proaches to sound and rhythm were being explored in rap music.
He )
CIIAPTER THREE
Soul SonicForces
Technology, Orality, and Black Cultural
Practice in Rap Music
♦ his familia! domain ("they wake up my wife and kids") and his sanie
· h · spircd me because ¡ know that when Chuck D tells you to "bring che
R ap mus,c as 111 ' h h ·b I bé t d che <lrums
noise ~ hc's telling you that it's hard. And whcn you car t e tn a . a an d ,
1e a~cthe samc drums of the African pase that draw~ !he communu:y to\\ ar Thc rum
t 1{ats are just faster, becausc che condmon is ac~c,lcraung_S?thcv'vc gor to ~:::
And whcn vour feet are jumping, dancing ... 1ts thc spmt ªf!~mptmg C,º~- _pe
f~~;-
entra mené. When you fec:lthat che chi\dren ha\'Cgone ma<l,11you don t tc_cl1t, and
when ~ou look at thc dances ,·ou don't see it and ,, hen you hsren ro che ~ustC and you
y don't hcar a ca\l,-thcn you nússcd che jam. -S1stcr Sou\¡ah
~The sound" ¡ tell them, chat's che final answcr to any qucstion in music-thc sound.
-Max Roach 2
In the spring of 19s9 , I was speaking animated1y ~vith ~n cthnomusí-
cology profcssor about rap music an~ thc a~s of th1s pro¡,cct. He fou_nd
sorne of my ideas engaging and dcc1dcd to tntroduce me and dcscnbe
my project to rhc chairman of his music dcpartmcnt. At thc end of
his summary the department head rose from his_se~t and announ~e~
ally "Wcll vou must be writing on rap's social 1mpact a.nd pohtt-
casu ' ', M . d s
cal lyrics, bccause there is nothing_to t_hemusic." 1 _Y s~rpnse_ .exprc ·
sion and verbal hcsitation gave him tune to cxp_lam_h1s posmon. 8:e
explaíncd to me tha.t although the musi~ was quite s1m~lc and rcpct!-
tive, the stories told in the lyrics had social \'aluc. H_epo~ted _out rap s
role as a social steam valve, a means for thc cxpress1on ot social anger.
"But," he concluded, referring to the music, "they ride clown the strect
at 2 : 00 A.M. with ít blasting from car speakers, and (they) wakc up n:1Y
wife a.nd kids. What's the pomt in that?" I immediately flashed on a l~ts-
tory lcsson ¡11 which I lcarned that !>laveswcrc prohibítcd f~om playi~g
African drums, because, as a vehiclc for coded commumcau~n, thcy m-
spired fear in slavcholders. I suggcsted that perhaps the ~ustc wa~ more
complicated than it seemed to him, tha.t a numbcr of innovam·e ap-
1 A e K N o I s 11 / 62.
listencd but secmed closed to such possibilities. Having had sorne ex-
~\
,.,
pcriencc with these sons of "what I don't know can't penetrate me" 'r-\
cxchangcs, I knew it would be prudent to disengage from this brew- · (? /
ing disagreement befare it became a long and unpleasant exchange. The ,'>1/
ethnomusicology professor who had introduced me ushered us out of '
1
thc chairman's office. ,,
For thc music chairman, automobilcs with massivc spca.kers blaring
bass and drum heavy beats looped continuously scrved as an explana-
tion for the insigni.ficance of the music and diminishcd rap's lyrical
and political salicnce as wcll. The music was "nothing" to him on the
grounds of its apparent "símplicity" and "repetitivencss." Rap music was
also "noise" to him, unintelligible yet aggrcssive sound that disrupted
tcrritory. Bis legitimare and important question, "What is the point of
that?" was offcred rhetorically to justif)r his outright dismissal of the
music, rather than prescnted seriously to initiate at lcast a hypothctical
inquiry into a musical form that for him scemed at once to be every-
whcre and yct going nowhere. Lct us cake his question seriously: What
is the point of ra.p's volume, looped drum beats, and bass frequencics?
What mcanings can be derivcd from thc sound rap musicians have cre-
ated? How is thc context for its consumption connected to both íts black
cultural prioritiesand its sociowgicaleffects? His dismissive question is
a productive point of cntry into understa.nding rap's sonic powcr and
prcsence. Rap's distinctive bass-heavy, envcloping sound docs not rest
outside of its musical and social powcr. Emotional power and presence
in rap a.re profoundly linkcd to sonic force and one's receptivity to it.
As Sistah Soulja.h rcminds her audicnce ar Abyssinian Baptist Church:
"Whcn you fccl the childrcn havc gone mad, if you don't fccl ir ...
whcn you listen to thc music and you don't hear a cal!, then you missed
thc jaro."
Rap's black sanie forces are very much an ourgrowth of black cul-
tural traditions, the postindustrial transformation of urban lifc, and the
wnccmporary tcchnologica.1terrain. Many of its musical practitioncrs
wcrc trained to repair and maintain new rechnologics for the prívilcged
hut have instead used these technologies as prima11•tools for altemative
\;Ultural expression. This advanced technology has not been straight-
lnrwardly a.doptcd; it has bccn significantly rcviscd in ways that are
111 kccping with long-standing black cultural priorities, particularly re-
g.1rding approachcs to sound organization. These re,·isions, cspecia.lly
rlw me of digital samplcrs, havc not gonc unnoticcd by the music in-
 nd otber institutions responsiblc for defin~g, rhythm and sound, the lowest, "fattest beats" being the most significant
dustry, tbe legal sy~t~m, a . al roduction and distribution. Samplmg and cmotionally chargcd. As rapper Guru has said, "If the bcat was a
validating, and poltcmg mus1c' p mmerciallv profitablc use of sampled princess, I'd marry it." Many of thc popular "Jeep beats" fcaturc dark,
technology and ~ap pro~:ts :~ the curre;1t scope of copyright laws strong, promincnt, and riveting bass lines.• Thcse musical lines domí-
sounds have senously e eng .. a11draiscd larger, more com- nate production-even at the expense of thc rapper's \'Ocal presence.
d composmons) .
(which are based on notate . f . al propertV and the boundanes Thc arrangcrnent and selcction of sounds rap mu,1cians havc invented
lcx questions rcgarding fa1ruse o muste . via samplcs, turntables, tape machmes, and sound systems are at once
P • f · al hrases. d
of ownersh1p o mus1c. p ht lo v looped rhvthmic lines, couplc deconstructive (in that they actually take apart recorded musical compo-
Rap's use of sarnplmg tcc 10 g,' l r";s~s questions about rhe sitions) and rccuperative (because they recomextualizc thcse elcmcnts
. . cial presencc a so ..,
with its s1gmficant commcr . d their impact on cultura 1 creating new meanings for cultural sounds that havc been relcgated to
. • d .·al 1mperau,·es an . .
rclationshtp between 111 ustt 1 . . . h hm and sound orgamzatton commercial wastebins). Rap music revises black cultural priorities via
Is rap ,sus.e of rcpetmon dm rt ofthc yt , . . 1
new and sophisticated tcchnological means. "Noise" on che onc hand
Production. . d hng) a by-pro uc
paramctcrs of mdustna
(via loopmg an sainp 1 formulas . h m1·ne thc sale of rnus1csuch . and communal countermemory on the other, rap music conjures and
t at strca i . 1
rap's reuse of prcv1ous y ra1.csin one stroke.
Production (. for examp e, .
d' , r, r rmnutc song cap or . 1
as commerc1al ra tos ou . l al cxplanations for thc rnus1ca Thcse revis1ons do not take place in a cultural and poliucal vacuum,
d mllsl ·c) Or are thcre cu tur they are played out on a cultural and conunercial terrain that embraces
recor d e · ' . • . )
. , f lcctromc equtpment. d
structures m rap_s use o e .e has dramatically changed the intende hlack cultural products and simultaneously denies their complexity and
At the same time as rap i~us1 al ·ned criticallv linkcd to black coherence. This denial is partly fuclcd hv a mainstream cultural ad-
. hl l ' tt has so remat . al
use of sarnpltng tcc ,o o~, l e that tmdcrwrite them. These or hcrence to the tradicional paradigms of Western classical muste as the
d. • d thc ora 1orms • highcst lcgitimate standard for musical creation, a standard that at chis
Poetic tra iuons an . es c\earlv .mt·orm the prolific use of collagc, Imter·d
traditions and practtc . · d . •c. · ng · rap's lyrical sty e an point should seem, at best, only margmally rcle\'ant in the comemporary
. t ng an s1gmn•1 111 -
textualiry, boastmg, toas t • , 1 . e' heavilv informcd by techno- popular muste realm (a space ali but o,crrun by Afrod1asporic sounds
. • R , oral arttcu auons ar . e
.md multicultural hybrids of them). Instcad, and perhaps becausc of,
orgamzauon. ap s . h oral tradicions are iormu-
t onlv U1 the way suc
logical processes, no , . b I in thc wav orallv b ased the blackening of the popular tastc, Western classical mmic continues to
d disscmmated ut a so , , . lf
lated compase d , an · 'd • h of the technolo~• itSe · serve as the primary intellccrual and legal standard and point of refer-
, ., . embedde m t e use .
approaches to n_arrau"e~re . these black techno-interventtons are cncc for "real" musical cornplcxity and composition. ror these reasons,
In this content1ous env1ronment, - d red im•isible. These hy· .1 comparativc look at thcsc two musical and cultural force, is of the ut-
· al effccts or ren e
often dismisscd as nonmus1c l fi ,d tcchnolo<>vthat are at mmt importan ce if we are to make sense of rap's music and thc responses
. . black ora orms, ai' i:,: .
brids between black muste, "rchitectural bluepnnt for to it.
, - d oral power are an " . d
the core of rap s somc an . bl social ideas technolog1cs, ai1
. . f . rmnglv 1ntracta e • ' . . i
the redirectton o see . . h ffirms the h1stones ai1t Rhythmic Repetition, Indwtrial Porces,a11dBlack Practice
. . d along a coursc t at a
wavs of orga111z.111g soun s . - 1.
~munal narratives of Afro-diasponc peop c. Unlike the complcxity of Western classical music, \\'hich is primarily
00 * n:presented in its mclodic and harmonic structurcs, the complcxity of
.
* *
1 • black ~tvlc is rhl'thm. lt is thc most
Thc organwng principie whJCh makalcs;,cg -Lcopold Sedar Scnghor] r.1pmmic, like many Afrodiasporic musics, is in the rhythmtC and pcr-
percc
·pnblc and the lcast maten r ,111 .
• l·brmonl' 4 lll\SÍYC density and organi,.,ation.7 "Harmony" ,·ersus "rhythm" is an
. . .. ful becau~col rh\'thm. - ' ·
Rh,-i:hm. Rap mus1c " so pü\\ cr . ,, 11ft-sited rcduction of the primar.• distinctions bctween Western classi-
. tibie yet lcast material dements - lal and African and African-dcrived musics. Still, these tcrms rcpresent
Rap's rhythms-"the most percep_ '·e , ·s •onic and thc distinc·
· . ff R 's pnmarv 1orce1 ~ ,• significant ditferenccs m sound organization and perhaps cven disparate
are its most powertul e ect. ap i, .allv the use of repetition ,tpproachcs to wavs of pcrccption, as it were. The outstanding technical
. • f hvthm and sounc ' espec1 .
tive svstemattc use o r . . h" ' f New World black tra- k.uurc of thc Western dassical music tradition is tonal functional har-
, , . aks . art of a nch istor} o f
and musical bre , are p . . • on the qualitv and nature o
diuons and practices. Rap mus1c ccnters

u 1 ¡\ (' 1' NOISll / (q

mony. Tonal functional harmony is based on clear, definite pitches and
the ch?r~, but in fact subtlc variatíons are oi
logical rclations bctwccn them; on the forward dri\'c toward rcsolution mclodic lmcs chcrnsclves bur also • 1 . f U , .
