Wikipedia

Boom bap

Boom bap is a subgenre and music production style that was prominent in East Coast hip hop during the golden age of hip hop from the late 1980s to the early 1990s.[1]

Boom bap
EtymologyOnomatopoeic; from the characteristic kick-snare pattern
Stylistic origins
Cultural originsLate 1980s – early 1990s, Northeastern United States
Subgenres

The term "boom bap" is an onomatopoeia that represents the sounds used for the bass (kick) drum and snare drum, respectively. The style is usually recognized by a main drum loop that uses a hard-hitting, acoustic bass drum sample on the downbeats, a snappy acoustic snare drum sample on the upbeats, and an "in your face" audio mix emphasizing the drum loop, and the kick-snare combination in particular.[2]

Key producers include DJ Premier, Pete Rock, Buckwild and Diamond D.[3][4] Prominent hip hop artists who incorporated "boom bap" in their music include Gang Starr,[5] KRS-One, A Tribe Called Quest,[6] Wu-Tang Clan, MF Doom, Mobb Deep, Craig Mack, R.A. the Rugged Man, Big L, Boot Camp Clik, Griselda, Jay-Z, Common, Yasiin Bey, and The Notorious B.I.G.[7]

History

edit

The term boom bap originated in 1984 when it was used by T La Rock to describe the beat of the kick drum and the snare in the song "It's Yours".[8] T La Rock spoke in an off-script fashion, using the words "boom bap" to mimic the sound of the rhythm. This was the first recorded onomatopoeic expression of the beat. The term later became a universal name for the subgenre of hip hop as a whole. DJ Premier suggested that boom bap existed before the production of "It's Yours". He states the term was used by the wider hip-hop community as a term to describe all hip hop and the beat that is produced for it.[9] The subgenre became increasingly better known when KRS-One released an album under the title Return of the Boom Bap.[8] The success of the album popularised the term boom bap.[10]

Development of the style

edit

The original songs produced within the subgenre used the actual sounds of kick drums and hard-hitting snare drums or samples from vinyl records.[11] The focus originally was on the simplicity of the beat whereas in later developments of the subgenre electronic samplers and beatmakers were used to generate the iconic beat.[12] Over time more percussion instruments were added to add to the complexity of the beat. Some examples of percussion instruments included were shakers, tambourines, bongos, cowbells, and especially hi hats.[13] Musical programmers used digital sampling synthesizers to create more complex layers of sampled sounds and multi-layered drumbeats.[14] The original artist recognised by the hip hop industry as the first to experiment with these samples in boom bap was DJ Marley Marl.[8] The main purpose in using electronic instruments for the production of the music was to take the tedious repetition of the beat out of the creative process. This allowed artists to focus more on their lyrics and the meaning they were trying to convey.[9]

Notable producers

edit

DJ Premier and Pete Rock gained notable fame as producers for their work within the boom bap industry.[9] These artists believe that the subgenre demonstrates "strength and power" through its harsh-sounding beat and roughness.[9] Boom bap was known for its popularity on the East Coast of the US and in particular its roots in New York. Where the West Coast hip hop scene displayed elements of smoothness, the East Coast and boom bap focused on hard edges and strong beats.[15] These artists in particular pioneered the subgenre by focusing on the rough elements of a stripped back beat and a strong focus on the lyrics.[16]

The beat

edit

KRS-One when describing the beat common to the subgenre states "The vibe of boom bap is to use the least amount of instruments to create the most rhythmic sound".[9]

