Music 17 wk 5-10

Some famous cases

2 live crew were sued by Acuff/Rose for using Roy Orbison's song "Pretty Women" in their song of the same name The case went all the way to the Supreme Court 2 LiVe Crew won the basis that they had used the song with parodic intent (there is a fair use exemption for parody and satire)

David banner "cadillac on 22s"

A critique of the cars/bling focus of much southern rap from within The song and video wind back from the present to an idealized agrarian post in a way that protests the materialism o the present beat features an acoustic guitar in a way that seems to reference the country blues that has Mississippi on the musical map early in the 20th century

Turtles Vs De La Soul

A suit about the use of a sample of a Turtles song behind a skit of 3 feet high and rising Settled out of court in favour of the plaintiffs Album has effectively remained out of print

Bridgeport Music Vs. Dimension Films

About the use of Funkadelic sample in the soundtrack to a Master P movie. George Clinton supported Master P, but no longer owned the rights to his songs Established that if you directly sample a recording ... What happened: the sample-heavy sound of late 80s hip hop production effectively died with all the lawsuits. Songs based on a single recognizable and cleared sample became more common, as did music

Future "march madness"

After this early pop crossover and a nasty public divorce, future doubled down on a new persona through a series of mixtapes Again, everything runs through autotune, though there is less in the way of pop hook potential here. Instead the melodic patterns and frequent unintelligibility of the lyrics create imply both intoxication and an emotional rawness

3 6 mafia "tear da club up"

Also from Memphis, unlikely Academy Award winners Prolific underground group with shifting personnel and a lot of associated artist One of the acts who popularized the term "crunk" and were important in the development of the style, which became nationally popular in the 200s Characteristic of much of their early work is the use of horror movie imagery, and the use of musical ideas from horror and other soundtracks (this song is built on a sample from the theme music to TV show SWAT

Mechanicals

Apply to use of recording itself Rediplay Jukeboxes Clubs It is kind of a technological "performance" royalty Usually controlled by the record label Playing a record on the radio should trigger both forms of royalty payment

censorship

As hip hop became more popular and as artists used more controversial ... There was no system for rating/censoring music Most popular songs were aimed at radio, and so conformed to FCC broadcast decency standards There had however, always been a smaller market for "blue" and controversial material that would never be broadcast on the radio Some things that fell into this category ran the gamut from the comedy of Rudy Ray Moore through smutty novelty records by Blowfly through anonymous racist country albums (Johnny Rebel) In the 80s concerns of lyrical content in heavy metal and rap songs in particu;lalr led to the formation of the Parent Music Resource Center (PMRC) The PMRC convened congressional hearings and pushed for a rating system for popular music like that administered by the MPAA (Motion Picture Association of America) films

Marching bands

Aside from New Orleans specific traditions, marching bands that perform at sporting events have a strong place in Southern musical forms HBCU marching bands in particular have developed a distinctive mode of performance that has evolved in parallel with hip hop The influence foes in both directions: bands frequently perform versions of hip hop songs; and sounds, phrasing and rhythmic styles associated with these bands have wound up in hip hop (eg the snare drum patterns and trombone-like lines in much rap production probably have their roots in marching bands)

rap and law enforcement

At the same time as the Congressional hearings about offensive lyrical content there were protests led by law enforcement groups against record labels for releasing songs like NWA's "**** the Police" and Ice-T and Bodycount's "Cop Killer" Songs taking hostile attitudes towards police and law and order

Migos "T shirt"

Atlanta trio who recently became hugely successful after being around for some time Deceptively simple sounding songs with very basic hooks (generally just the title repeated) Emphasis is on the way that the three of them interact through ad libs around the main theme of the song

BC "Bling bling"

BG was one of the original Cash Money artists, functioned more in the role of the gangsta rapper than did Juvenile or the others Ie. the lyrics are darker, less celebratory and more violent This song is an exception to that, and is effectively a Cash Money posse cut celebrating living large, and making regional slang a national thing in the process

Bounce

Bounce is a sub-style of hip hop specific to New Orleans that started in the early 1990s It is a party/dance music based on synthetic drum breaks (with other percussion), mostly drawn from a single source (Drag Rap by the Showboys) Features call and response vocal chants and novel dance moves Notable bounce performers include DJ Jubilee, Katy Red and big freedia