_ngon ª thc time, not onlv in thc
in thc accompanving drumming ~n ~ le~ r~ atron to the complex cross-rÍwthms
of a musical sequence that lcads to a final rcsolution: the final perfect ca-
can music havc ; functíon 1-11c,·,ner anh.le .ªPPh•ng.· · · The reperirions of Afri-
dence. Thc devclopmcnt of tonal harmony critically confincd tbe range . . w 1c1 1s t e rcvc O t-("~ .
mus!c-co d1ssolvethe past and the furu . rse "estcm class1cal)
of possible mncs to twclvc tones within cach octave arrangcd in only pa~mg of time is no longcr noticcd." re mto onc eternal prcscnt, in which the
onc of rwo possible ways, major or minor. lt also rcstrictcd the rhyth-
Rhythmic complcxity ·· •
mic complcxity of European music. In place of freedom with rcspect ' repcttt,on w1th subtlc variations the s,·g "fi
canee o f t h e drum ,¡ d. · . , 11J -
to acccnt and measurc, Europcan music focuscd rhythmic activiry onto in pitch and time (~mge sº ,e mt~rcst Jfnthe bass frequencies, and breaks
strong and weak bcats in ordcr to prepare and rcsolve harmonic disso- · ·, uspcns,ons o thc bcat fc b
consistently recogniz.cd features of Afi . Am o~ a ar or_two) are also
nancc. Furthcrmorc, as Christophcr Small has argucd, Western classical
In describing black New Wo ld ncan- encan musICal practices.
tonal harmony is strncturally lcss tolcrant of "acoustically illogical and to Rudi Blcsh's notion of" r appdrodaches to rhythm, Ben Sidran rcfers
unclcar sounds, sound not susceptible to total control." Other critical suspen e rh,1:hm" and Andr. H . '
scription of "swing" h . . - e od1er s de-
featurcs of classical music, such as the notion system and the written Time . . as r ythnuc tens1on ovcr stated or implicd meter u
score-the medium through which thc act of composition takes place- suspens1on v,a rhythmic breaks- o. . .
are isolated and suspended-are im or p mes at_wh1ch ~h~ bass fines
scparatc che composcr from both thc audicncc and the performer and of pleasure in black musics. p tant clucs m explammg sources
sets limits on composition and pcrformance. 8 This classical music tradi-
Approaches to sound rhvthm d .. .
tion, likc ali major musical and cultural devclopmcnts, emerged as part virtuaJly ali of these trai;s R , ~ repet_1t1on111 rap music exhibir
of a larger historical shifi: in European consciousness: of sampling tech 1 . . ;P mus1c tcch111qucs,particularly thc use
[We see] changes in Euro pean consciousness that we call the Renai~ance having
its effect 111music, with thc personal, humanistic viewpoint substitured for the rh_ythmicelement~: º!;;:~:~t ~~u~:~a;:~~~!~:h~c::~ :::~:7:~t;:r!~nct
theocratic, universalistic viewpoint of the Middle Ages, expresscd in technical
tcrms by a great interest in chords and cheir effects in juxtaposition, and spe-
;~:::::;;~r:~~:;nl: ~etween_such pattcrns v!a breaks and pJnt;
cifically in the perfcct cadence and the suspended dissonance, rarher than in suspended selectivcly R~p hy~hm,c forces are set m motion and then
polyphony and the independc:nt life ofthe individual voice.9 then build, in criti . pro uccrs construct loops of sounds and
nipulated d cal moments, where the established rhythm is ma-
Rhythm and polyrhythmic layering is to African and African-derived an suspended. Then rh}'thmic r
musics what harmony and the harmonic triad is to Western classi- Points · One 0 f t he e¡earesr cxamples
'
f h·
mes rcemcrge at kc,• rclief
. . ,
cal music. Dense configurations of independent, but closcly rclated, YRock Dis Funky Joint" by ch p ~ ~ is pracr1ce is demonstrated in
rhythms, harmonic and nonharmonic pcrcussive sounds, espeoally thc vocal rapping srylc of C~tu~~rFrc!d teous Tcache~s.Thc music and
drum sounds, are critica! priorities in many African and Afrodiasporic cated time suspensions and h h . om has mult1ple and compli-
p assages 13 B t Rh fi r }'t m1crupnircs of the musical and lyrical
musical practices. Thc voice is also an important exprcssivc instrument. . us a ymes rom Leaders of th N S 1 ,
per Shabba Ranks B .. h . e ew e 1001, reggae rap-
A wide range of vocal sounds intimarcly connectcd to tonal speech pat-
by Nature B-Real fro:tl~ rapper :'forne Love, Treach from Naughty
terns, "strong differences between the various rcgisters of the voice, for . , . . ypress Hill, and Das Efx are known especial1
cven emphasizing the breaksbetween them," are dclibcratcly cultivated usmg their vo1ces as percussivc instruments be d. d . y
through hr . , n mg wor s, racmg
in African and African-influenccd musics. 111Trcatrnent, or "versioning," rhyt:hms. p ases, pausmg and stuttering through complicatcd verbal
is highly valued. Consequently, che instrumcnr is not simply an object
or vchicle for displaying onc's taknts, it is a "collcague in the creation." Thesc featurcs are not mcrcly stylistic cff
And, mosr imporrant for chis discussion, African mclodic phrases "tend kstations of philosophicaJ a r h, _ects, t_hcyare aura1 ma111-
Sn. d k. pp oac es to social env1ronments. James A
to be short and rcpetition is common; in fact, rcpetition is one of thc . <:a ' wor mg along the samc lines as Smafl 0 ff . . .
charactcristics of African music." Christophcr Small elaborares: planarion for the meanin and . . ' cr~ ~ philosoph1cal ex-
hlack culture. As we shaJtsee s1~1fi;ance of repct1t1011and rupture in
A call-and-rcsponse sequencc may go on for severa! hours, with apparently mo- t hcse "rhytl . . . . ' mus1ca dements that rcfkct worldvicws
notonous repctition of thc same short phrasc sung by a lcader and ,mswercd by . 111ucmstmct1ons," are critica] in undcrstanding the mean:

11 1, A C K N O I S E / 66
Soul \1111ir
hlrw ¡ 1,.,
 and masking undesired or unpleasant facts or conditions. Sncad argues
quite convincingly that ali cultures providc covcrage against loss of iden-
tity, repression, assimilation, or attack. Where they "differ among one
another primarily [is] in the tenacity with which the 'cover-up' is main-
tained . . . grafting lccway to those ruptures in the illusion of growth
which most often occur in the déja vus of cxact rcpctition." He sug-
gests that when we vicw repctition in cultural forms wc are not viewing
thc same thing repeated, but its transformation, "repetition is not justa
formal ploy, but often thc willcd grafting onto culture of an essemially
philosophicaJ insight about thc shape of time and history .... Onc may
readily classify cultural forms based on whcthcr thcy tcnd to adrnit or
cover up thesc repeating constitucncics within thcm." 16
Snead claims that Europcan culture "sccrcts" rcpctition, categorizing
it as progression or regression, assigning accumulation and growth or
stagnation to motion, whereas black cultures highlight thc obscrvance
of rcpetition, perceiving it as circulation, cquilibrium. In a fashion re-
scmbling Small, Snead argucs that Western classicalmusic uses rhythm
mainly as "an aid in the construction of a sense of progression to a har- ~
monic cadcnce ( and) repetitionhas beenmppressedin favor of the fulfill-
mcnt of the goal of harmonic resolution." Similarly, musicologist Susan
McClary points out that "tonal music" (rcfcrring to the Western classical
e Lisa Lcone tradition) is "narrativcly conccived at lcast to thc extent that the original
kcy arca-che tonic-also serves as thc final goal. Tonal structurcs are
. of time motion and repctition in black.culture and are of critica!
mg ' ' · ¡ · f h ology in rap , 1rganizcd tcleologically, with the illusion of unitiary identity promised
importancc to understanding the mampu at1on o tec n . ,lt the cnd of each piece.""
* lE- * To thc contrary, Sncad claims that black cultures highlight thc obser-
. . . ield to rra,cl bevond cxisung forces of l_ifc.B~sicalh•,rhat's
The rhythm1c mstmcnon to y h hvthm thcn vou ha,·e to 10111a tnbe. \'.mee of repetition, percciving ir as circulation and equilibrium, rather
tribal and tf vou wanna get t e r . • •14
· -A Tri be Called Quest than as a regulatcd force that facilitatcs the achicvcmcnt of a final har·
. h . E ropean culture ,s its ongoing monic goal. Drawing on examplcs in litcraturc, rcligion, philosophy,
The oumanding fact of latc:-rwcnuet -ccnml) bc~rharit rook so long to ,füccm che
.1. . · h bl ck culture Toe mvsterv mav and music, Snead claboratcs on thc uses and manifcstations of rcpeti-
rcconct ,anon Wlt a ·
clements of black culture already t11ehrem
bcrween rhe cultures was per aps a ª 0
,t1º
.• 1 · t f~m1 and to real,zc that thc ~cparanon
ng noc'one of naturc, but offorcc.
d is
18
11011 in black culture. For our purposcs, his analysis of the mcaning of
-James A. Snea rl·pctition in black music is most rclcvant, spccifically his dcscription of
d ggests that the vast body of litcraturc dev?tcd to ~apping rhythmic repctition and its rclationship to thc "cut":
Snea su d Afi can denvcd cul-
the cultural differcnces betwccn European· an n - In hlack culture, repctition meam chat d1c ehing circulates, thcre in an cquilib-
. h has characterizcd diffcrcnces bctween Europcan and black 1111111 •.•In European culture, rcpctition muse be secn to be not just circulation
tures w h lC . e d'ftercnccs 111d flow, bue accumulation and growth. ln black culture, the thing (che ritual,
' t of "naturc" are in fact differences m iorcc; t
1hr dance, che beat) is there for you to pickup when you come back to get it."
cu ltures as a par ' • • S d gues that
in cultural responses to the incvitability of repet1~1on. ne~ ar b, lt there is a goal ... tt is always deferrcd; it continually "cuts" back to rhe start,
.. ·s an important and rclling elcment m culture, a means ~ 111 1hc musical mcaning of a "cut" as an abrupt, seemingly unmorivared break
repet1t1on 1 •¡:¡ · ·ntained (,111.u:c,dcntal da capo) with a series alrcady in progress anda willcd rerurn to a
which a sense of continuity, sccurity, and identJ canon aki~edma1f" . p, un ~crics.... Black culture, in the "cut," "builds" accidents inro irs coverage,
d t od as in fact a n o cover-
This sense of security can b e un ers o , , . h'd. ,llmmt ,1S ifto control thcir unprcdiccability.1q
agc:" botb as insurance against sudden ruprurcs and as a way of i mg

.\nul S11111r1-'orm I 69
u ' (' , O l S ti / <,8
/1
¡ Deliberately "repetitive" in force, black musics (especially t~~se genres
associated with dance) use the "cut" to cmphasize thc repet1t1venature
of the music by "skipping back to anothcr bcginning w~ich we ha,'.e
alrcadv hcard," making room for accidents and rupturcs ms1de the mus1c
itsclf. 'In this formulation, repetition and rupture work within and
against each other, building multiple c_ircularmusical_linesthat are bro-
kcn and then absorbed or rnanaged m the reestabhshmcnt of rhyth-
mic Jincs.
Rap music uses repetition and rupture in new and c~mplex ways,
building on long-standing black cultural forces. Advances 111tcchnol~g)'
have facilitated an incrcase in the scope of break beat deconstruct1on
and reconstruction and have made complex uses of repetition more ac-
cessiblc. Now, the desired bass line or drum kick can be copied into a
samplcr, along with other desired sounds, and programmed to lo~p in
anv desired tempo or order. Rap music rclies on the loop, on the CirCU·
la;ity of rhythm and on the "cut" or the "break beat" t_hatsy~tematically
rupturcs equilibriurn. Yet, in rap, the "break beat" 1tsclf 1s looped--:-
repositioned as repetition, as equilibrium inside the rupture. Rap muste
highlights points of rupture as it equalizes them: . . .
