What exactly is a hip hop beat?

[Andy Volk]

Lot of lookers but no replys .... guess I didn't phrase the question right so I went out and found my own answer:

Rhythmic structure
Beats (though not necessarily raps) in hip hop are almost always in 4/4 time signature. At its rhythmic core, hip hop swings: instead of a straight 4/4 count (pop music; rock 'n' roll; etc.), hip hop is based on a triplet feel somewhat similar to the "swing" emphasis found in jazz beats. Hip hop takes this concept a step further, however. Whereas jazz swing implies three eighth notes (a triplet) per beat, hip hop implies six sixteenth notes (a "double triplet") per beat. Like the triplet emphasis in swing, hip hop's double triplet "bubble" is subtle, rarely written as it sounds (4/4 basic; the drummer adds the hip hop interpretation) and is often played in an almost "late" or laid back way.

Note that no single instrument plays all of the implied double triplets. This is usually the case. The bass drum pattern is most often the part that provides the hip hop feel.

[Clete Ritta]

When programming beats for pop and rock, drums are typically quantized at some swing factor of 16th note with occasional triplets. Hip hop is more often quantized to 12ths. It works out in 4/4 just like you said, a very high swing value of 16th.

Clete

[Kevin Hatton]

The drummer keeps the melody. And the drummer is a computer.

[Barry Blackwood]

At its rhythmic core, hip hop swings:

They must be using a different interpretation of "swing" than the one I (thought I) knew ….

[Marc Jenkins]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=it9d1i_zi1A

[Bob Hoffnar]

I was in the NYC/Bronx club scene back when it first moved below 125th st and thought hip hop came from guys like Afrika Bambaataa in the beginning. It was all mixed up in the early days. The influence came from the DC gogo scene and the NYC dance clubs downtown. I'm not aware of how it was codified later

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hh1AypBaIEk


Here is a bit of Chuck Brown who was maybe the original gogo guy in DC. He was doing this stuff in the late 70's.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wevVoB9I ... re=related

It was an extremely vibrant, creative and fun time. European electronica musicians hanging with Herbie Hancock and DJ's from the Bronx mixing from Beatles to Bollywood with breakbeats. The clubs packed with totally mixed crowds teaching each other dance moves. Rap was a very big part of it too. That Rap/Hip Hop scene opened some very big doors in popular culture.

I know the DC gogo scene because the keyboard player from my high school garage band played with Chuck Brown and my brother in law was in Trouble Funk. Miles Davis was way into Trouble Funk. He even stole there drummer.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8TCNI168 ... re=related

[Pete Finney]

Hey Bob, thanks for the clips... Whatever one feels about "rap" in general any musician who can't hear the groove and yes, swing in that Trouble Funk clip is missing something.

The Miles Davis album "Amandla" is the one that really features former Trouble Funk drummer Ricky Wellman, who'd also played on that original Chuck Brown hit "Bustin Loose" that you link to (which according to most folks really originated the style in '78.) What a groove that one's got! It was a style of music that kept on in DC for years without catching on in a big way anywhere (even as it influenced other styles).

I saw Chuck Brown open for James Brown in DC 5 or 6 years ago and he still had it...

[Andy Volk]

That trouble Funk cut is heavy! I can hear a hi-hat in my head playing swing accents. I've been trying to arrange a Christmas carol with a hip hop beat and was trying to better understand what makes the genre tick.