Jimmy castor Vs Beastie boys

Castor, whose music had been liberally sampled in the early days of hip hop sued the Beastie Boys for using a very small fragment of a shouted intro to one of his songs Perhaps the first lawsuit about a sample Settled out of court? But had an immediately chilling effect

Rich gang "lifestyle"

Collaboration between Young Thug and Rich Homie Quan, overseen by Birdman (of Cash Money records fame) Both lead rappers developed their styles partially in response to Future Rich Homie Quan emphasizing the more emotive end of things, with voice breaking Young Thug built on the melodic (and less intelligible) aspects, but took it much further: his verse are often impossible to understand but contain a wild variety of detailed melodic variation

Mase "feel so good"

Definitive bad boy pop rap single Produced by P Diddy (or sean puffy combs at the time), as the hook says "take songs from the 780s, make them sound crazy" basic concept was rapping over already hugely popular songs Based on the party DJ practice of "blends" or mixing acapella over one song over instrumental of another (later mashups)

DJ Quick "Jus Lyke Compton"

Dj Quik is also from Compton, he's still active as producer and rapper Production is notable for a more musical Song describes leaving Compton, and then seeing the same problems repeated everywhere else >> really narrative >> Low key saying that he made something, moved out of Compton, but the problem is going on everywhere Not a lot of commentary about what is happening -- more low key observational situation as to what is happening

Earl sweatshirt " grief'

Earl (Thebe Kgositsile) came to public prominence as member of Odd Future, while still in high school. Their raps were messy, mercurial and frequently highly offensive. His mother Cheryl Harris is a prominent legal scholar and father Keorapetse Kgositsile is a South African poet and activist His solo work has become much more introspective, in this instance to the point almost of claustrophobia. Productions is lo-fi and uses sounds associated with degraded digital audio

Drake "one dance"

Example of how drake has explicitly moved to embrace a more international orientation in his music Song draws on multiple styles: afrobeats from nigeria and english club styles (Funky House, 2 Step) Built around Crazy Cousinz w/ Kyla "Do you mind" and features afrobeats star Wizkid. Drake had earlier remixed and rapper over one of Wizkid's Nigerian hits

Dance music

For much of the 1990s and into the 2000s mainstream hip hop had faded as a form of dance music However in most cities in the us there were small regional club styles that were somewhat associated with hip hop that lived largely under the radar, at least until youtube With the assist of internet sharing some of these scenes produced novelty songs that became hits (soulja boy "crank dat", unk "walk it out" new boys "you're a jerk" ) Since 2007 in particular mainstream hip hop increasingly drew on a range of club music style as a production influence (this increased further with the rise of the EDM phenomenon)

Kanye west "monster" w/ rick ross, jay z, nicki minaj

From kanye's "my beautiful dark fantasy" album, largely conceived and released through the internet Notably especially for nicki minaj's verse which features her trademark sudden shits in accent and diction

2 live crew " me so horny"

From the album "As Nasty as they wanna be" released independently on Luke Records 1989 2 live crew were basically a party band/club act that featured Luke's smutty rhymes over up temp, bass heavy electro beats (the blueprint of "Miami Bass") Asian stereotyped film

2 live crew "pretty woman"

From the remake album "as clean as they wanna be" Grotesque parody of roy orbinson's "pretty woman"

A$AP rocky "Peso"

Harlem rapper who has built his sound and style largely on Southern models, especially Houston and Memphis Built his reputation through internet connections and hook into the fashion and art worlds Fashion is hugely important here, not just luxury brand things, but street style as a kind of fashion avant garde Made much of his impact via the internet, mixtapes, fashion magazines etc Some of the music deals with being a child of the crack era

Notorious BIG "Juicy"

His first single and a kind of autobiography Much of the narrative is filtered through the lens of rap fandom Beat built around " Juicy Fruit" by mtume by pete rock, uncredited

Primary center in the south

Houston (Suave house and rap-a-lot records) New orleans (no limit and cash money records) Atlanta Memphis