Snead calls James Brown "an example of a brilhant Amencan practl-
tioner of the 'cut'" and describes the relationship between established
rhythmic patterns and the hiatus of the cut in Brown's work as a rup~re
that affirms the rhythmic pattern whilc it interrupts it. "The ensm'.1g
rupture," Snead claims, "<loesnot cause dissolution of the rhythm; guite
to the contrary, it strengthens it." Snead's reading ofJames Brown as a
brilliant practitioner of the "cut" is a prophetic one. Published in 1981,
a number of years before hip hop producers had communally declared
James Brown's discography the foundation of tbe break beat, Snead
could not have known tbat Brown's exclamations, "hit me!" "take it to
tbe bridge!" rapid bon, and drurn accents and bass lincs would soon
become the most widely used breaks in rap music.
Snead's approach presumes that music is fundarnentally rclated to t~e
social world, that music, like otber cultural creations, fulfills and demes
social needs, that music ernbodiesasmrnptionsregarding social power,
hierarchy, plcasure, and worldvicw. This link between m~sic and larger
social forces, although not widcly hcld in the field of mus1cology, 1salso
critical to thc work of Susan McClary, Christopher Small, and French
political cconomist Jacques Attali. McClary, Small, and Attali ~emysti~y
the naturalizcd normalizcd status of nineteenth-century classICalmusi-
cal structures ~nd conventions, positing an undcrstanding of music's
role as a way of pcrcciving the world and suggcsting that cvcry musi-
n 1, A e K N o 1 s l. / 70
cal code _isro_otcdin the social formations and technologics of its agc.'º
These h1stoncally and culturaJly grounded intcrpretations of tcchno-
logical "advances" shcd light on naturalized aesthetic paramcters as thev
are embodied in equipment, illustrating the significance of culture i;1
the dcvclopmcnt of technology.
Grounding music as a cultural discourse dismantles thc causal link
bctwecn rap's sonic force and thc tcchnological means for its expression.
~~P produccrs'. strateg!c use of elcctronic reproduction technology, par-
tlc~larly samplm~ eqmpment, affirms stylistic prioritics in the organi-
zat1on ~d sclccnon of sounds found in many black diasporic musical
cxprcss1ons. Althou?h rap ~usic is shaped by and articulated through
advanced reproduct1011egu1pment, its stylistic prioritics are nor merclv
by-products of such eguipmcnt. '
On the gucstion of repctition as a cultural force, Attali and Snead
pan compa~y. For Attali and othcr cultural thcorists, repetition is pri-
manly ~ons1dered a manifestation of mass culture, a charactcristic of
c~lture 111 the agc of reproduction. The advent of recording tcchnology
signa!~~ the_emergence of a society of mass production and repctition.
Rcpet1t10n 1s, thereforc, equated with industrial standardization and
J
rcprcsenrs a mo~e towa~d a single totalitarian code. At thc point of mass
production and mdustnal standardization, Attali claims, music becomes
an industry a1_1d ''its consumption ceases to be collcctive." 21 Similarly,
Ad?rn~ describes the "break" in pre-swing jazz as "nothing other than
)
a d1sgu1sedcadence" and cxplains that, "the cult of thc machine which
j
is representcd by unabated jazz beats involves a sclf-rcnunciation that
Gtnnot but take root in thc form of a fluctuating uneasiness somewherc
22
111the pcrsonality of thc obedient." "In mass culture," Fredric Jameson
daims, "repetition eftcctivcly volatizes thc original object-so rhat the
student of mass culture has no primary object of studv." 23
. Repctition docs, in fact, function as part of a systc1~ofmass produc-
llon that structurcs and confines creative articulation; along thesc lines
~domo, Jai~eson, and Attali offcr vital criticisms of thc Iogic of massi-
hni culture m late capitalist socicties. Yet, rcpetition cannot be rcduced
to.ª reprcssivc, industrial force. Nor is it sufficient to undcrstand rcpe-
ru1on solely as a by-product of the nccds of industrialization. I do not
mean ro suggest ~hat a1~yof t~e cultural theorists would claim that repe-
1111011 was nonex1stcnt 111 premdustrial socictv. Howcver their focus 011
n-pc.:titionas an industrial condition encourages mischar~ctcrizations of
thc black popular cultural phenomenon, particularlv those forms that
p11vilcgercpetition and are prominently positionec.Ún thc commoditv
\\·,tcm. '
Soul Srmir Fmn-.1/ 7 1
 /!
If we assume that industrial production sets the terms for repetition
inside mass-produced music, then how can alternative uses and mani- Give me a (Brea~) Beat/: Sampling and Repetition
festations of repetítion that are articuJated insitk tbe commodity market m Rap Production
be rendered perceptible? Rap music's use of rhythmic lines constructed You scc, you misundcrstood
wíth samplcd loops of sound are particularly vulnerable to mísreadings A sample is jusr a carne,
A pomon of my merhod, d roo!
or erasures along these lines. Workíng insidc the commodity market In facr it's only of importance
and with industrial technology, rap music uses rhythmic forces that are Whcn I make it a prionrr.
And what wc ~amplc 1s lovcd bv rfÍc m ·
informed by mass reproductíon technology, but it uses it in ways that af- -Srcrsasonic 2~ • a¡onry.
firm black cultural priorities that sometimes work against markct forces.
Inhrap, ~ampJing remains a tactical priority. More prec1·se1,, 1
Yet, neme of this is visible if ali mass-produccd repetition is understood · 1 rap production too] •Altl
are
. t e qu mt essent1a h , , sarnp. ers
primarily as a manifestation of mass culture. If rap can be so overwhclm- mvent drum mach · . · ,oug rappers d1d not
ingly mischaracterizcd, then what other musical and cultural practices Prior to rap musictr:~ ºefinr s1:imt.
plmfg,htheylhaverevolutioni.a:d their use.
bavc been collapsed into the logic of industrial rcpetition, labeled ex- ion o t e ro e sampl 1 · •
ativity, samplcrs were used alm . ~rs p ay m lnllbtcal cre-
amples of "cultlike" obediencc? Adorno's massivc misrcading of tbe devices 14corprod . ost exclus1vclyas ttme- and moncysaving
ucers engmeer~ d . ·
jazz break, besidc betraying a severc case of black cultural illitcracy, is short cuts· sometimcs'a ho , _an composers. Samplcrs wcre used as
another obvious example of thc pitfalls of rcading musical structurcs in '
would be lifted fi
• rn scct,on
. .'
a bass d nun, or b ackground vocals
roma recordmg eastlv a d · kl 1. . .
,11 the popular realm as by-products of industrial forces. and effort to Jocate d • ~ quic Y, im,tmg the expense
Adorno, Jameson, and Attali, by constructing repetition as if it were mck . . h an compensare stud,o musicians. Although famous
musrc1a11s ave uscd recognizablc sam les fr .
a singular force, strongly suggest that mass production sets the tcrms musicians as part of the· lb : p om other promment
ir a urn matcnal fo th
for rcpetition and that any other cultural forms of repetition, once prac- were used to "flcsh ot1t" o , r e most part, samples
r accent a mllbical · .
ticed inside systems of mass production, are subsumed by the larger onc 26 In fact . p1ece, not to bu1ld a new
· ' pnor to rap, the most desirable f .
logic of industrialization. Consequemly, no other mass-produccd or maskthe sample and its ori in. to bu .t. . _useo a sample was to
I
mass-consumed forms that privilcge forms of rcpctition are acccssible mvertcd this Jogic, using s~m, les ry s •_dent1ty.~ap producers have
or rclevant once insidc this larger logic of industrial rcpctition. lw wh1ºchthe f p as a pomt of refcrence, as a means
, process o repetiti d · ·
Positioning repctition in late capitalist markets as a conscqucncc of 1,·ohted d . ·1 on an recontcxtuahzat1011can be high-
" an pnv1 eged.
that markct, marginalizes or erases altcmativc uses of and rclationships
Samplers are computcrs that can di itall ' d r ..
to repetition that might suggest collcct,ve resistance to that system. \ounds and pla,, them b k . k g . ) up ,cate any ex1sr111g
· ac 111any ev or p1t ·h · :l
Repetition, then, is ali too easily vilified, collapsed into the logic of tbe .ind loop them endles I Th al , e , m any ore er, sequence
commodity system and is employed as a means by which to cftectivcly t . s y. ey so ha\·e a preprogran1mcd lib f
l ag1taJsounds, sounds that havc not becn "lifted" f 1• r~ry o
erase the multiplicity of cultures and traditions present in contempo- rl·corded materials but mav al b , . rom ?t ,cr prev,ously
rary Western societies. I am not suggesting that black culture supersedes nplains: "Record the sou~d ;;th:s:rrangcd m ~ny fashion. Harry Allen
the effects of commodification. Nor am I suggesting that black cultural '( >neLife to Livc' theme in th b /ªges ;rnmg as your n, plays thc
'1
pnorities lie outside of (or complctely in opposition to) mass cultural ing Ora . fK I e ac groun . Or record your boss vell-
. . p1ece o oo a.nd the Gang, whatever for u t 6 ,
11
industries. Quite to the contrary, this is a call for readings of com- l .c><>p 1t, so it plays end-on-e d fi , • ' P o 3 scconds.
modification that can accommodate multiplc histories and approaches ro k, . n ore,er, or hook the S900 (sam lcr) u
11
~ eyboard and play whatcver you recordcd in a scalc."27 P p
1
to sound organiz,ation. I am mostly concerned, here, with facile and Samplers allow rap musicians to ex and . ' .
all-too-frequent readings of repetition that apply and naturalizc domi- rnc,st central musical characr . . .hp on one of rap s earhest and
11
nant cultural principies and consequently coloni1,cand silence black ap- enstrcs: t e break bcat D bb d h "
p.1rr of a great record" b G d · u e t e best
¡I Y ran master Fla!.h O f , .
proaches, ,vhich, in thc case ofAmerican popular music cspecially, have •n~ DJs the break beat 1. . , ne o rap s p1oneer-
, ' s a sect1on whcre "the b d b ks
1 significa.nt and problcmatic, dare [ say racist, implications. 24 rhvthm section is isolated, basically where ti b an . rea dO\\ n, the
r.ikl·solos, •,,1,TI1cse b re1k b cats · ie ass guitar and drummer
' are pomts of rupture in their former

11 l. A C K N O T S E / 72
\/111/\mur J·i1rrn / 7t

© suekwon
comexts, points at which the thematic dements of a musical piece are
suspended and che underlying rhythms brought cent_er srag\ l~ ~he
earlv stages of rap, these break beats formed the core of rap DJs m1x111g
stra~egics. Playing the rurntablcs like inst~1ments, these ~Js extcn~e~
thc most rhvthmically compclling clements 111a song, crcanng a new !'.ne
composcd ~nly of the most climactic point in the "orig_inal."The .cflcct
is a precursor to the way today's rappcrs use the "loopmg" capac1ty on
digital samplers.