The typical boom bap beat will be a loop of quarter notes.[1] The first and the third being the kick drum and the second and fourth the snare.[17] The beat has become synonymous with the golden age of hip hop.[18] More modern hip-hop songs are influenced by boom bap and the underlying tone that is common to all songs in the subgenre.[19] The balance of the music tracks are brought together by the prominent kick and snare drum. The timbre is brought about by "the emphasized low end of the kick drum and the presence of the hard-hitting snare drum".[8] The arrangement of the beat is made of the isolated drum hits and other brief instrumental hits from percussion instruments.[11] The rhythmic qualities of the beat are made up of highly swung programming, which can be produced either by a deliberate delay in the analogue percussion hits or by a quantization algorithm programmed on an electronic sampler.[20] Other qualities that are present in boom bap rhythm are "tight drum-instrumental syncopation", "re-arranged phrases or rhythms", and "percussive programming of instrumental phrases".[8] When an artist or producer wished to add even more complexity or intense sounds to their track they could use a synthesiser. A common practise within boom bap was to use sub-synthesis.[14] This extra element would increase the amplitude of the bass and also intensify the sound of the kick drum.[14] This was a desirable feature of the hip hop style's unpolished and harsh style.

The beat is designed to "exist solely as a basis for the artist to rap over".[17] It intends to be "visceral and rousing, it is hip hop at its brawniest".[9]

Scratching

edit

The beat in some boom bap songs is interrupted by scratching. The process in which a disc jockey or hip hop producer will forcefully move the vinyl record back and forth underneath the needle.[21] This can also by achieved by using some CDs. The purpose of scratching was to disjoint the flow of the beat, to add some complexity or to develop a bridge in the song.[22] It was effective for rap battles and breaks in a rappers delivery. Scratching can also encompass the use of multiple vinyls, allowing the DJ to experiment with other works within the scope of their own song.[23] A scratch hook can be used as a method of sampling. For example DJ Premier's songs would often have a scratch hook of vocals. He commonly implemented this into his chorus.[24]

Sampling

edit

Sampling is used in boom bap music to enhance the beat beyond a simple drum pattern. Since the foundations of the beat are designed to be minimalistic, samples are used to add to the rhythm of the song and to create more diversity in the sounds.[25] Two of the most common electronic samplers used in this style are the Akai MPC and the SP1200.[1][25] Composers in this style use ‘short excerpts of the audio from a previous recording, recontextualized into a new composition’.[26] This can be heard in LL Cool J's "Around the Way Girl", a song and artist that utilizes boom bap features to create the hip hop beat.[27]

Swing quantization is used to create a more complex sound.[8] It allows the producer to keep precision on the 'on' beats and to offset the 'off' beats by a small margin. This influences the rhythmic flow of the piece. In this process, the producer is able to edit the timing of the musical performance.[28] The music sample can be stretched or condensed, and in some cases the beats are manipulated directly to achieve a perfect synchronisation. Swing quantization looks to provide a ratio of perfectly timed beats to off-timed beats.[29] The swing ratio can be adjusted on samplers such as the Akai MPC series.[26]

The general consensus at times was that electronic samplers brought a machine-like element to the style of music.[12] To maintain a human feel to the style, drum touch pads on the MPC and SP1200 were used so that artists could input their chosen samples at times they thought was best for the feel and the rhythm of the music.[30] The addition of touch pads allowed the artist to add improvements in "not just timing, but also accents and velocity variations".[8]

Lyrics

edit

Boom bap music is often accompanied by rapping.[31] As boom bap instrumentals are characteristically sparse, the rapping plays an important role in boom bap songs, as it is the rapper and their lyrics who generally provide a song with its most distinctive sound.[8] The simplicity of the beat also provides the rapper with latitude to focus more prominently on presenting their opinions and narratives.[19]

The lyrical content in boom bap has been variously characterized as introspective and conversational,[32] raw and direct,[13] or macho and dominant.[17] Boom bap rappers generally avoid "catchy or commercial" sounds.[17] To that end, boom bap songs frequently eschew a chorus or sonic climax,[8] instead using the song as a means to tell a story or discuss a chosen topic with the audience.[1] Boom bap lyrics frequently focus on topics that reflect the African-American social experience on the East Coast of the United States in the 1980s and 1990s, such as gang violence, social neglect, gentrification, drugs, wealth, sex, and life in segregated neighborhoods.[8][19]