Houston

Houston was probably the first Southern city on the map within the genre, due to the Geto Boys and Rap-a-lot records Less of a specific center of traditional Southern styles than new orleans, but close to New Orleans and to Mexico (the influence of cumbia and narco ballads is hidden but not completely insignificant)

Sage the gemini "gas pedal"

Hyphy's moment passed but it remained locally significant and has been strong on a more recent Bay Area resurgence of which this is an example Again, the music is heavily dance-oriented Here, that means that the beat is extremely minimal The song was a huge hit, with the popularity driven in no small part through Vines and youtube posts of people dancing to it

General concerns

In many cases litigation is complicated by the fact that the rights involved have been a number of times and it is sometimes unclear who owns them In some sense, this is not so different from music as usual which is, and has always been, full of borrowing, licit and illicit

The south

In most cases, southern hip hop made connections to older AA pop music traditions that were also regionally specific This meant that, while sharing many influences with NY hip hop for instance, it also folded in other influences that were more specifically local As in NY, this wasn't just a matter of falling on local folklore and tradition but a complex integration of older styles and newer technologies and sensibilities

Vince Staples "Senorita"

In some senses this song (and specially its video) addresses the preceding controversy he's a rapper from Long Beach who makes ambitious music sometimes about street themes, but from an everyman perspective which pays more attention to the effects and the fallout than to glamorizing the action itself

Atlanta

In the 1990s with the increasing reversal of the south> north migration patterns of AA that had marked much of the 20th century, Atlanta became a prime destination, and thus a city with a sizeable AA middle class As part of the same phenomenon it also became a major music business center, especially for R&B-centered labels and artists

Sampling and clearances

In the narrowest legal sense sampling in early hip hop violated rules regulating both mechanical and publishing rights Because the law is not (and cannot be* specific about a threshold for infringement, in the early days of hip hop people tried to get away with whatever they could The law remains vague, so practice is based largely on precedent Problem, is that very few case make it to judgement so precedent is thin, so the business effectively exists within an ongoing negotiation between the artists, labels, publishing... If you use a sample of another record that's identifiable, you'll have to clear and pay mechanical royalties If the musical material sampled is a significant factor in the new work, you will also have to clear and pay publishing factor in the new work, you will also have to clear and pay publishing. This will generally involve granting a % writing credit (and hence a %age of the publishing revenue stream) to the artist being sampled

New modes of productions (Virginia beach)

In the wake of the various sampling lawsuits producers who built their own beats because more in demand especially from industry insiders who wanted to move hip hop the sounds of the 1990s/early 2000s hip hop and R&B were dominated by producers who worked in this mode: sometimes using samples but mostly making programmed beats the most influential were a small group of friends and onetime bandmates from Virginia Beach: Timbaland, The Neptunes (Pharrell Williams and Chad Hugo), Missy Elliott

Goodie Mob "Cell therapy"

Landmark Atlanta group, associated with Outkast as part of the Dungeon Family, Cee-Lo later became a star colo act They blended organized noize's production with complex rapping that was often politically charged In an odd inversion this song is notable for dealing in conspiracy theory narratives associated at the time with militia and white supremacist groups (see Chang chap.19)

Lauryn hill "doo wop/that thing"

Lauryn hill was the breakout star of the Fugees a conscious pop/rap song that was hugely successful in the 90s She was equally talented as singer and MC and performs both roles on this track: rapping the verses and singing the choruses this track was the hit sing;e from her solo album Song plays a set of interrelated oppositions: 1960s vs. 1990s; rapping vs singing; men vs women etc Takes relatively familiar narratives of gender conflict, but takes on both parts herself

Le1f "Wut"

Leif studied dance, but came to prominence working on music-related projects, often more within an art scene context, or at the crossover of music and art His work explicitly articulates a queer sensibility within a hip hop framework

Lil Kim "queen bitch"

Lil kim, a member of the notorious BIG associated Junior Mafia cultivated an explicitly sexualized image that was new for hip hop in part based on performers like Madonna Lyrics for this song were written by biggie, beginning the question of whose fantasy it is, and how it's performed