WORKING IN THE RED
To make the noise chat characterizes rap's most creatiY~ pro~uce~s
and musicians rcquires approaching sound and sound mampulauon m
ways chat are unconcerned with che intended or s~andard use of che
samplers. Rap produccr Eric (Vietnam) Sadler explams:
T 't ali the way up so it's cotallv d1st0rted and pan it ovcr ro the right so y~u
1
r:i~, can't even hear it. Pan it o~cr to thc right means put thc so~~d_onl~-t
the ri ht side speaker, and tuni 1tso you can't barcly e,·e~ hear tt-tt s 1;15r I e
· g · th 'de Now engmeers ... thcy live bv ccrtam rules. Thcy re ltke,
a no1sc m e s1 • , · •, · h ·'
"Y, can't do that. You don't want a discortcd sound, 1ts not ng; t, tt s not cor•
re~~ With Hank (Shocklec) and Chuck (D) its likc, "'Fuck that tt's not correct,
1 1. A C K N O I S 1 / 74
JUStdo chis shic." And engineers won't do ic. So if you srarc engineering yoursclf
and learning thesc things yoursclf-[get] the meter goin' like this [he movcs
his hand into an imaginary red rone] and you hcar the shit cracklin,' that's the
M>undwe're lookin' for.29
Using the machines in ways that have not been intended, by pushing
on established boundaries of music engineering, rap producers have dc-
veloped an art out of recording with the sound mcters weJl into the
di~tortion wne. When neccssary, they dcliberatcly work in tlJe red. If
rccording in the red will produce the heavy dark growling sound de-
,ired, rap produccrs record in the red. If a samplcr must be detuned in
order to produce a sought-after low-frcquency hum, then the sampler is
detuned. Rap musicians are not the only musicians to push on the limits
of high-tech inventions. 30 Yet, the decisions they have made and the di-
rcctions their creativc impulses have taken echo Afrodiasporic musical
priorities. Rap production resonares with black cultural priorities in the
.igc of digital reproduction.
Volume, dcnsity, and quality of low-sound frequencies are critical
katures in rap production. Caribbean musics, especially Jamaica's talle
ovcr and dub, share a number of similarities with rap's sound. Each fea-
turc heavily amplified prominently featured drum and bass guitar tracks.
l\oth insist on privileging rcpetition as the basis of rhythm and rhythm
,,., thc central musical force.31 As writcrs Mark Dcry and Bob Doerschuk
potnt out, rappers' production philosophy refleccsthis emphasis on bass
.ind drum sounds: "To preserve che urgency of rap at its rawcst, while
kn:ping che doors of innovation open, a differcnt philosophy of pro•
duttion and engineering has had to evolve ... a new gcneration of tech-
llll ians is dcfining the art of rap recording. Old habits learned in MOR,
h.mt rock and R&B do not apply. Like rap itself, the new rules are di-
rclt: kcep it hoc, kecp the drums up front and boost that bass." 3i Rap
producers use particular digital sound machines beca use of che types of
M11tndsthey produce, espccially in the lower frequencies. Booscing the
h.M is not mcrcly a question of loudness-it is a qucstion of the quality
ol lower-register sounds at high volumes. Thc Roland TR-808 is a rap
dr 11111machine of choice because of its "fat sonic boom," bccause of
tlll' way it processes bass frequencics. Kurtis Blow explains: "Thc 808 is
J(ll',lt because you can denme it and get this low-frequency hum. It's a
l ,11 ,peaker destroyer. That's what we try to do as rap producers-break
l ,11 speakcrs and housc speakers and boom boxes. And the 808 docs it.
11\ A frican music!" i.i Not only havc rap producers selected the machines
1h,11.1llowfor grcater range of low-frcquency rcsonance, thcy havc also
ti••l cd sound enginecrs to revise cheir mixing strategics to accommodatc
S11ul.\11mrFm·w / 7~
 that charging fecl, like a locomotive coming at you. Bur cvery rap produccr will
. . . J• G , Clugston rap cngineer at INS Recording tell ,·ou rhat thc 1200 is still che ultimare drum machim:."
rap's stylistic pnonnes. ar} d , ange sounds first pushing
1 • h , rap pro uccrs arr, • ,
in New York, exp ains º"' d I cnter of thc piece and then Shock.lec prefcrs thc 1200 beca use 1tallows him greatcr cutting a11dsplic-
f, ound an at ne e
the drums to t l,e oregr d . "If ,,ou'rc using a drum ing mobility, evcn though the process of curting on a 1200 is "stíff." His
· late the bass soun s. . .
using effectS to mampu . .t ·111 the mi,x with evcryth1ng production work employs the "cut" extensívcly, demonstrating its ca-
. k . d )'OU want 1t to s1
samplc 111a roe rccor ' to makc it stand out-by add- pacity to suspend and propcl time and motio11.'1 Sou11ding "whitc" is his
d vhatever vou can . ·
clse. In rap, you o , , k . d dirtv" "So strong is th1s reductívist short.-ha11d description for thc cquipmcnt whosc technologi-
b ttom-and ma e tt soun , . d
ing effccts, EQ , 0 d D . schuk "that producers an cal parametcrs adhcre most stnngcntly to the Western classical lcgacy of
· h b "' taim Dery an ocr '
fixation w1th t e ass, e . al . . "ormulas to make room for the rcstrictcd rhythm in composition. Eric Sadlcr claims that the TR-808
. h d dapt thctr usu mLxmg ,, 1
engmcers a to a . d , of Chung Housc of Meta , is still very popular m rap production bccause of a digital preprogram-
"S E gmeer an co-O\\ ner "
nnnble. tcvc tt, en ·11c11tproduccrs elaborates: I med drum sound callcd thc 808 drum boom: "It's not likc a regular kick
. rap's most prom1
a popular stu d 10 among . . bass drum on track :z.. drum. lt's this big giant basketball that you hear on just about cvery
t d long susta111111g 80 8
always put that s~pcr- ou 1f vou put thc bass drum on 2 and thc record now ... Boom ... Boom. Big and heavy, just like a reggae sort of
I don't put anythmg on T or 3· . , dous It's thc only bass drum tcel." Sadlcr adds that the engmeering boards thcmsclvcs are critica! to
d m leakane1s tremen ·
snarc on 3, t h e b ass ru v · a matter of pump- thc fcel and sound of rap music, co the proccss of sound reproduction:
, h ,.th For me, rap 1s
d.
in thc world I 11do t at ,, t . Th bass drum is thc loudcst thing "One ofthe reasons I'm hcrc (in this studio) is because this board here
ing the shit out of the ~ow ~n . th: vocals but thcv'rc vcrv low com· is bullshit. It's old, it's disgusting, a lot of stuff doesn't work, thcrc are
on thc record. You defimtcly 1car h. 808 b~ss dru:U knowing foses out ... to get an old sound. Thc other room, I use that for some-
d ,, 3; Ett programs t e
pared to the bass r~. th desircd rumblc. This lcakagc thing else. Ali swcct and crispy clear, it's like thc Star Wars room. This
. •ti h
that tt w1 ave to e 111
¡ ak ordcr to get e h ·s "normallv" intcndc d
. ak up more spacc t an 1 room is thc Titanic room." 3Y Sadlcr's rcfcrcnce to the Titamc stud10 can
mcans that the bass w111t_ e
1

. h. d I beratcly empt1c r,
. d t acks ,vhich gives thc bass
,
he read as an interesting revision of one of the mosr wcll-known black
and blccd m~o.ot er e _1d sound in tradicional recording tcchniques, folk toasts "Thc Titanic." In it, Shine, the black boilcr room operator 011
a hcavie~, gnttter, lcss fixe . 'ded. it means the sounds on the tracks_arc the Titanic, tries to warn the white passcngers that the ship is about to
leakage is a problcm to be a,fiot ' k- thctn less fixcd in their arucu- sink, but his warnings go unhccded. The C1ptain claims that his water
d there ore ma tng
not clearly separate ' 1 • mt1sical gcnrcs have uscd pumps will keep back thc water, evcn though Shine can clearly see they
d h et.al among ot ,er '
lation. Rock an cavy m 1 , 1 uire manipulation of traditional .art·failing to do so. After a numbcr of warnings, Shine finally jumps O\'er
distortion and other cffe~ts t 1at a so rfcd~ rt·1on if rap's desircd sounds ho.trd saving his own lifc, saying, "your sluttin' is good your shittin'
. h . , L1kc thc use o tsto , .
rccordmg tcc mques. . d part of a process of achievmg ,, tinc, but here's one time you whitc folks ain't gonna shit 011Shinc."
require lcakage, then lcakage is a mlanagcf1 ·ng control offixed pitchcs. S,tdkr's dubbing that studio thc Titanic is his way of saying that 1t is old
. d h than a prob cm o os1
des1red soun s, rat cr . SP- o for its versatility and asso- .andobsolctc, suggcsting that he chooses thc faulty, obsolcte cquipmcnt
Hank Shocklee preferslthelE-~uth hou1s2c~ music a dance music cousin ddibcrately becausc it allows htm to construct h1s own historical, sonic
. TR 8 g ore e ose v w1 , ' . . •
c1ates thc .. o m b , h' description of thcsc machmcs is h1s n.1rr,ttives. The latest, slickcst eqrnpment in the Star Wars room denics
'.16 M t tmportant a out is .
of rap. os 1 erforms the same technical functtons hun acccss to thosc sounds and that history. In the hip hop vcrsion of
cxplanation of h~w cacb samp;r ~ , plcr crcates a different fccl, thus l'hc Titanic," Sadler, like Shine, ignores thc white man's definition of
in significantly d1ffe~eulnt ':ays. f ~~;::t rhythmic qualitics and musical In hn1caJ use and vaJue ("these ncw valvcs are bctter"), but in this case,
allowing greater aruc at1on o hr does so by staying with his ship, by holding on to thc equipmcnt
11
priori tics: 1h.11h,ts been deemed obsoletc bue bcst suits hü, needs. Rcfusing to fol-
. , ' hin w1th a sample. You can cut tt ?ff,you
["n,e uoo] allows you to do c,e~ t g\ .111·e low dominant conceptions of che valuc of ne,\ technology agairn,t their
1 ' ,,ou can cut off ccrtam drum
can trunca.te ·it_rea_JIy t!g
· ht ' vou
, . can run whitc
a oop bccausc - it's rig1d.
• Thc. Aka1 · L.i nn lwttcr judgcment, Shine and Sadlcr "savc" thcir mv11lives and narrauves
pads. Thc lim1tanon is that tt sounds fa fc~I· that's what Tcddy Rilcy us~s.to ll ~Pl'll ivcly.
[MPC-601 allows yo~ to creatc mor~uccr thc Linn is the bcst, beca use _ns a
get his swing bcats. for an R&B pr, , , t to use thc TR-808, bccausc it has •1·hcsc s,1111pkrs,drum m.tchincs, and cngineering boards are selccted
slicker machine. For house rccords, )OU wan

S1111/ Fmus
So1111" I 77
, 1 ,- e K N O 1 S l. / 76

and manipulated by rap producers partially becausc they allow them to
managc rcpetition and rupturc with break beats and looping and cutting
techniqucs and bccause of thc quality of sounds they reproduce. Shock-
lee and Sadlcr's comments are important to this discussion, bccause they
illuminate cultural parameters as they are articulated in advanced elec-
tronic equipment. The cquipmcnt has to be altercd to accommodatc
rap's use of low-frcquency sounds, mixing tcchniqucs reviscd to creare
the arrangcments of and rclationships between drum sounds. And scc-
ond, thcy make dcar that rap produccrs activcly and aggrcssivcly dcploy
stratcgies that revise and manipulare musical technologies so that they
will articulare black cultural priorities.
Sclecting drum samples also involvc matters of sonic prcfercnce.
Rap's hcavy use of samplcd live soul and funk drummers adds a dcsircd
textura! dimension uncommon in othcr gcnres and that programmcd
drum machines cannot duplicare. Thcse soul and funk drumrncrs, re-
cordcd under vcry diffcrent circumstanccs, carry pcrformativc reso-
nances that cannot be casily rccrcatcd. Bill Stephncy, co-owner, with
Hank Shocklcc, of S.O.U.L. Rccords, cxplains why rappcrs favor par-
ticular sources for samples: "They (rap producers) hatc digital drums.
Thcy likc their snares to sound as if they'vc been rccordcd in a large
livc room, with natural skins and lots of rcvcrb. Thcy'vc tricd recording
with live dnuns. But you rcalJycannot replicare those sounds. Maybe it's
thc way engincers mikc, maybc it's the lack of baffics in thc room. Who0
knows? But that's why thesc kids have to go back to thc old records."'
