The Hybrid of Hip-Hop

MTV:The Wrap Up THE HYBRID OF HIP-HOP?

In today’s society, hip-hop culture is no longer about the four pillars (graffiti, break dancing, battle rapping and DJing). Neither is it about spitting a freestyle while someone beatboxes. We (the audience) are more familiar with an artist trying to reach a mass audience, while marketing themselves as a great entertainer. While they present to us a hybrid of different rhythms, beats, pitches and frequencies. For example, Tinie Tempah’s recent No.1 hit ‘Pass Out’ hit had a very techno/dance presence, but was still able to feel relevant to the grime and hip-hop fans because of the heavy baselines. This one track had everyone stepping their game up and spitting their own F64 on the techno beat. Some may not consider ‘Pass Out’ a hip-hop track, but grime and the like there of, all derive for this (hip-hop) great art form.

Artists like Estelle, Kid Cudi and Kelly Rowland, who are working with French house music producer/DJ David Guetta, ushered in this new phase of dance and hip-hop and now this new genre has a place within the market and music industry. Especially, Rowland’s track ‘When Love Takes Over’. This particular track reached new heights for the new hybrid when it reached No.1 over here in the UK charts, it brought this

new style to the forefront within the hip-hop and pop culture, so much so it transformed two art forms and created a fresh sound.

Is this change just a phase, the new “cool” thing to do in regards to making a hit? Or is it actually setting a new trend of fusing baselines with the high frequencies and it plainly working? This is not the first time that hip-hop has taken inspiration from another cultures in order to change, grow and become even better. Remember back in the late 90s when the Asian fusion was the “cool” thing to do? Timbaland and Magoo were one of the first to bring this Asian persuasion to the charts with hit ‘Flute’. Just like the dance fusions of today’s hip- hop, ‘Flute’ is a sheer example of hip-hop and Asian music coming together to make a hit. This is because it still had the deep baselines (which the hip-hop fans know and love), but also introduced them into something new; for some even, it was unfamiliar ground.

Whenever you have Dr. Dre as your producer, people are going to listen and this was definitely the case with the artist Truth Hurts. Her song ‘Addictive’ featuring rapper Rakim, was another example of the hip-hop and Bollywood world coming together to make a smash.

For all for the real hip-hop fans, ‘The Hybrid Of Hip-Hop’ is not an uncommon or even a new thing. One of the first tracks to breaks all genres was ‘Walk This Way’ in 1986 by Run DMC & Jam Master Jay featuring Aerosmith, this hit went to the No.4 spot in the U.S charts and was the groups first hit. It is because of this track that rap and rock found a new home together and pioneered the way for Jay-Z and Linkin Park’s ‘Encore’. By the time ‘Encore’ had arrived it was something that had been done before so it didn’t feel unfamiliar, however, it was a period of music where everything and everyone were sticking to their own and weren’t combining elements of other genres. So it not only came a shock, but it broke the barriers of the day.

When you listen to music nowadays everything is a hybrid. Every track has been ‘chopped n screwed’ to where no genre can stand alone. A great example of this is funky house. Although it derives from the old skool garage from back in the day, most of the tracks coming out of this genre sound more like dance tracks now. As the music industry progresses it will try to find new ways into getting brand new audiences and one of the ways of doing this is by continuing this hybrid of different genres. It will be very interesting to see what new styles of music will join together to make hip-hop even better!

Submitted on Wed, 07/04/2010 - 02:16.

Words: Denise Kodia