest component he has to the cymbal timbre is the back of a saucepan.

Marshall Mathers, under the artist name Eminem, has been at the forefront of the rap and hip hop scene for over 25 years and his team have developed an unmistakable way of channelling the context and experience behind his work through the means of contrasting arrangement, recording and mixing techniques.

These are highly effective in his 2010 album Recovery. The first way in which Eminem’s approach changed for this album was his collaboration with a wider variety of producers and instrumentalists. This automatically allowed access to an even greater bank of knowledge to produce the desired character of his music.

For example, on the song ‘Love The Way You Lie’, significant elements of the track (including the hook melody) were created by British producer Alex da Kid. Rihanna’s vocals on the track do not have much done to them, which keeps them very raw and subtleties can be heard such as small cracks or the natural break in her voice. Eminem’s rap has a long delay on it and it is double tracked, making the lyrics even more hard-hitting.

All of these elements emphasise the difficult topic of domestic violence, which is the inspiration behind the song. It is clear that the context undoubtedly had an effect on the creative decisions, both in the composition and the production of this song.

Eminem and his engineer Mike Strange Jr are said to be ‘averse to mixing ‘in the box”. This can also be said for the members of the indie-rock band Alt-J and their production team.

Whilst mostly known for their folk-rock sound, components of their songs are heavily influenced by hip hop traditions, and therefore their approach has to change to accommodate for the needs of each style, as any artist wishing to fuse genres must do. In addition to this, the approach to composition must utilise the nuances of the styles and grasp the attention of the listener.

Alt-J have adopted many interesting techniques to their set-up and recording. For example, drummer Thom Green employs a kit that is ‘very much his own’. Firstly, he uses no cymbals and the closest component he has to the cymbal timbre is the back of a saucepan.The uniqueness of this sound adds the rustic quality commonly associated with the folk genre. Green also uses a snare drum from a toy shop, which takes attention away from the snare part as the smaller instrument will make a higher sound with less depth. These modifications successfully give the band’s music an individual sound, which encourages a listener to take an interest in their music. The band’s approach include many other ways to create interest including the instrumentalists playing unpredictable riffs and rhythms that only happen once in the song. Sometimes the songs that they release haven’t been edited at all after using a monitor and this is true for a third of the songs on the band’s 2012 album ‘An Awesome Wave’. This gives these songs an incomparable natural and unpolished quality which only makes the music more intriguing.

Whilst Alt-J are making important developments in their approach to creating music, they are still relatively unknown on a global scale. Yet, artists at the height of success are doing this as well.

Kanye West has now found more of a name for himself as an outspoken celebrity, with pop culture being heavily influenced by his confidence and image. However, his rap career and extensive experience as a producer are still thriving as his seventh studio album ‘Life Of Pablo’ reached peak positions in the charts all over the world during 2016. It is evident upon listening to West’s work that he

approaches music with the purpose of expressing an emotion, and finding the means with which to do it successfully.

This is noticeable going as far back as his second album Late Registration. Craig Bauer, an engineer on the album, said “(Kanye) wants it gritty and hip hop” and the choices for this album included using music from older songs and arranging instruments in ways they wouldn’t normally be arranged, changing the context of musical ideas. For example, in the song ‘Heard ‘Em Say’ featuring Adam Levine, West pairs Levine’s high soulful voice with soft acoustic guitars and whilst they are very quiet in the mix, they add a percussive timbre to Levine’s voice which gives his words more intention. Bauer also found that the processing applied to some instruments might not have seemed out of place at Abbey Road in 1966, showing that the important thing to West is achieving the emotion of his work and that context is a definitive element.

In conclusion, the breadth of artists that change their approach to composition and recording, as well as the engineers and producers that change their production techniques based on the need to express a particular story or feeling, show that it is to a great extent that the context of music and its medium of performance determines aspects of the creative process. Whilst some may argue that media should not affect musical decisions, as music should be universal, to give an audience member or listener the best impression of a performance or recording, tailoring the approach to the creative process is essential.