The quality of sound found in these 1960s and 1970s soul and funk
records are as important to hip hop's sound as the machines that de-
construct and reformulatc them." Rap's samplc-heavy sound is digitally
rcproduced but cannot be digitally creatcd. In other words, the sound of
a James Brown or Parliament drum kick or bass linc and the cquipmcnt
that proccssed it then, as well as the equipment that processcs it now, are
ali central to thc -..vayarap records fecls; central to rap's sonic force. This
is not to say that live drummers are not featurcd on rap records, many
are; neithcr is this to say that rap producers do not draw on a wide range
of gcnrcs, including rap's own previously rccorded beats and rhymcs.
For example, rap's sampling cxcursions into jazz and rock are increas-
ing ali thc time. Still, soul and funk drum kicks-livc or rccorded-are
almost always thc musical glue that binds thcse samplcs togcther, giving
the likcs of Miles Davis, Ron Cartcr, Louis Armstrong, and Roy Ayers
a distinct diffcrence anda hip hop frame. For examplc, A Tribc Called
Quest's "Verses from the Abstract" featurcs Ron Carter on bass but thc
hip hop drum lines completcly recontexnializc Cartcr's jazzsound; simi-
1\ 1, A C K N O l S 1\ / 78
lar recontextualizations of jazz samples can be found 011 a host of rap
albums, such as Guru'sfazzamatazz ami Pete Rock and C.L. Smooth\
Mecca and tbe Soul Brother.42 ·
S~p~ing, as it is used by many of hip hop's premicrc producers, is
not mercly a shortcut used to "copy'' musical passages. If this wcrc so
~he:1 produccrs wou!d sparc thc legal costs of clearing usage of other art~
1sts rccorded material by programrning or replaying very similar musi-
cal scquenccs.
. Furthermore
. ' as Princc Be Softly of p .M . I) awn pomts
·
out,. find.111gmusical samples can be more timc-consuming· . "Sam pmg 1·
ar~1stry 1s a _ver~ mi~undemood form of music. A Jot of peoplc still
thmk samplmg 1s th1cvery ~ut it, can takc more time to find thc right
samplc tha'.1 to make up a nff. I rn a songwritcr just likc Tracv Chap-
man or Ene ~- and Rak~." 0 The dccision to adopt sample; of live
drurn
1 sounds mvolves quahrv-of-sound
-; issucs·
' and a des·1rc to mercase
·
1
t c range_of so~nd possibilities. A fcw years after rap's recording historv
bcgan, pioneenng rap producer and DJ Marley Mari discovered th;t
real drum sounds could be used in place of sirnulatcd drurn sounds:
One day in '8 1 ?r'82 we was doin' thts remi.x.I wanted to sample a voice from
~1~thtf-rº.r w1tl~an Emulator a_nd!ccidentally, a snare wcnt through. At first
a~ 1 e, That s thc wrong thmg, but rhc snare was soundin' ood I k
runnu~g t~~ecrack back an<lhining rhe Emulator. Thcn I looked ar~he e~ in~~~
.ind sa1d, You know what th1s mcans?! J could rake any drum so nd fi g1
old record, put it in hcre are get the old drummcr sou~d 011 sorne ~úr ~~: ~~~y
of thar <lullDMX shit." Toar day I went out and bought a sampler.« · e
For_Marley Mari an~ ~ther rap producers the samplcr is a rncans to
an end, _not an cnd m 1tself. Nor is it nccessarily a short cut to music
produc~1on, altho~gh sorne rap producers use samplcrs and samplcs in
uncr~atlv~ ways: For thc 1,:iosc_ part, sampling, not unlikc vcrsioning
~~acuces 1~ Ca~1bbean mus1cs, 1s about paying homage, an invocation
e f _another s ''?'ce to hclp you to say ,vhat you want to say:'5 It is also a
me ans of archiva! rcsearch, a proccss of musical and cultural archcology
An:ordmg,to Daddy-O, rap producer far Stetsasonic; "'Sampling's no~
il lazy man s way. We lcarn a loe from sampling; it's like school for us.
When wc samplc a portion of a song and repeat it ovcr and over ,,·e
un bettcr unden,tand the matrix of the song. I don't know how thcv
m.1de thosc old funk and soul records. We don't know hm,v thcy miked
tlll'. drums. But we can lcarn
. from
. thcir rccords •" 46 In add't'
1 1011,samp ¡es
an not strung togcther m a !mear fashion onc aftcr thc othcr and then
looped_ Instca?, as Bill Stephney points out, numcrous track.5are often
programm~d s1multancously, sampled on top of one another to creare a
lll·n,e rnult1layered dfcct: "These kids will havc six cracks of drum pro-
S1111/
S1111ir
Form / 79
grams ali at rhc samc timc ..This je¡wherc samplinggccs kind of era✓\' _You
may gct a k1d who pues a kick from one record on onc crack, a k11.:k. from
anothcr record on anorher crack, a l.inn kick on a third track, anda TR-
8o8 kick on a fourth-all to mak.conc k.ick!"•·Onn: wnscructed, thc~c
loopcd bcats are not set in stone, chcy are mergcd with lyncs an~ rccon
structcd among othcr bcat~, sounds, and mclod,cs Sadlcr dcscnhcs che
architectural blucprint for Ice Cube's dense and c<lgy"The Nigger You
Lo\'e to Hace": "Thc ongmal loop [for itl "ªs [froml Ste\'c Anngton's
'Weak in the Knees.' It was funky but basic ali thc way through. Cubc
heard it, liked ,t. put hts vocals on 1t Thcn wc srrippcd it apart likc
a car and put it back togctbcr totally again .... erasing musical p~r~s
under che choruscs and orher parts. E\'ery ttme ,,e got back to the ong,-
nal song, ir woukl drop down. So we woukl h:we to build. That's why
the song just kept going up. \\'e kcpt havmg to find ocher parts" ~ne
ofthc most dcn,e ,111dcacophonom raps to date, "N1ght of the Ll\'lng
Baschcads," uc;cd nearlv fortv tí,e dtlkrent samplcc, m addition to the
baste rhvthm tracks and onginal mus1con twcnty-four tracks. Sadlcr ex
platm .:Not 4 s tracks 1"h1Ch,s common in music production tt~da~],
but 24 . You got stuff damng 111and out abc,olutelyevcrywhcrc lt s hkc
somebody chrowing rice at you You havc ro grab cverv littlc ptccc ~nd
put tt in thc right place likc in a punk Vcry complt,atcd AHd10se httle
smppets ami pieccs that go in, along with the regular drums that you
fi ,,.,
gotta drop out m ordcr to ma ke room or tt. . .
R.ip production im·oh·es a wide range of stratcg,cs for mamp,ulatm~
rhythm, bass frequcncies, rcpetition, ami musical break, Rap s e~~,-
nccring and mixing strategics address wav~ to manag;e and pnonnze
high-volumc ami low-frequenc\' ,mmds. Scl~cte<l~amplcrs _carry pre
fcrrcd "sonic booms" and a,d rap producers m setttng multtplc rhyth·
míe forces 111 motion and in recontcxtualizmg and highlighting break
bcats. Thcsc strategics for achicving desired 1,ounds are not random SI)
Jisric effects. thc, are m.m1fcstations of approachcs to time, motion, and
rcpctition founti 111many Ncw World black cultural cxpress,om.
BI.ACK l'RACTICES: HIDING IN THE SPOTl IGHT
Thc.·world uf orgamtcd ~und Í\ a houndlc\\ pakttc On rhat pakttc you ha, e d.w,i,al
Euro¡,ca.n muste, vm, h¡,·c C:harlic l'Jrker - . the m1Nc of thc E..isr.Afncm mu,"
rhc Middlc E.ist, eÍcummc mu,ic. Somc pcopk think chJt what thcy m: dm'.1g wav o,cr
hc:rc 10 onc comer 1, che cnd of ali organi,.c:d ,ound. That\ likc saymg thc bnh 1s thc
cnd ofthc .imwr\<.· M1, Rooch••
Recame fcw rappers are formally traincd musiCtans, rardy compme
elaborare 111dod1cphrases, .md do not freqm:ntl\ pla\ "real" tmtru
ments, rap has been a1.:Cuscdof not hcing musK at ali. David S.unueh \
U L A e~ K N el I S I· / !!O
Nen, Repub/u cover story on rap music cntitkd, "Thc Real Face of R,lp:
Thc 'bla,k musK' that isn 't eichcr," reduces rap \ hi,cor:· to a commen ..i.il
ploy to attract white tccnagcrs and suggeMs thar "rap's /Jourasan inno-
,·.1tt\'e popular music. has come and gonc" J D. Cons1dme's arttclc 111
M_m,c'.an maga:'ine, "fear of a Rap Planee,"'cites a nmnbcr of exampks
ot antirap med,a coverage regarding rap's hrics but notes thar the mmt
common cntiCtsm about rap 1snot, in fact, rclated to its racial politics.
Insrcad, he argues, most cnttltsm of rap has to do w1th rap\ sc.icusa.s
muste. Basteally, many rock mm1cians do not rnm1dcr rapas mwtc. Con-
sidine, attempting to ,rnwincc Afosicim, readcrs that rap u musi1.:,claims
thar ."e~·cn a sccmmgly simple rap rewrd ... rcvcals unnpc..:rcd com-
plex,ty 1fyou know wherc to look." During thc same month in 1992, Jon
Paralcs publtshed an arride cnt1tlcd "On Rap, Symbolism and Fear" 111
thc New York Ti111es that was devotcd to maimtream whitc fears of rap be-
came of m >,olcnt im.iger) and black teen ,tud1cnce Ali ofthe response
lctters publtshcd two wceks later werc in rathcr aggrcsme opposition
to Parales\ piccc I Iowevcr, rap's lync.sand angry audicnn: werc notad-
~ressc~ in these lettcrs; rathcr, thc fon that Pa~alc<,prcsumcd that rap
1smuste" as the source of the respondcnts' fi-ustratton. Writers d.iimed
that, "loud, pounding rhythm wich shouted lvrics and no mclody do
not constttute musJC," and "music began witl~ rhnhm, progrcsscd ro
mclody _-.. rcached its dcvclopment.tl culmination wich h,trmony. Rap,
desp1te Its modern rrappmgs, is a regre1>sion.''Thcsc commcnts clcarly
support Euroccncric notions of thc terms of cultur,tl progrcss and link
thcm to muste. The significance of thcse commcncs is not in thc igno
ram:e thc} display but m rhc fact that thc Nen• York Times bchevcd rhat
th~e analncs carry enough social we1ght .llld lcgitimacion to \\ arrane
puhlii:ation without rebuttal.'"'