The Wu Tang Clan

Loose coalition of rappers from Staten Island and Brooklyn Much more influential than sales figures might suggest Their image was novel and complex as was their business structure: each member had their own deal on different labels in the beginning Like public enemy they developed strong contrasting characters within the group Based their material around first person street storytelling, but expanded that to encompass complex metaphors drawn from martial arts films, gangster films and 5%er cosmology

Henry Louis Gates Testimony

Main expert witness was literary scholar Henry Louis Gates Gates argued that when read in context of the history deliberate exaggeration and bawdiness in AA traditions like toasts and the dozens the work of 2 Live Crew was not obscene The original conviction was overturned Was a big media moment Responses to Gates Gate's arguments was controversial across the board Some feminist scholars and spokespeople in particular felt that it was possible to understand the work in its content AND still find it objectionable

Master P "make em say unnhhhh"

Master p ran no limit records, one of the first regional independents to achieve national reach He was also probably the first rap star/producer to take on the business mogul role, quickly expanding his interests to sports teams, real estate, films etc This song was his most successful single, but it's hardly the point Nonsense party chant Features other rappers on his label: mystikal, Sylkk the Shokkher. Note the variety of rhythmic cadence between the verses

Trick daddy "shut up"

Miami rapper who started in the orbit of 2 Live Crew's Luke Skywalker. He has a number of regional hits and a couple of national hits without ever becoming a huge star This song features Trina who was his foil on most of his big records Most notable is the production which explicitly uses marching band sounds and phrases Song, or at the least tha main riff has become a staple of Southern marching bands

E 40 "tell me when to go"

More a document of a larger culture than a one-off craze, this is an example of the Bay Area's "hyphy" style, and is pretty much an attempt to encapsulate that sensibility for a national audience E 40 has had a very long career and is notable for both the novelty of his slang

Street culture

More recently though ties between some hip hop artist and gang culture have become more obvious and more public (eg drill music in Chicago, some Atlanta rap, some southern California music) Law enforcement reliance on social media and internet presence to police gang activity has resulted in an increasing number of cases of hip hop artists being arrested, in some cases on the basis of song lyrics The highest profile case is probably Bobby Shmurda. Other recent high profile examples are Tay-K (The Race), Drakeo the Ruler and 03 Greedo More general op-ed (co-written by Killer Mike) on legal treatment of rap lyrics

Different vocal styles

Much recent rap has reacted against the traditional emphasis on lyricism Many recently successful artist are not technically adept lyricists, but instead emphasize unique vocal styles, rap as well as sing, or are more concerned with producing an overall persona In many cases, this has extended to alteration of the voice itself though electronic or other means. While earlier hip hop placed a strong emphasis on directness and authenticity of the sound of the voice, much recent music has deliberately obfuscated this.

Publishing

Music publishing is legally derived from literary copyright via the notion of sheet music scores Even though most music now is not sold in printed form, and most of it was never notated, the implicit legal protection remains Publishing right are controlled by publishing companies, which may or may not still be linked to the artist, who collect payments via collection agencies like ASCAP , BMI, and SESAC In theory whenever a song is performed the publisher should be paid

Nas "NY state of mind"

Nas was from the Queensbridge projects, son of noted jazz trumpeter Olu Dara This song (produced by Dj Premier) is from his first album illmatic Illmatic established nas as probabalt the pre-eminent lyricist in hip hop and was also a more general showcase of state-of-the-art of NY hip hop at the time (productions by Pete Rock, Large Professor, Q tip) His style, like rakim's before him is dense and highly complex rhythmically, but is directed more toward observation of the world around him

New orleans

New orleans is in many ways unlike any other american city French influence Port city Proximity of caribbean Only american city where slaves were allowed to maintain their musical culture (albeit in a limited way) Musical styles were created in New Orleans have been hugely influential in the rest of the country It has also maintained and valued its distinctive musical traditions (parades, second lines, early jazz) Parades: social organization, musical performances, performance of community Syncretic folk forms that maintain some African and Caribbean traditions within America guise (ex: Mardi Gras Indians etc) These have influenced each generation of NO music, jazz, R&B, rap

Old dirty bastard "shimmy shimmy ya"

ODB was the trickster/comedian figure in the wu tang clan Drew explicitly on routines by comedians like Rudy Ray Moore and Richard Pryor Flow was notable erratic rhythmically Lyrically more a party rapper, especially against the more cerebral styles of the rest of the clan

Jay z "***** what, ***** who?"