In terms of technique, boom bap rapping follows major lyrical conventions within hip hop,[33] such as multi-syllabic rhyming, battle rapping and insults, sociological observations, puns and wordplay, and poetic devices such as extended metaphors or alliteration. The rapper's delivery and cadence are structured to best complement the beat.[17]

Boom bap music is sometimes conflated with hardcore hip hop, which exhibits a similar style of "aggressive" and "street-style" rapping;[10] however, boom bap as a subgenre is characterized more by the auditory experience of the beat rather than by the content of the lyrics.[14]

Popularity

edit

The subgenre of boom bap was popularised by KRS-One and his album Return of the Boom Bap. This album reached its peak on the United States weekly album chart the Billboard 200 at number 37 on 16 October 1993.[34] The album also peaked at number 5 on the Billboard Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums on the same day that the album peaked on the top 200.[35]

Boom bap began to gain popularity in the 1980s, but it had limited recognition on mainstream popular music charts. It existed more as an underground type of music.[36] The beat is often made synonymous with New York hip hop in the era. Welbeck states that "the poly-rhythms of the 'boom-bap' rhythmic phrasings became a fixture of New York rap music in the late 1980s".[37]

The boom bap movement after hitting its peak in the early 1990s made its way across the Atlantic and infiltrated some of the European music scenes.[38] Boom bap can often be found as a foundation for many modern day English rappers, which exhibit similar on-off beat. Boom bap also had a prominent influence on south-east Asia in the late 1990s and early 2000s.[39]

Boom bap is commonly recognised as delivering some of the founding elements of modern hip hop and rap music.[18] The simple style makes it easy to adapt and for artists to make their own impression upon the work.[18]

The decline of boom bap

edit

Due to much tighter copyright laws in the United States and around the world in recent years, the accessibility for sampling and regenerating sounds based on other's work has become increasingly difficult.[40][41] Some modern artists working for large record labels enjoy production budgets that permit them to pay to use others' work. However, this limits home-grown music production and thus leads hip hop enthusiasts to other more accessible forms of hip hop.[40] Artists gravitated away from sampling due to financial and career risks. One's creative ability can also be impacted when choosing to sample within a song. Hence, an overall drive for new content has emerged in the music industry.[42]

Phillip Mlynar states that in the modern world "the notion of tagging something as boom bap has become more of a backhanded compliment. The phrase is frequently applied to East Coast hip hop to suggest that its architects are dated and trading on former glories".[9]

In the London music scene boom bap is well known for its "hard bass drum" and "snapping snare", but it is commonly associated with "old school" tracks.[43]

Modern usage

edit

Although not commercially popular, in the recent years boom bap has seen a small resurgence. In 2019, the Bristol-based rapper Wish Master (Liam Wish Kole) released an album called Boom Bap to the Future, and used the rhythmical quality as the foundation of the album's instrumental scoring, as well an allegory for retaining artistic self-control. However, critics were not entirely happy with the album, referring to its weak textual life, although commendable attempts at reviving the forgotten style.[44] Another regeneration of the boom bap style is being constructed through the London-based music collective called Sons of Boom Bap (S.O.B), whose mission is to reignite interest and lend social status to the old-school aesthetics of rapping, which include boom bap and other foundational stylistic attributes.[45]

With influence of platforms such as Verzuz,[46] multiple artists have released singles or full length projects with a boom bap aesthetic: J. Cole, Griselda, Redman, DJ Kay Slay, Lloyd Banks, the HRSMN, and Rosenberg among others.[47][48][49][50][51] Current UK artists such as Triple Darkness, who have been called the UK's Wu Tang Clan, and Jam Baxter, another British lyricist, predominantly produce "boom bap" songs.