In response, somc rap producers offcr thcir lack of training as an
cx~la~anon for thc inno,·ati\'e nature of the1r approach. For cxamplc,
cla1mmg that rap producers are actuallv more creativc than 1w/ mu-
sicians, Hank Shock.lec dcfcmb rap producer~• approach ro musil and
cxpl.lins the rcasons for thc antagonism bctwccn rap produccrs ,tnd for-
mall?·traincd music,ans "Wc don't l1ke musicians. \\'e don't rcspect
muste1ans.The rc,tson \\hy is bccausc they look at peopk who do rapas
pcoplc who don't havc any knowlcdge. As a mattcr of fact, it's quite the
oppositc. \Ve havc a bctter sensc of music, a bcncr conccpt of mus1c, of \1
whnc ic.\_going, of,~·hat ,r_can do."'' 1 Shocklcc bcl,cvcs that h" 1gno-
ranll' ot formal musteal trammg allows him to sce bcvond what has
hccnunderstood ~s cor~cct and propcr sound construcnon. giving him
11grl·ater r.tngc of crcatl\·e mot,on: .. In dcaling with rap, you have to
,\011/.\omc forrrs / 81
 be innocent and ignorant of music. Traincd musicians are not ignorant
to music and thcv cannot be innoccnt to it ... For examplc, ccrtam
keys hav~ to go t~gether becausc you have chis trainii~g and it makes
musical sense to you. We might use a black kcy and wh1te key _t~geth~r
playing togethcr because it works for a particular part. ~ m~1sic1anw1!l
go, 'No those are thc wrong keys. Thc tones are dashm~. _Vvcdo~ t
1 of a discrete cultural history, coupled with thc case with which he rcf-
look ar it tbat way....' 2 ShockJee's comments about formal trammg and 1ts
relationship to musical innovation as well as critica! responses to Shock-
1 lcc's approaches bear striking rescmblance to th~ criti_ci~mof ?e-bop
pianist Thdonius Monk's untrained approad1 to ,az.z piano playt~g. As
l jazz music historian Frank Tirro notes, in tbc 1950s, Monk's eclccttc and
unconventional compositions, which "had earlier becn passed off as a
lack of technical ability (werc) now being viewed as a new wa) of cre-
ating musical sounds and organizing musical ideas ....Jason Berry et al.
have notcd how black musicians find beats in everyday sounds, even
using cruck engincs as rhythmic inspiration. As \'Ocalist ~aron Nevillc
recalls, "Me and [Allcn l Toussaint would ride around w1th a tape re-
corder and one day wc pullcd up next to a big semi-truck. The momr
was going 'rumblc rum rumble' with a nice beat, you know, ~nd Tous-
saint rccorded that beat." ShockJec backs Ncvillc and Toussamt up on
this when he asserts chat "music is nothing but orgamzcd noisc. You can
cake anytbing-street i,ounds, us talking, whatcver you want-and make
it music by organi1.ing it. That's still our philosophy, to show peoplc
53
that chis tl~ing you call music is a lot broader than you think it is.....
Shocklce claims that bccause thcir musical instincts are not "con-
strained" by formal rules and procedures, rap pro d uccrs operate " more
freclv" with the availablc technology. Certainly, sorne of what ShockJec
suggcsts about "innoccnce" to formal proccdures '.s true. Fewer cs~ab-
lished paran1ctcrs gencrally pcrmit greater potcnt1al _rangc of n~ouo~.
But Shocklcc's opposition betwecn knowlcdgc and mnoccnce 1s a bit
misleading. He is rcally rcfcrring to thc differcnces between formal
Western and black musical priorities as thcy are worked out, often con-
tcntiously, in the crcati\'e realm and in thc marketplacc. Shocklcc's inno-
ccncc is his lack of formal Western musical training. For ShockJee,
"training" is formal Western training, and trained musicians use "knowl-
edgc" about a particular tradition to produce a particular arrangemcnt
of sounds that in turn produce particular effects. I le, too, crnploys
"knowlcdge.,., and musical strategies, not innocent (value-free) o~cs, bue
stratcgies cornmonly found in black musical traditions that often mYolvc
different cultural prioritics. Whcn he claims that to understand or deal
with rap music you must be innocent, he suggests that a cornm1tment
co formal Western musical priorittcs must be abandoncd, or at the very
11 1, A C K N O l S ll / 82.
least interrogatcd and revised, especially as thcy are articula.ted in thc
rules of sound production and reproduction.
An absencc of cornmitmcnt to classical Western musical traditions
is not sufficient to produce rap music. Shocklec refcrs to a prescnce,
an altcrnative tradit1on that prioritizcs openness, ruptures, breaks, and
forces in motion. His inabiliry to identify thcsc charactcristics as part
ercnccs classical standards is an indication of the powcr of classically
derived standards over crcative efforts that rcprcsent altcmative cultural
Iogics, cvcn in popular culture.
Hank ShockJcc's defcnsc of his musical creativity is connectcd to the
pcrpetuation of a long-standing unwillingness to acknowledge black
cultural traditions and practiccs in contcmporary popular American
forms. This may secm surprising given the fact that American popu-
lar rnusic is a particularly significant territory for black cultural cxpres-
sions. Yct, thc srudy of popular music has been quite inattentive to thc
spccificity of black practiccs in the popular rcalm. There is a sig1úficant
intcllccrual divide bctwecn the srudy of black music and the study of
American popular music. Not unlikc racial scgrcgation, black cultural
practice1>and popular culture are trcated as if they are mutuaUy exclusive
categories of analysis. for many cultural critics, once a black cultural
practice takes a prominent place insidc the cornmodity systcm, it is no
longer considcred a black practicc-it is instead a "popular" practice
whose black cultural priorities and distinctively black approachcs are
l"tther taken for granted as a "point of origin," an isolated "tcchnique,"
or rendered in\'isiblc. The last alternati\'e has so far been a virtuallv
1mpossiblc position to takc in refcrencc to r;p musi~."' Yet, the cat;-
gory "dance" music has bcen a particularly slippcry space in which black
music has becn linked to tcchnological effects ratber than black cultural
prioritics.
Along thesc lincs, Andre\\' Goodwin's "Samplc and Hold: Pop Music
in the Age of Digital Reproduction" describes his project as one that
will focm on the music itsclf, via comments on the "new technologies
,md thcir impact on rhythnl and timbre." In an attempt to critique overly
/A·.1lousreading of samplcrs as guintcssential postmodern machines,
(.;oodwin points out that high-tcch samplers havc been used most cx-
1cmivcly in dance music, \\ hich he considcrs a communal practicc. He
,11guc, that:
1lw most ,triking poinr in thc analysi~of both areas is the fact that music madc
1>,nud1ines, or to s~iund likc ~achines, has nor takcn pop's trajectory inco
Ir, 1ron1C01 are muste, hur has mstead bccomc rhe ch,cf sourcc of irs dn11ce
IH1111l. • . li,nrhcsi7.er;, dnun nuchincs and digital samplers are idcnnficd lcss
Soul S1111ic
Fmff• I 8 l
\ 'th dance genres ltkc diseo, l,,'p hop : Hi·
"Read it in Braille, JtJllStill Be Ftmky'):
1 . than w1
with modcrn compascrs . . . d •h'le cultural srnd1cscrmcs s~1C1
· · . ¡ as S1mon
• b
Teclmol-Ogical
Orality and Oral Technologyin Hip Hop
NRG and House. lo other w<_>~ s, \\ • academic disrinctions betng madc e-
As I have suggested carlier, rap music is a tcchnologicaJ form that re-
Frith 'debate thc essentially cnuc~ an1" mmunirl"' and narure on thc other,
1 rwecn tec_~ology ~n t~~. º~is
hh1;·e;;ow~º incrcasiÓglyaccusromed to,~:!,:~
an au ten l t'c/auromated music and thc commnna
lies on the reformulation of recorded sound in conjunction with rhymed
lyrics to create irs distinctive sound. Rappers bring black cultural pri-
Pop mus1c1ans
· · b C.-\
~-•een synt ,e. I I . bod\') 'A'c havc grown used to connecnng
.
1 an assoc1at1on orities to bear on advanccd tcchnology.s· Rappers also bring black oral
floor) connccrion t_ona~,urc(v1at 1c • .
machines andfunkiness. . d d practiccs inro the technological mix. Rap's poetic force, its rearticula-
1
. est that the deconstructton of recor. e tion of African-American oral practices, and its narrative srrategies are
1 Goodwin is correct to sugg 1co11nections· such practtces central to rap. Howcver, rap's oral and technological facers are more
1 ·1 erase communa '
sound docs not necessan y d . And he is quite reasonably interactive than this disjuncture suggests. Rap music blurs the distinc-
1 · athcr than eny tt. .
may recuperate 111story ~ 1 . nd communitv, wh1ch may tion between litcrate and oral modcs of communicacion by altering and
.fi at,on of techno ogy a - ..
1 suspicious o f a b i urc, . ·s 1 a pretcchnological conditton. yet sustaining important aspccts of African-Amcrican folk orality whilc
· f commumtY ·
suggcst that thc notton .º . , black dance forrns-disco, h1p cmbedding oral practices in thc technology itsclf. Rap's orality is alten:d
e a or contcmporary . l
Yct he rcfers to ,our m J fi h' rgwncnt regardmg t ,e and highly informed by the technology that produces it; and in rap, oral
' . d house-as thc bases or is a
hop, H1-NRG, an . '-· d the communitv-based nature logic informs its rechnologícal practiccs. Redcfining thc constitution of
.l hn \o¡yvIS madc fim1<r an , . . bl k
wav in wh1c 1 tec o o; . black cultural prionttes, ac narrativc originality, composition, and collective memory, rap artists
1 1 ,
of thesc forms w1t out on
..
musical tradmons, or
•h e refcrence to
I H
black ncop c. e m
F. h
akes no mention of black prac-
.
danceart'1sts are usmg samp ing
1· chaJlcnge institutional apparatuses that define property, technological
innovation, and authorship.
· 'bT that t ese
titioners and the poss1 1 ity h to sound rh)'thm, timbre, David Toop, one of rap's early and most rhoughtfül historiographers,
. ul bl ck approac es • ,
technology to aruc ~te a G d 111 . technologv is madc fimky but argucs that rap is rooted in twentieth-century African-American poetic
morion, and commum-rrv For oo . . "" His ,
erasure - of the overw h e1m. traditions: "Raps forebears stretch back through disco, strcet funk, radio
not as a result of black appro?nattbondi .. ·d . n disco hip hop, and house D.J.s, Bo Diddlcy, thc bebop singers, Cab Calloway, Pigmcat Markham,
h . to mus1c cm o e 1 '
inglv black approac es . f ·1nflt1enceand ar worst con· thc tap dancers and comics, The Last Poets, Gil Scott-Ileron, Muharn-
, . . of the anXJetvo k
is at best a pcrmc1ous case d' h, t has not vet confronted blac . mad Ali, a cappclla and doo wop groups, ring garnes, skip ropc rhymes,
f J ral stu 1es t a ,
tributes to a b od y o cu tu a stvlistic cffect ready for white po~u- prison and army songs toases, signifying and the dozens .... No matter
papular prescnce ot~er d~a~1as whi~h reflccts an incapacity to imag111e how far it penetratesinto the twilight ma1..cofJapanese video garnes and
lar consumprion. H1s pos1t_1on,h ontestations over black cultural u>OI European elecrronics, its roots are still the deepcst in aU contem-
. s a s1te w ere c k
thc popular terra111a . . optation of blac con· porarv Afro-American music." 58 Toop, although he does have a solid
'b . the d,scurs1ve co·
l forms take place, contn utcs to . . . M d Hunter's comments on gra1ip of thc more promincnt African-American oral influences in rap,
. . ¡ cultural cnnc1sm. ca . h
tributtons in popu ar . . ak to the power dynamics t at draws a false dichotomy bctween rap's African-Amcrican roots and thc
. . Amencan mus1c spe 'd .
\ intcrcultur alism 111 f ltt1ral exchange: "Cons1 cnng high-tech cquipment to which it is equally wedded. Rap thcn, is not
1 • h 1alforros o cu · ¡
are inhcrent 111t ese uneq~ b -for tbe)r are now cffect1ve y simply a linear extension of other orally based African-Amcrican tradi-
. f Amencan dance eats . .
that the adopuon o . 1· • must to some degree msinu· tions with beat boxes and cool Europcan elcctronics added on. Rap is
1 . , . Af ·can rhcir meagc- 1
Amencan, howe\cr _n_. end- roduct cannot be wholly va ue a complcx fusíon of orality and postmodcrn technology. This mixture
l ate an American sens1b1ht)•,the . p b tas permeable membranes; of orality and technology is essential to understanding the logic of rap
l free. Regional cultures act notas blar~1ers,eutr;tion can be a subtlc strain
. b f. ntenttons t :ie1rpcn . h rnusic; a logic that, although not purely oral, maintains many charactcr-
\ even w1th the est o 1 ,G d . 's attempts to huma1111..c tec .
· ,,56 C sequcnt\)' 00 Wlll · \
i,ucs of orally based expression and at thc sarne time incorporares and
of colonial1sm. on. ~ b d nature of dance music-1s a so 1k~tabilizcs many characteristics of che literate and highly tcchnological
h mmumtv· ase ,
nology-to affirm t e co ., . h are responsiblc for rhe dance St >Cictyin which its pracririoners li\'e. Harry Allcn captures the rclation-
an erasure o f th e vcrv, commumt1es t ar htp hetwcen orahty and technology 111rap when he suggests that, "hip
musics he finds so compellmg.

