So, I was on grooveshark this morning, after finding out that the songs from my former band, Juanita Place, was on there… awesome… I decided to go to Billboard and see what is on the Billboard singles charts. I am in the process of writing several songs and making more connections in the industry. It’s going well so far. However, in my morning study of the music industry, I noticed several similarities in the music. This isn’t to say that it’s a bad thing, but it is very interesting when putting music together and in composing. Today, October 29, 2011, included in the Billboard R&B/Hip-Hop singles charts is Beyonce “Party”, Lil Wayne “She Will”, Big Sean “Marvin Gaye & Chardonnay”, and Jay-Z & Kanye “Ni**as in Paris”, among others. This is not a comprehensive list, nor is it in order, but that’s not the point of this post. The common denominator in the music it appears is three things.
The first of these things is the kick drum being big enough to hit you in the chest. The kick drum on these songs knocks the wind out of you if you have a woofer. It’s the kind of kick that will blow the clothes off a woman, which I guess is the point of some of this music. It’s used obvious in control with one of the songs on the top 10, Wale featuring Jeremih and Rick Ross “That Way”. In this song, they pull the kick back in certain spots to add contrast and give the song more musical life. This is also true for the urban ballad, “Wet the Bed” by Chris Brown featuring Ludacris. One thing is for sure, to truly enjoy the musical value of this music, you need to have a system that can belt out the bass so your soul can feel it.
The next common aspect of the song is the snare. The snares in these songs are pretty a uniform high pitch piccolo. This is the snare you normally here in the marching bands, but a synthesized sample of course. The snare is the typical hip-hop snare. The songs don’t sound the same without this type of sound. The difference can be heard when you listen to something like “Poison” by Bell Biv Devoe. The snare is “Poison” is considerably lower in pitch and can change the tone of the song entirely. A low snare is also used in “Love Bomb” by N.E.R.D. Pharell has a tendency to mix styles and use different sounds when creating his music, hence how his sound stands out among other producers so well. A person can almost turn on any song produced by The Neptunes and immediately recognize that it is his team.
The last of the three is that the main melody is usually played by a synthesized brass or string section. This stands out to me because I am a pianist first. So, my mind automatically plays everything on the keys. The other instruments come second. However, when creating music, I have to translate the music from the piano to sounding good on the brass or the strings. So, its best when creating music, to think of the melody first, then think of the underlying chords to embellish this melody with some thickness. This is hard for people who learn music through chords (piano players), versus people who learned music through rhythms or melody (drummers, DJs, horn players, etc).
So, those are the common elements, the foundations for the popular R&B/Hip-Hop music of the millennium. You need to have that kick that’s going to knock you down; the snare that makes you move as the main rhythm embellishment and being very high pitched. Finally, the melody is typically played on some string or brass section. For all you producers, make sure these elements are in your music, if you’re making urban music. These will the backbone for your songs. Everything is another topic, because the other things are just as important as these elements. Until next time, kick it hard enough for me and you. Axé.
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