References

edit
  1. ^ a b c d "Boom Bap Music | Discogs". discogs.com. Retrieved April 15, 2021.
  2. ^ Reynolds, Simon (June 16, 2009). "The cult of J Dilla". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved May 8, 2020. Sometimes rendered boom-boom-bap, it's a phonetic evocation of hip-hop's classic drum pattern. The booms are the kicks, the bap is the snare, and the combination is that loping midtempo groove that tugs at your neck and your head, not so much at your hips or your feet.
  3. ^ Hobbs, Thomas (May 12, 2019). "Gods of Rap review – Chuck D, De La Soul and Wu-Tang Clan nostalgia trip". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved May 8, 2020.
  4. ^ Watson, Richard (October 1, 2010). "Chiddy Bang, Kid Cudi and Kidz In The Hall prefer blog-rocking beats to old soul samples". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved May 8, 2020.
  5. ^ Petridis, Alexis (October 31, 2019). "Gang Starr: One of the Best Yet review – rap duo stand tall beyond the grave". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved May 8, 2020.
  6. ^ Watson, Richard (June 21, 2017). "A Tribe Called Quest – 10 of the best". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved May 8, 2020.
  7. ^ Hatchman, Jonathan (December 16, 2015). "The Notorious BIG – 10 of the best". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved May 8, 2020.
  8. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Boom Bap Ex Machina : Hip-Hop Aesthetics and the Akai MPC. Routledge. March 28, 2019. doi:10.4324/9781315212241-3. ISBN 978-1-315-21224-1. S2CID 159070043.
  9. ^ a b c d e f g "In Search of Boom Bap". daily.redbullmusicacademy.com. Retrieved April 27, 2021.
  10. ^ a b "Evolution of Boom Bap". Recording Arts Canada. February 18, 2020. Retrieved May 18, 2021.
  11. ^ a b Exarchos (A.K.A. Stereo Mike), Michail (August 1, 2018). "Hip-Hop pedagogy as production practice: Reverse-engineering the sample-based aesthetic". Journal of Popular Music Education. 2 (1): 45–63. doi:10.1386/jpme.2.1-2.45_1. ISSN 2397-6721. S2CID 240307154.
  12. ^ a b Ewell, Philip (January 2006). "Making Beats: the Art of Sample-Based Hip-Hop. By Joseph G. Schloss. Middletown, CT: Wesleyan University Press, 2004. 226 pp. ISBN 0-8195-6695-0 (cloth), ISBN 0-8195-6696-9 (paperback)". Popular Music. 25 (1): 138–140. doi:10.1017/s0261143006250773. ISSN 0261-1430. S2CID 162988460.
  13. ^ a b "Beat Breakdown: '90s Style Boom Bap Hip-Hop". Noisegate. December 17, 2018. Retrieved May 18, 2021.
  14. ^ a b c d "Airshafts, Loudspeakers, and the Hip Hop Sample: Contexts and African American Musical Aesthetics", That's the Joint!, Routledge, pp. 469–485, September 16, 2004, doi:10.4324/9780203642191-44, ISBN 978-0-203-64219-1, retrieved May 18, 2021
  15. ^ "Boom Bap! Re-creating '90s East Coast Hip-Hop Beats in the Home Studio... | Sweetwater". insync.com. February 3, 2021. Retrieved May 18, 2021.
  16. ^ Berry, Michael (February 26, 2020), "Computer Programmed With Just One Finger", The Routledge Companion to Music Theory Pedagogy, Routledge, pp. 63–67, doi:10.4324/9780429505584-11, ISBN 978-0-429-50558-4, S2CID 216163178, retrieved May 18, 2021