Sm,I liomc F11rw / 8s

• • , • ,, >.' ll I S F, / 8,¡
 hop humam,..cs technology ami makes 1t tactilc. In hip hop, "?u make_
the technology do stuff that it isn't supposcd ~~) do, gct mu.s1\~~t of
something that's not .,upposed to g1ve you mus1Cquite that ~"ª'·
Rap 1s in part an exprcssion of \\ hat Walter Ong ~as rcte~r~d to ~:
"post-literace orality." Ong sug~escs that the clectromc agc •~ ~~ _age
of post-literate orality-thc orahry of telcphones.' radt<\ ,md tele\ 1S1on,
which depcnds on wrirmg ,u,d print for_ 1ts ex1sr:nce. Although h1s
book focuses primarily on thc ditkrences 111mcntahn· bet:ve~n or~l and
writing cultures, his rnnceptuah1..1t1on of postlitc.:rate orality 1'>an mno-
vari,·e analnical cool for understanding contemporarv de,elopmcnts m
African-American culture. The concept of postliterate orahty me~ges
orallv influenced craditions that are crcated and embedded in a posthter·
ate, ~echnologically sophist1Catcd cultural contcxt Postliterate oralm
describes the way oral trad1tions are rcvised and prc~entcd 111 a. tech·
nologicallv sophisticated context. le also has ~he c,1pamy to explam thc
wa,· literate-based rcchnology is madc to artJCulate <,ounds 1magcs and
pr~ctices a<,sociated with orallv bascd_forms, ~o that rap s1multancously
makcs technology oral and technolog17,e<,orahry. . of"I'm Bad "To che dclight ofthe audicncc, at che samc clim.ix point m
In oral cultures, authorsh1p IS not cssential to the performance ~f tolk
tales. Accordmg to Ong, "narrative origmahty lodgcs not m mak1~g up
ncw stones, but in managing a particular intcraction with th1s aud1~nce
at this time-at every celling the story has to be introduced uniqueh meo
a uniquc situation ... formulas and themes are reshutfkd rache~ than
1 l supplanted with new matc.:nals." 60 For examplc, thc fam_ous ~m:an-
Amcncan oral tale of che S 1gnitving Monke, has dozcns ol ver,1ons a~,d
no 111dividual author, and "vers1omng~ is an extremdy common practicc
1
m Caribbean mus1cs.°
Rappc.:rs ha\'c rcdefined th1s conccpt of communal authorship. Nar-
rative originality is lodged in ucating lle.:\\ stoncs, and thc.:,c stones .ire
associated with the rapper. 1 Iowever, rappcr's rbymes .,re dearly 111-
fluenccd bv, if not a dircct outgrowth of, thc African-Amcrican toase
cradition Toe do,..cn-playing br.1Vado of toases ~uch as thc S1grnfnng
Monkev 1s brilhantly capturcd 111 Kool Moc Dec\ "How Ya L1kc ~1c
Now."~ Furthcrmorc, m keeping with oral forms, uniquc introduct1on
of material'> takes on greatcr significancc.:in the live performance.
On the whole, rappcrs carcfully prepare and rcrnc rlwmes that be
come permancntlv a~sociated w1th its :.mthor. Rclcrcnces to the rappcr
.ind his or her DÍare exrrcmclv common. In Salt'N' Pepa\ "'Get Up
Everyhody (Get Up ,~ Sale says:
5pmdarc:lla, my D.J., is a turntable troopcr
Mv partncr l\:pa. she\ ,1 powcr bo<,,tcr.
l\ I, A <: K N o I :-; H / IU,
Word ro life, 1 swcar, shc'II ~educe va
Don't rake my word I'll mtmducc her•'
In Ene B & Rakmú ...Follow thc Lcader," che ,horus-"follow thc
lcader Rak1m a say" 1s rccited m staccaro repcnuon to rcinforcc che
idcntity of che pcrformer 64 Examplcs of such nammg are cndlcss. Rap
lym:s are closcly linkcd w1th che author; unlikc rradinonal \\'estcrn
nonons of compos1tion m which che composer's te,t is m ,\ separare
sphcre from that of the pcrformer, rap lyrics are che rnice of rhe com•
poscr and thc pcrformcr. Rap fu'>Cslitcrate concepts of authorsh1p \\ 1th
orally bascd constru,tions of thought, exprcssion, and performance.
Thc concent of a rap rhymc is sometimes so specific ro its crcator that
to pcrform somcone clsc's rhvmc rcqu1rcs that refcrences to 1ts creator
be rcwritten The significance of naming m rap is excmplified by a re-
\'Ísi_onof L.L. Cool J.'s L986 hit "l'm Bad."•' In "B,1d," L.L. brags that
he 1sthc bc.:strappcr m thc history of rap and ata dima., pomt 111structs
his fam to "forget Orcos eac Cool J. C<Xlk1es."A famous go-go band
from Washington, D.C., Troublc Funk, performed a hve go-go vcrsion
thc rhvme, the lead singcr Chuck Brown announced: "forgct Orcos eat
Chuck Brown cookies 1" wh1lc go-go's trademark brassy, rollmg funky
horm and drums supported his bold appropriation. The go-go audicncc
responded to Brown \ audacious appropriacion of L.L Cool J.\ rlwmc
as if it rcpre.,cnted go-go's s,mbohc VKtory m·er rap music. Thc story
told in 'Tm Bad" is L.L Cool J.'s storv tmd a rap story. This autho-
rial rcvision did not erase L.L Cool J. as author; rhe absem:c of L.L.
Cool J 's name docs not s1lencc his prcsence, 1t displ,tces him. Thc power
of Brown's insertion works bese 1f che audicnce knows L.L. Cool J.'s
..original" vers1011.For anocher rapper to cae Cool J c<Xlkicswould be a
major dcfcat, l<>rL.L. to cae h1s own cook1cs renamed as Chuck Brown
cookics is .in outragcous momcnt of s,mbolic dommacion Without
L.L.\ prcscnce and h1s idcncitv a., a rap art1st, the cheft ofthc rlwme has
linte significancc. In th1s conccxr LL. Cool J.'s prc,cnce and tl~c com-
munal knowlcdge base it reprcsents is a neccssan clcmcnt m go-go's
symbolic \·ictorv ovcr rap.
Although powcr is locatcd m thc oral pre.,cntation of rap, rap rhymes \
are not the "fixcd, rhythmically balanccd cxpressions" rhat Ong rcfers
to in his dcscription of oral cultures bue rlwmes constructed in linear
litl'r,itc (wrincn) patterns. Thcy are rhymes, \Hinen down fir'>t, memo~
rin·d, and rcuted orally In oral cultures, thcre 1s no writtcn contcxc
lo ,1id in mcmorizanon As Ong notes, "In an oral u1lturc, to think
through somcthmg m non-formulaic, non patterncd, non-mncmonic
,\011i,·
So11I Jo'11rre.s
/ 87
 of sounds, rhythms, and mclodies are madc fancascicallv acccssible. Eric
. ºble would be a waste of time, for such
1\ terms cvcn if it wcrc poss1 , Id be rccovcred with anv
SadJer describes how he n>ritesmusic using the Bomb' Squad's 2.0,000
' d t1 1 h cou ncvcr record coUection as his main source: "You decide you are going to write
thought, once workc 1rm ~ ' .d f rºting."""
1 Bv comparison,
11 . · Id be with the a1 o '' , f sorne songs. You jusc work. You just write, ,Hite, wrice. Somctimes
1 effccnveness, as it cou . 1 t display writtcn (litcratc) forms o
Chuck (D) will come and say, 'Yo I goc an idea hcrc.' So whac you try

\
rap lyrics are oral pe~orn:anccs t 1a
thought and cornrnumcanon. ¡· c. rms of communication and
to do from there is to takc che idea, puc (che samplc) in thc drum ma·
1 \
d d . ndcnt 011 1tcratc 10 chine, put a beat behind it and move on from thcrc. Somctimes Kcith
\ Informcd by 311 epe . . ai'd their rhvmes are a far cry
1 c. h · mplcxitv rappcrs • • . . (Shocklee) would get on che curntab\e and just start scratchin', likc we
rcproduction ior t e1r co . ,, d f mcrs. For exarnplc, in rap
. . 1 l oeuc forros an pcr or were a band. I'd play the drum machi ne for the sample, and Keith would
\ from trad1nona ora p .
. fi , 1 in the m1 e o
ºddl. fa lonu- scntence, and punc-
e- . ·rh
1 d be throwing in rccords." 68 In a world of bytes and microproccssors,
1
the rhymed wor is o te• k d . nst thc meter of the bass hne. e
tuated short phrases are wor e aga1 d h. n1usic a\lows for greatcr large and compkx ideas can be rcwricten, rcvised, "samplcd" by com-
• t the rhvmc an t e . putcrs and reorganizcd by composers. As a musical idea dcvclops and
abilitv to eas1ly recom,tru~ d . c. m"•1ce of rhvmed lyrics. S1mply
\ , . h
flcxibility in t e constru
ct1on an penor =
.
.
g is not to understand them; changes, clements are addcd and dclcted from the memon• file. Still che
th lvncs to a rap son d interactive quality of live instrumcntation and song writing remains,
to recite or to rea d e . d h •thms and samplcd soun s
1\ . d · h che svncopatc r ' . as individual contributions rub up against one anothcr in che studio,
thC)' are also mfkcte w1t . . , and the idios,·ncrauc
. .. its rhrthm1c pattcrns, . creating a final ( !) "composition."
\ of the mus1c. The mus1c, . . l to the song's mcanings.
. b h appcr are essenna f 1 Sampling in rap is a process of cultural literacy and intertextual rcf-
articulauon y t e r \ . h"p
1 to the conccpt o aut 1or-
d r have a re anons crcnce. Samplcd guitar and bass lines from soul and funk prccursors are
Thc rap DJ an d pr~ ~ce. ·s more closch' rclated to oral prac-
\ ship wd narrative ongmahty ~hat , , s-- ..~nlers that reproduce oftcn recognizablc or havc familiar resonances. Somc samples are takcn
1 • th mstruments are , ,u r from rccent charted songs, making thcm cmincntly recognizablc. Rap
tices. In most ra~ mus1c, ;. . na\ instruments, frighten1ngly real rc-
11
\ svnthcsized vcrs1ons of trad ltl<b) k. g glass sircns etc.), and thc dy-
fans can recognize chat Eric B. & Rakim took che bass line for thcir
. . t· th. aun s ( rea ·111 ' • ' d d cut "Paid in J:lull" from Dennis Edwards "Don't Look Anv Further" a
11 1 producnons o o. c_rs .. · . and dubbing of nc,v, prc,iously recor e
popular R&B song that topped the charts only ayear carlie;. In addition
11
oamic wd explos1ve mvang M f thcse samplcs are dubbcd from
\ to che musical layering and cngineering stratcgics involved in chesc soul
1
and seemingly fixed sound. lany\ o d intcntionall\' rccognizablc bass
. · ns other e car ,, an · . b , rcsurrccuons, thcsc samplcs are highlightcd, functioning as a challcnge
othcr rhyt1m 1 sccno ' • 1 d . onjunction w1th beat ox
\incs and horn scctions, a11dreformu ate m e to know these sounds, to makc conncctions betwcen thc lvrical and
, . t\'le and acccntuanon. . . mmi1.:al texts. It affirms black musical history and locatcs th~sc "past"
sounds and thc rappcrs s , b DJs and produc.:ers is stnkmgly
Sampling tec.hnology as ~1scd fy rap .. originalitv in oral cultures: sounds in thc "prcsent."
1l \ 1 similar to Ongs interpr
, . etanon o oarrau,e
.
