1980's Hip Hop
Hip hop track
My Composition
My Research
Before starting my composition, I listened to a few different tracks and artists in order to get some inspiration such as; Fight the Power by Public Enemy and Push It by Salt-N-Pepa. In my composition for 1980's Hip Hop I used different instruments such as an FM Bass that I chose because it sounded the most similar to the sound I wanted to achieve after researching the genre's bass style of clean and clear bass sounds, an 80's style keyboard and 80's style pad synth as these were very popular for 1980's hip hop genre. I also used a scratch sample as these were very popular in the genre at the time and it would have taken me too long to create my own. Lastly, I used a drum loop sample called "Cry for help" as I felt it fit best for 1980's hip hop. Using samples is advantageous because it can give you inspiration and it is a time effective method. However, sometimes it can sometimes lose originality. However, I incorporated this sample into my work and made it cohesive within my composition.
For this track, I set the BPM to 90 because it fits within the genre and was a very common BPM for the time and kept the time signature at 4/4. For the structure of my composition, I used an A B structure as I wanted to keep it simple but have some variation. For the synth sounds and the piano sounds I used a MIDI (Musical Instrument Digital Interface) step sequencer, the benefit of using MIDI is that it allows me to be creative and try different things and hear it back in real-time, a disadvantage is that I believe you need to have good technical understanding to get the best out of it. In my composition, I used some preset effects on some of the instruments; such as on the FM bass track I used overdrive distortion to give it more of a crunchy sound and stand out a bit more by boosting the signal, as overdrive gives the sound a distorted and crunchy sound without having the signal peaking on the track. On the 80's keyboard track I used a few different effects; I used a Microphaser to give the sound more width. I then used a tape delay to give the instrument a bit of reverb and make the sound fit better in the composition. I did not use an EQ on this one this time, but I will use an EQ next time so that I can make fine adjustments to the sounds on a sonic level. In this composition a few presets on the tracks did not change anything, so I had to mute them and focus on the sounds and effect presets that added quality to the tracks. The bass track went well as I was able to find a good sound that I liked and then when I added the overdrive effect to the track, it improved the sound in my opinion. One way I feel I could improve my track, if I were to attempt it again, would be to try out my own effect settings instead of using presets, as I ran out of time.
For my research into the history of 1980's hip hop I found some useful and interesting information; early 80's hip hop used a lot of funk and disco influence in their tracks as well as artists like Run DMC who used rock music in their tracks to appeal to more people. By the mid-80s hip-hop music was popular, and this would later be known as the "Golden Age" of hip-hop. Artists like LL Cool J started using melodic hooks to create catchy and memorable songs and lyrics. In 1986 the album Raising Hell by Run DMC became the first top 10 album for hip hop music. Hip hop would eventually become one of the most influential genres of music and go on to create numerous sub-genres such as gangster rap which came about in the late 1980's, with artists like N.W.A. that sang/rapped about social issues young black men faced at the time. Hip hop was so influential that it affected the fashion of the time, creating new and exciting fashion trends, which in turn also started to affect and create different dance styles too, such as break dancing. A lot of hip hop music would sample other songs from a range of different genres using samplers. Other instruments that were popular within 80's hip hop were instruments such as the Roland TR-808 drum machine, which was one of the first drum machines that let the user program their own rhythm instead of using the same presets, the 808 used analog synthesis instead of just playing back a recorded sample. Turntables were also a popular choice of instrument in hip hop with a DJ playing samples and tracks, along with "scratching" the records to achieve the signature sound of record scratching. The tempo of 80's hip hop was generally around the 90 BPM range and followed a common structure with an intro and then a series of verses and choruses that rarely started with going straight into rapping and usually started with a few bars of instrumental. Examples of famous bands and artists of the times would be Run DMC, Grandmaster Flash, Salt-N-Pepa, LL Cool J, NWA, and Public Enemy to name a few.
https://blackmusicscholar.com/80s-hip-hop/#:~:text=History,to%20appeal%20to%20different%20audiences.
Screenshot of automation used in track
Screenshot of effects used in the composition.
screenshot of instruments used in the composition.
Screenshot of tempo and time signature
Screenshot of song arrangement.
The key of this composition is in E minor not C major as stated in the picture above.