  17. ^ a b c d e ya Salaam, Mtume (1995). "The Aesthetics of Rap". African American Review. 29 (2): 303–315. doi:10.2307/3042309. ISSN 1062-4783. JSTOR 3042309.
  18. ^ a b c Duinker, Ben; Martin, Denis (September 26, 2017). "In Search of the Golden Age Hip-Hop Sound (1986–1996)". Empirical Musicology Review. 12 (1–2): 80. doi:10.18061/emr.v12i1-2.5410. hdl:1811/81126. ISSN 1559-5749.
  19. ^ a b c Katz, Mark (December 26, 2019), "Boom Bap Diplomacy: Connecting Cultures, Transforming Conflict", Build, Oxford University Press, pp. 55–80, doi:10.1093/oso/9780190056117.003.0003, ISBN 978-0-19-005611-7, retrieved May 18, 2021
  20. ^ Rodgers, Tara (2003). "On the process and aesthetics of sampling in electronic music production". Organised Sound. 8 (3): 313–320. doi:10.1017/s1355771803000293. ISSN 1355-7718. S2CID 61452300.
  21. ^ Hansen, Kjetil Falkenberg (December 1, 2002). "The Basics of Scratching". Journal of New Music Research. 31 (4): 357–365. doi:10.1076/jnmr.31.4.357.14171. ISSN 0929-8215. S2CID 62193540.
  22. ^ Hansen, Kjetil Falkenberg; Fabiani, Marco; Bresin, Roberto (March 1, 2011). "Analysis of the Acoustics and Playing Strategies of Turntable Scratching". Acta Acustica United with Acustica. 97 (2): 303–314. doi:10.3813/aaa.918410. ISSN 1610-1928.
  23. ^ Forman, Murray (2012). "Groove Music: The Art and Culture of the Hip-Hop DJ (Mark Katz)". Dancecult. 4 (2): 71–73. doi:10.12801/1947-5403.2012.04.02.05. ISSN 1947-5403.
  24. ^ Campbell, Mark v. (November 6, 2014). "Scratch, Look & Listen: Improvisation and Digital DJ Interfaces". Critical Studies in Improvisation. 10 (1). doi:10.21083/csieci.v10i1.3071. ISSN 1712-0624.
  25. ^ a b Brett, Thomas (September 10, 2018), Burton, Justin D; Oakes, Jason Lee (eds.), "Rhythm Technologies, Workflows, and Convergence Culture in Amateur Hip Hop Beat-Making YouTube Videos", The Oxford Handbook of Hip Hop Music, Oxford University Press, doi:10.1093/oxfordhb/9780190281090.013.23, ISBN 978-0-19-028109-0, retrieved May 18, 2021
  26. ^ a b Frane, Andrew V. (February 1, 2017). "Swing Rhythm in Classic Drum Breaks From Hip-Hop's Breakbeat Canon". Music Perception. 34 (3): 291–302. doi:10.1525/mp.2017.34.3.291. ISSN 0730-7829.
  27. ^ Alridge, Derrick P.; Stewart, James B. (2005). "Introduction: Hip Hop in History: Past, Present, and Future". The Journal of African American History. 90 (3): 190–195. doi:10.1086/jaahv90n3p190. ISSN 1548-1867. S2CID 140377377.
  28. ^ Mar 07, G. W. Childs IV on; comments, 2018 in Audio Software 1. "A Music Producer's Guide To Quantization". ask.audio. Retrieved May 26, 2021.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  29. ^ Hepworth-Sawyer, Russ; Hodgson, Jay, eds. (December 1, 2016). Mixing Music. p. 96. doi:10.4324/9781315646602. ISBN 978-1-317-29551-8.
  30. ^ Draper, Jason (November 15, 2018). "A Brief History Of Sampling". uDiscover Music. Retrieved May 26, 2021.
  31. ^ "Hip-Hop Timeline", Hip-Hop Authenticity and the London Scene, Routledge, pp. 135–141, February 17, 2017, doi:10.4324/9781315661049-7, ISBN 978-1-315-66104-9, retrieved May 18, 2021
  32. ^ Hunter, Margaret (2011). "Shake it, Baby, Shake it: Consumption and the New Gender Relation in Hip-Hop". Sociological Perspectives. 54 (1): 15–36. doi:10.1525/sop.2011.54.1.15. ISSN 0731-1214. S2CID 54611380.
