Posted in: Hip Hop by Evis T on July 25, 2008 | 4 Comments
A run down of some of the lesser known areas of Hip Hop and rap.
Yo yo, s’happenin down in the hood ma homies!? I… Oh to hell with that, I’m way to white bred to talk street properly. This article is on some of the sub genres of hip hop and rap. Most people, when they think of rap get the image of the American gangsta. You know, your tupac, your 50 cent, massive muscled black guys with AK-47’s and gold chains rapping about how much money they make and how they shoot anyone who disrespects them.
While this is probably the most identifiable area of rap, it is by no means the only one. Like any other big group of music, rap has its own sub genres, all of which sound very different to one another. So, without further ado, let’s take a butcher’s hook at some of them.
Just as gangsta rap is traditionally associated with the black community, Reggaeton is a form of Hip-hop that’s traditionally associated with the Hispanic populace. Most reggaeton artists are Latino, and the preferred language of the genre is Spanish rather than English. Right off the bat this makes for an interesting sound as Spanish is so much more pleasant to listen to that English.
Unlike gangsta rap, reggaeton is mainly sung rather rapped, but rapping is not uncommon within the genre itself. Many songs combine the two, creating a counterpoint style of structure which is both pleasant and interesting to listen to. Many reggaeton artists do however keep the typical ‘gangsta’ or ‘street’ image, so often associated with rap and hip-hop.
Perhaps the biggest difference in style between reggaeton and gangsta rap lies in the lyrics. This is a shame, because I don’t speak Spanish (English is hard enough), I don’t get the full force of the art. Where gangsta rap focuses a lot on self promotion, the mean streets, drugs, guns and hookers, reggaeton explores a very different area. Common themes include love stories, and real life problems that many ordinary people, not just rich musicians, face in their day to day lives. That’s not to say that there’s none of the gangsta elements in reggaeton lyrics, there are plenty of songs which explore this area of life if that’s what you’re interested in. As Reggaeton is so heavily associated with, and performed by Hispanic and Latino artists, the genre has also become a flagship for the ideas of racism and cultural identity, much like gangsta rap in inner city areas.
If you are interested in reggaeton, here are some artists you can check out, the names are hyperlinked to an example youtube video:
Oh, and if you have GTA IV, tune into the radio station ‘San Juan Sounds’, that’s all Reggaeton!
Also known as ‘geeksta rap’. A lot of people have heard nerdcore without realizing it, and many are actually fans. There’s somewhat of a debate as to what constitutes nerdcore, some argue that any track which focuses primarily on traditionally geeky subjects (computers, D&D stuff like that) qualifies. Some people say that nerdcore is any music that gains popularity in the geek community. Still more people claim that only rap and DJ’ing that focus on geek culture count. Wherever you draw the line, there’s one certain thing that pretty much everything that gets lumped into the geek core category has in common- it’s all about the Pentiums baby.
Nerdcore’s musical and lyrical style usually parody that of gansta rap, often to the point of parodying specific songs. Just take the lyrics of any gangsta rap you want and replace the guns with laptops, the drugs with videogames and the hoes with computer code. One big nerdcore artist is Weird Al Yankovich, who’s made a career out of parodying everyone from Nirvana to Chamillionaire.
Nerdcore is about more than parody though (though it’s probably how it started). Many artists create their own original tracks. Other artists focus on the musical side of the genre, creating techno and trance style tracks, often made up of parts from videogames.
Don’t make the mistake of thinking that nerdcore is just remixes and rehashes of other people’s work and styles, done by lonely geeks in their spare time. Artists like MC Lars and Optimus Rhyme, are big name artists in their own right.
The most common themes in Nerdcore are common aspects of geek life; office jobs, computers and whatever ‘geeky’ hobbies the artist has. Obviously, these would make for pretty boring music so nerdcore is often satirical to entertain its listeners.
Artist who you can check out:
Probably the best known sub genre of hip hop, yet also the most hated, probably due to the fact fans of metal and fans of rap are supposed to hate each other. Metalcore blends the heavy, powerful sounds of metal with rap. The way this is done can vary wildly, Linkin Park for example used rap primarily as the verse structure with singing as the chorus in their first album, hybrid theory, but switched to mashing the two up in their next album Meteora (I’m not counting reanimation). By the third album the rap element had diminished considerably. But this isn’t a review of them, just an example of how it can be done.
Slipknot have maintained a fairly consist style, the highly distorted heavy backing of instruments against lyrics delivered in the traditional rap style. They vary things, but not greatly. The formula works and produces some interesting listening.
With other artists, the influence is a lot more subtle. Nu metal is a genre that draws on a lot on hip hop, specifically rap for its sounds without actually copying for it. For example, Disturbed’s lead singer David Draiman delivers extremely fast rhythmic lyrics, a lot like many rappers. Many of the rhythms and beats are also vaguely reminiscent of hip hop, just with a much faster tempo.
Metalcore lyrics tend to draw a lot more heavily on the metal side of the music rather than the rap side. Lyrics include the destruction of the world, sticking it to the man, teenage angst and all other things wholesome and rated for the family.
Notable artists:
Well, I hope I’ve showed you rap and hip hop can be more than just bitches and ho’s. If you’re interested then just search youtube for various different languages within the genre. You’d be amazed how different it all is.
Church July 26th, 2008 at 10:32 pm
Nerdcore Hip-Hop is really just nerdy hip-hop. It’s all about the beats and flows, just not so much about smacking your hos and patting your gats.
In other words, it’s just like most hip-hop, but not so much like what you get on the radio.
Also, I’m only seeing two sub genres, Reggaeton and Nerdcore. What’s the third?
Evis T July 27th, 2008 at 5:44 am
It’s a two page article Church, the oage navigation is at the bottom and top of the article. The top is just above the first ad block, the second just above the tags.
Interesting point about Nerdcore though. I can see exactly what you mean, but I think changing the lyrical content does have a massive influence on the music even if the rest of the music remains simillar. It just feel very different you know?
well versed July 27th, 2008 at 3:26 pm
Very nice article! Thanks for the links to check out some sample artists. Keep up the good work
- well versed
Evis T July 27th, 2008 at 3:39 pm
Thanks for your kind words versed!