One of jay z's more technically complex raps, at least rhythmically Significant because Jay Z cultivated the impression that he was an ultra virtuosic MC who dumbed down his style to become popular Beat is by Timbaland shifts between regular and double time: some elements of the song are in a slow tempo, others move twice as fast Jay Z's rhyming shifts between the two layers song also features Jazz O (his mentor)

Dr Dre "Deep Cover"

One of snoop's first appearances on record From the soundtrack of the film of the same name, directed by Bill Duke The film was unique amongst the crop of films dealing with the drug trade at the time by focusing less on the streets and more on official corruption and complicity

Notorious BIG "Ten Crack Commandments"

One of the hallmarks of his style was the ability to shift voice across and within tracks. A good early example is warning This track does something similar Street lore as life lesson About the minutiae of hustling rather than the general image

Dj Screw

One of the most distinctive figure in Houston rap was DJ Screw, a prolific mix and radio DJ He pioneered a style of slowing down records and then cutting them up (i.e. "chopped and screwed") He remixed nationally famous tracks for the local market and made beats for local rappers

Mary J blige/Method Man "you're all i need"

One of the most successful early attempts at integrating hip hop and r&b Remake of the Marvin Gaye/Tammi Terrell classic Production is heavily indebted to hip hop methods: the beat is emphasized and musical details of the original are simplified for greater impact Method man raps his verses, Mary J sings

Clipse "Grindin"

One of the neptunes most distinctive and influential beats: heavily syncopated drums, with barely a chorus Pusha T and malice thyme in double-entendre heavy verses about the minutiae of the drug trade Both clipse and the neptunes are from virginia beach Clipse's manager was indicated on conspiracy charges relating to drug dealing

Tupac "Keep ya head up"

One of tupac's "feminist" anthems Built around the Five Stairsteps "ooh-ohh child" Essentially a song of solidarity with single mothers but shifts to the child's perspective in the last verse Uplifting and community-based in contrast to his later almost paranoid work

Mixtapes

Originally promotional tools for DJs Became a useful career-building tool for many artists, providing black market revenue, street credibility and exposure Also a primary venue for experimentation and dispute: a much faster moving medium thgan official albums, served the role that love performance might serve in other genres Relationships between the music business and mixtape scene has always been complicated Strictly speaking many (most?) are still illegal in some sense, but the industry has tended to turn a blind eye, even using mixtapes explicitly as promotional devices The shift to online distribution has broadened the scope and ambition It's often hard now to distinguish a "mixtape" from an official release, and that distinction might not actually be meaningful to an artist or their career. See, for example, something like Chance The Rapper's Coloring Book

Outkast "Elevators"

Outkast were a duo from Atlanta who cultivated contrasting personalities: Big Boi as the streetwise rapper and Andre 3000 as an eccentric flamboyant "poet" Their second album ATLiens expanded the southern rap of their first album into abstract and eccentric territory that connected with the more speculative ends of jazz and R&B While they're worked with Organized Noize on their first album, they began making their own beats on the second. This is one of them.

Souls and mischief "93 til infinity"

Part of the hieroglyphics crew led by Del Song is notable especially for the technical intricacy of the rapping Overall sensibility draws on jazz but not as explicitly as something like Freestyle Fellowship Significant for independence from mainstream industry models

Pharcyde "Runnin"

Pharcyde were an La based group who became successful in the early 1990s with a more bohemian inflected West Coast sound This song is from their second record in 1995 and is notable for production by legendary Detroit beatmaker J Dilla It is primarily based on recording by Stan Getz of a bossa nova song by Luis Bonfa Dilla sampled fragments from throughout the song and then reassembled to make an entirely new structure The deliberate looseness and unevenness of the time feel in his later productions became the signature of his method and has become hugely influential especially of late

Cash money records

Probably the most successful of the regional indie labels Formed by the Williams brothers, slightly dubious characters with links to criminal enterprises Expanded via a huge distribution deal with Universal that left them largely in charge -- this was pretty much unprecedented