  33. ^ Motley, Carol M.; Henderson, Geraldine Rosa (2008). "The global hip-hop Diaspora: Understanding the culture". Journal of Business Research. 61 (3): 243–253. doi:10.1016/j.jbusres.2007.06.020. ISSN 0148-2963.
  34. ^ "KRS-One". Billboard. Retrieved May 26, 2021.
  35. ^ "KRS-One". Billboard. Retrieved May 26, 2021.
  36. ^ "The Hip-Hop Underground and African American Culture", Palgrave Macmillan, 2014, doi:10.1057/9781137305251.0006, ISBN 978-1-137-30525-1, retrieved May 27, 2021 {{citation}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)[dead link‍]
  37. ^ Welbeck, Timothy N. (April 3, 2017). "People's Instinctive Travels and the Paths to Rhythms: Hip-Hop's Continuation of the Enduring Tradition of African and African American Rhetorical Forms and Tropes". Changing English. 24 (2): 123–136. doi:10.1080/1358684X.2017.1310461. ISSN 1358-684X. S2CID 148860825.
  38. ^ Kerr, David (May 30, 2019). "Experiments in sound: generating sonic landscapes in online spaces". Journal of African Cultural Studies. 32 (1): 24–41. doi:10.1080/13696815.2019.1615419. ISSN 1369-6815. S2CID 189973211.
  39. ^ Potter, Russell A. (September 29, 2017), "The future is history: hip-hop in the aftermath of (post)modernity", The Resisting Muse: Popular Music and Social Protest, Routledge, pp. 65–74, doi:10.4324/9781351218061-5, ISBN 978-1-351-21806-1, retrieved May 30, 2021
  40. ^ a b Marshall, Wayne (2006). "Giving up Hip-Hop's Firstborn: A Quest for the Real after the Death of Sampling". Callaloo. 29 (3): 868–892. doi:10.1353/cal.2006.0149. ISSN 1080-6512. S2CID 162221793.
  41. ^ Schuster, Mike; Mitchell, David; Brown, Kenneth (February 26, 2019). "Sampling Increases Music Sales: An Empirical Copyright Study". American Business Law Journal. 56 (1): 177–229. doi:10.1111/ablj.12137. ISSN 0002-7766. S2CID 159144053.
  42. ^ Tanaka, Atau (2006), "Interaction, Experience and the Future of Music", Consuming Music Together, Computer Supported Cooperative Work, vol. 35, Berlin/Heidelberg: Springer-Verlag, pp. 267–288, doi:10.1007/1-4020-4097-0_13, ISBN 1-4020-4031-8, retrieved May 18, 2021
  43. ^ Speers, Laura (February 17, 2017). Hip-Hop Authenticity and the London Scene. Routledge. doi:10.4324/9781315661049. ISBN 978-1-315-66104-9.
  44. ^ Jost, Matt. "Wish Master :: Boombap to the Future – RapReviews". Retrieved May 15, 2021.
  45. ^ "Who are the Sons of Boombap?". Sons of Boombap. Retrieved May 15, 2021.
  46. ^ Cochrane, Naima (June 18, 2021). "How Verzuz is bridging the musical generation gap". Andscape. Retrieved June 28, 2021.
  47. ^ "ALBUM REVIEW: J. Cole walks a fine line on 'The Off-Season'". RIFF Magazine. May 14, 2021. Retrieved June 28, 2021.
  48. ^ "The Best Hip Hop Albums Of 2021". Hip Hop Golden Age. Retrieved June 28, 2021.
  49. ^ Camaj, Margaritë "Magi" (December 11, 2020). "Da Inphamus Amadeuz brings us back to the '90s with 'Any Day Now (The Sequel)'". EARMILK. Retrieved June 28, 2021.
  50. ^ "Lloyd Banks Hasn't Lost A Step On "Sidewalks"". HotNewHipHop. Retrieved June 28, 2021.
  51. ^ Grove, Rashad. "Media Personality Peter Rosenberg Is Right On Time With 'Real Late' Album". Forbes. Retrieved July 20, 2021.
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Boom_bap&oldid=1259343897"