Decline of radio and changes in the charts

Rap radio has been in decline since the early 2000s Some of this is due to rise of things like EDM (and its associated radio format "Rhythmic") There has also been a shift in how the charts are computed which has de-emphasized radio, which in the case oh hip hop had always been tightly associated with local scenes The most drastic changes occured in 2013 when Billboard Magazine changed the chart formula to emphasize paid downloads. In that year there were no number one songs by black artists. Some articles discussing these changes which have also hit R&B and country

Rick ROss "B.M.F"

Rick ross former corrections officer took his stagename from "Freeway" Ricky Ross, the LA crack kingpin of the 80s BMF supposedly stand for "blowing money fast" but is a reference to Atalanta's Black Mafia Family crum syndicate The cinematic gloss of both the video and the production make it quite clear that this has everything to with fantasy and little to do with "real life"

Ice Cube "Black korea"

Short, highly controversial (and pretty racist) track from his second solo album "Death Certificate ( and NY) Ostensibly a response to the shooting of a black teenager by a Korean store-owner Prompted a boycott by asian-american store owners of liquor brands for whom Ice Cube was spokesman

Kendrick lamar " the blacker the berry"

Single from his second major label record To Pimp a Butterfly A more combative song than anything on the previous record Political message is unclear and for many people has been troubling and contradictory The hook is performed by dancehall artist Assassin who can embody a kind of aggressive threatening presence that Kendrick Lamar can't

Wacka Flocka Flame "Hard in da Paint"

Someone who's hardly a rapper by traditionally standards Attitude is everything and personality on the track makes up for the absence of technically accomplished rapping Beat was breakthrough for Lex Luger, the dominant producer in Southern hip hop at the time. Style is incredibly bombastic, but also cheap and synthetic sounding at the same time. Combines orchestral; samples with almost marching band sounding drum patterns

Chief keef " I don't like"

Standard bearer of Chicago "drill" music: a kind of midwest adaptation of southern trap production styles The music and a number of the artists were closely associated with Chicago's violent street gangs Many of the questions raised around early gangsta rap, and more importantly the corporate and critical embrace of it, re-emerged around Chief Keef in particular

West coast underground

Strong undergrounds developed in both LA and SF Emphasis in both places was on lyrical complexity, especially in freestyle delivery, and frequently on jazz-based musical sensibility

Juvenile "Ha"

The early star on Cash Money records Stylistically short on technical skills but long on regional slang and inflection This song and its video are a relatively clear-eyed view on New Orleans project life at the time (1998) Beat by Mannie Fresh is all original and synthetic, but draws some on parade styles as does the rapping

Geto Boys "Mind Playing Tricks on me"

The first act to break through to national; consciousness and probably the first southern act aside from 2 Live Crew They initially made their name pushing the limit in terms of shocking and transgressive lyrical content This song is more reflective, and one of the first gangsta tracks to deal with the personal and human cost of the criminal activity

Ice Cube "once a upon of time in the projects"

The general anger and righteousness of the record is aimed not just at white america and power structures, but also toward ghetto stereotypes

2 live crew obscenity trial

The legal basis of obscenity is "community standards" In the first case of the suit against the band, the judge appointed himself as guardian of community standards and ruled against them On appeal, the band's management convened expert witnesses to parse the cultural context and how it intersected with the legal notion of obscenity

Mystikal "danger"

The most successful No Limit rapper James brown/drill sergeant vocal delivery More complex flow in terms of rhythm and dynamics than most other rappers we've heard so far Beat is an early one by the neptunes

New york

The rise of the gangsta aesthetic on the WEst Coast has temporarily shifted the focus away from NY This went along with a more general shift away from explicitly "conscious" or political message in the music The production style dominant in early 90s NY hip hop was typified by the ultra stripped-down beats of DJ premier and Pete Rock Both drew frequently on jazz records as sample sources. Their production technique was based in Djing but both used sampers to make beats, often using only very short fragments of only one song to build a beat Their beats placed a lot of emphasis on space and paid detailed attention to the specific sounds of individual drum hits

General shifts in hip hop in the early 1990s

The unprecedented commercial success of records like Straight outta compton and the chronic changed hip hop This created the circumstances for the development of an underground scene opposed to a mainstream that was becoming more commercially oriented

Royalties

There are 2 types of royalties: Publishing royalties, which pertain to the intellectual property rights of the songwriters Mechanical royalties, which pertain to the use of the recording

Wu tang clan "can it be it was all so simple then"

Third single from enter the wu tang (36 chambers) First verse is by Raekwon, second by Ghostface Killah with both on the corus Production by the RZA demonstrates his basic strategy: layering old soul samples over beefed up and frequently off-liter drum tracks The sound is both nostalgic and somewhat menacing Notice that the timing is deliberately not quiet even

Outkast "SpottieOttieDopalicious"

This is an album cut from "Aquemini" where they perfected the contrast between their personae. The track features a delivery closer to spoken word than conventional rap over a reggae-infected backing and tells conflicting versions of a night out and its repercussions on real life

Drake "marvin's room"

This song is from the "take care" album, and takes the form of a king of drunk-dialing rant to an ex Notable for direct emotional performance, but also how unpleasant the protagonist really is Production is hazy, club-influenced, building on the sound of the weeknd(also from toronto)

DJ Screw (ft. Fat Pat) "Swag down"

This sound, associated with getting high on codeine cough syrup,became the defining feature of much Houston rap, and has had revived national influence again over the last 5 years DJ Screw died of a codeine overdose

GZA "Liquid Swords"

This track (and the entire album) is one of the clearest examples of the martial arts influence on Wu Tang Track begins with a lengthy dialog sample from "Shogun Assassin" Production again draws on Southern soul records (Al Green and Willie Mitchell) Lyrics play out a street story through the martial arts warrior metaphors

Ice Cube "Amerikkka's Most Wanted"

Title track from Ice Cube first solo album after leaving NWA Produced by the Bomb Squad Music is much more political now, especially reflected the influence of the Nation of Islam via Public Enemy The political rhetoric is wedded to the outlaw stance perfected in NWA

Kendrick Lamar "fear"

Track from the album DAMN The songs articulates the title emotion through snapshots of how things felt at different ages: childhood, late adolescence and then as an adult Beat by Alchemist is very minimal, working a soul loop (24 Carat Black) in a hypnotic fashion

Kimberle Crenshaw

Trading in racial stereotypes and sexual hyperbole are well-rehearsed strategies for getting some laughs. 2 live crew departs from this tradition only in its attempt to up the ante through more outrageous boasts and more explicitly manifestations of misogyny. neither the intent to be funny, nor Gate's loftier explanations, negate the subordinating qualities of such humor.

Tuff city vs Def Jam

Tuff City was an independent label that bought up old break records and reissued them, and then tried to sue for infringement the case failed in part because it was deemed that drum patterns were not "original" enough to meet the threshold for copyright

UGK "Diamonds & wood"

UGK were a duo from Port Arthur Texas. Pimp C was largely responsible for the beats and Bun B was the primary rapper Were always a regional act, but were one of the few Southern acts to have a large underground following, largely due to the complexity and virtuosity of Bun B's rapping

Freestyle fellowship "inner city boundaries"

Virtuoso rappers based in LA, associated with legendary freestyle scene project Blowed (open mic night at Good life cafe) Draw explicitly on jazz traditions and techniques (esp improvisation), but also from other forms of poetry and spoken word outside of hip hop

Questions raised by the 2 Live Crew case

What are community standards? Especially at issue when we can point to overlapping communities How does music communicate one community's standards to another? Can it? Is that even a reasonable question? If context determines the meaning of the music, is there any point of regulating the music itself? Was banning 2 Live crew implicitly racist? Os legal sanction on cultural production ever ok? when ?

Copyright and sampling

Who own music? How do they own it? How much of it do they own? Is there an inherent mis-match between the cultural history reflected in the law and that of hip hop? And does that matter? How has enforcement of laws surrounding the ownership of music affected hip hop production?

Hip hop's expanded range

With shifts in popularity, hip hop has shifted both in more mainstream directions and into more niche positions There has also been a more recent resurgence in old style lyricism and story-telling ambition, alongside all of the sonic innovations There has also been an increase in explicitly political music