,
akini, up ncw storics ... lmstcac
. i\ More oftcn than not, rap artists and their DJs openly reverc their soul
. • · ¡·t\, \odgcs not 10 m e- . torcbcars. Stctsasonic deknds chis practicc, claiming thac it counccr-
¡I
1
1
unarranvc ong111a' .
shulRed rat h cr t 11a1 . 1 st1po\anted w1th ncw ma-
· r d ,1e.tsindust_ry-fostcred m,\r~Ct conditions that dic_tatc ª.particula~ly shal-r
fommlas and t/Jemesare re 'J../. h ffi known cultural formulas an
l . ,,6. R DJs and produccrs res u e d 1 tl , low shclf-hfe for black mus1c. Dozcns of soul armes' d1scograph1cs have
tenals. . ap . h at1'vcoriginalitv is lodge . o 1c
1 . . h ·ontext t at narr, • lx·cn rcprinted as a result of rap 's sampling stratcgies, and consequcntly,
thcmcs. lt is m t ,s e l . 1formulas and thcmes are
. 1 d tion thesc cu tur ,l . d l l.1ddy-O suggcsts, chcsc soul artists havc bccn placed in thc forcground
agc of med1a111ca rcpro uc ' ffi d 1)()pcd and rccontcxtuallzc .
1 in the form of rccor d e sO u :
d nd rcshu e , e
.
''
f composition, a mcans ot hlack collcctiYe mcmory: - \
1
,
.
Yct samphng tec no o .
h I gY is a\so a mcans o
d . ·on Usmg soun s ,
. d a11drlwthms as bu1\dmg
,
. .
You erase our music ~

I
1
of (post) litcratc pro uctl . . utcrs build, erase, and re- So no 011ccould use ir ...
. • tare 1dcas 1n comp , d Tell thc truth-James Brown was old
blocks, rap mus1C1ans s
d oncepts 11111ar
s· ·¡ to thc wa\' manv li\'C ban s
. Til Ene B camc out w1rh •rGot Soul.'
1 vise musical themcs an c . d s ,.,ork with corc conccpt!>, Rap brings b,Kk old R&B
11/¡ ·d • rap oro uccr ,,
work through mus1cal I ca , 5
r W .· . 1usic in thc age of clcc- Ifwcwould not
. . d b ·1d· ir around thcm. ',nng n .. Pcople could havc torgoc.69
improv1s111gan u1 me- d d. se proccss in which m1lhons
1 i¡ crome reproducuon ll> a e
• · . omplex an en

1 ••. •• I ¡¡¡¡
S1111I
S1111i(
¡.'onr.1 I 8.9
 Wht.:n Kool Moc Dcc's cxplosi,·e "How Ya Likc Me No,,~ opcns
with "Ali aboard che night tram!" samplcd from a James Brown record,
it not onlv verifies Brown as the author, 1t paradoxicallv undermincs
am füed link his sound has to the labcl on which it was "ongmally"
rcwrdcd. Brcmn's cxclamation in thc contcxt of Moc Dce's p1e1:cis
cmploycd as a wmmunal resourcc that fun_ctions in oppo~inon to thc
rccording industry's fixation with ownen,h1p. In the opc111ngmo~icnt
of "I low Ya Likc Me No,\," James Brown is affirmcd and valon,,cd,
Kool Moe Dcc is s1tuated within an Afncan-American music tradition,
and a sclf-constructed affirmativc and resistivc hiswry is sounded.
Samphng 1s nor thc only mcthod of narrati\'e reformula_ti<_>n and rc-
sistant:e Mixcs of thc old and thc new, or "\'ers1on111g,"as 1t 1s refcrrcd
to bv Dkk Hcbd1gc m Cttt nMix, is at thc hcart of all Afncan·A~icncan
and Caribbcan musics: "Thc original vcrsion takes on a new lite and a
ne\\ mcaning in a frcsh contcxt.",, Vers1omng, unhke samphng, cnta1b
che reworking ofan cntire composirion. I concur \\.itl~i¿cbdigc'~ O\'erall
analysis but would ltkc to dub in a diflcrcnt \'ersion _oth1sq~otc: I he n:f
muccd vcrsion takcs on alten111tive livesand altenuiw·r mrmm¡_qs111a fresh
come,t. Vcrsionmg, too, redefines tradicional notions of authorsh1p and
originahty as it incorporatcs 1t. . music and black cultural pnont1cs, \\ hich ha\'e in rurn had a critica!
Samphng has had important resisrivc effects 111~he recordu~g _m-
dustn. To reuse portions of copyrightcd material w1thout pcrnms1on
unde~mincs legal and capital market authority. Bcforc rap musK bcgan
grossmg millions of dollars, the use of thcse mu~Kal passagcs ;vcnt ~n-
noticed by publishing administrators and co~yr'.ght l~o_ld_c~s. Sam~hng
cle,u-ancc was a rclativcly minor legal issuc. L1m1tedv1s1b1htv,rclatt\·.cly
small profits and legal coses to pursuc illcgal uses of s,\ffi~led n~atenals
madc policing such thcft undcsirablc for record cxccu~1vcs. h1rth_cr-
more, thcsc samples encouragcd thc sale of new rcwrds. For a recording
labcl to wtn a 1.m suit in order to cake a ,harc of anothcr labd\ profit
rai,cd che po-.sibility that similar profits would ha\'I.:to~ paid (111full)
¡11 anothcr case. Bccause ali major record compames d1stnbute samplcd
material, la\\ suits would be traded rather heavilv.Todav, rap is big busi
ncss. Wirh mulumillion rewrd sales by <,m:hrap arust'> as M( · I Iammer
'fonc Loe, ~\\'A, Public Encm~, and Vanilla Ice, thc pursuit of thc ille•
g,1¡ use of sampled matcriah has bccomc a complicatcd and high-profik
legal 1ssucin thc cntertainmcnt industry . _ . cmitlcd her to a pcrccntage of profits for futurc use of sound rccordings
At thc ccntcr of thc contro\'crsy 1sthe s1:ope ami 111tentot the mus 11:
copyright wm:m and its limitcd ~pplicability to samplmg as pract~~cd
first by rap artists and now by a w1dc array of mus1C1ansand prc~dui.:ers
Dcrivcd from ninctccnth-ccntury litcrary law, thc currcnt mustl 1:opv·
11 l. A (' K N O I S E / 1)0
right systcm is dcsigncd to protcct musical scripts, to protect ,hl·ct m11 ll
from thcft or illcgal me. Simon rnth elaborares:
·n,c original music:iJcomm~>l.i1ty ,,.1,3 '-C0re,and C\'Cn as che law changcd 111
cakeacc~unt ol aud10rcrnrdm~-a ncw wa,· of fixing c;ounds-chc ~ong. dchn ,1
as a part1cularlOmb111at1011ot ban,umy, 11u/odyand /ync, rcmaincd rhc obJl'•, of
legal pr?tecuon ... wh,1t1sm<m si¡p~1fü:anr abour this 1swhat is not copy, •r.lu
ablc-nmbre, rhvchm thc vcry qualir,cs rh,u bccamc, with rhc risc of rccord111g,
..:cntralto pop plc.isurc.And that has :.crvcdas onc ,,av in which black mu,,
cians haYc lx:cn cxplottcd bv rhc pop mdumy, v,a thc l.1w'sdefinmon of mmH
m Europcan rathcr than Afro-American tcrms."
Although frith docs not ,lCtuallymise the issue, onc might wondcr why
thc changc from harmony to rhrthm accompanied the advcnt of tcch-
nology. It could have simph rcmfon:cd thc centralit\· of mclodv and har•
mony. Obv1ously, rcproducnon rcd111ology(c.g., c~ssettc tap~s) allows
for multiplc contexts for usagc, rct:eptton, and acccss to a varíen• of
musics \\ 1th d1ffcrcnt cultural pnoritil'S. Gi\'cn thc shift ro rhvthm ·and
timbre as a source of popular plca'>urc 111 thc agc of reprodu~tion and
thc undcmablc ccntrality of black musical forms that heavily pri,·ilcge
rhythm and timbre, rhcn 1t secm<,reasonablc to suggest that rccording
tcchnology ha.s bcen thc pnman \'chicle for prondmg acccss to black
impact on thc tcrms of popular plcasurc.
Computer sampling instrumcnts e reate access to sounds formerly un-
copyable and therefore unprotct:ted · Bccausc \·en• few sampling cases
have bccn litigated (so far, virrually ali contcsts have bccn settled out of
court), qucstions rcgarding propcr dearance, whcn it is ncccssary, what
constitutcs a rccogni1.ablc portion, ,rnd what fcc is reasonablc for such
usagc remams unrcgul.lted. · In somc 1:a.~cspublishcrs havc bcgun to
ask outragcous ices for rclativcly rrnnor usagcs; in ocher cases, rappcrs
have avoidcd clearing s,miplc uses and havc had to pay hcfry fces aftcr
thc album's su1:1:cssfulrclcasc. In some imtances, of coursc, no clcar-
ancc is obtaincd, and rhc samplc magc gocs unnonccd b,· publishcrs,
but, thcsc ca~es are incrcasingly rarc. To furthcr complicare matters, the
<Jucstion of rights to futurc use are in part dcrcrmined by the terms of
original artist~' contran at thc time thc "'origmal" record was relcased.
lñi\ means that 1f, for cxamplc, thc.:record contract that CO\'Crcdthe
rccording of Aretha Fr,mkhn 's "Rcspcn" d1d not havc a prm ision that
or compositions, thcn she would not sce mud1, if am·, of the monc\'
bcmg negottatcd roday for samplc magcs. E\'en more disturbmg is th~
f,ll t that many black artists do not have publishmg rights to thcir songs,
whkh means that sound n:cordmg use, thc lc.tst legally protcncd arca,
Son/ s,mir Fonn / 91
 is thc most likcly territory for older rccording artists to make claim~.
In thesc cases, most proceeds from sampling claims would go to the,r
record companies. It is also impartant to rcmcmber that, even ,~hcn an
artist has publishing rights, the record company gener~II~ retams over
94 pcrccnt of thc record sales procee~. It is the r:mat'.1111g 6 pcrc:nt
or less-and 6 percent is a gencrous esumate--that 1spatd to thc arttst.
And it is out of this maximum of 6 pcrcent that sampling usage fees are
either taken or rcceived.
Charges lcveled against rappers for stealing from their musical fore-
bears are valid· clearlv, such musical forces as James Brown, Sly Stone,
and Aretha Fr~in ·should be compensated for the reformulation. of
¡11
their work. But these crics of thievery against rappers are suspect gtven
1
that they have bcen used to obscure che most serious and profound
thefts against black artists. When a samplc is illegally used and the song
generates substancial sales, i.t is the record company that loses con-
trol over its "produce" and again the record company _that reaps th_e
grcatcst rewards whcn such samplcs are legally app~opnatcd. Thc pn-
1 mary thcft against thc musical forcbcar took place m thc r~cord com-
1 pany officcs long beforc rnany rappers finished grade _school. Althoug~
\ James Brown has spcnt substantial time and moncy m ~1otlegal pursutt
of his sharc of rap's profit from his music, Gcorgc Chnton, the other
godfather of rap samplcs, has taken an approach that secrns acutcly awarc
of chis "initial" theft as it werc. Clinton has recentiy rdeascd thc first of a
six-volumc collcction of sounds and prcviously unrcleascd out takcs and
songs entitled Sample Someof Disc, Sample~ome of D-:1_.1'.A~ report~d
in the VillageVoice'sRockbeat colunm, "whtle thc ongmal. bits are _sttll
thc propcrty of the labds on which thcy werc rccorde~, 1am sess1ons
and Ji,·e recordings (cvcn of classic traclcs) owncd by Clmton can b~ at
, 11 1
your fingertips." SampleSomeof Disc is designcd to attract yo~ng a~nsts
1
~nd producen,; it featnrcs a how-to-get samplc c~earancegmde wtth a
collaborative-mindcd fee systern: No upfront fee 1scharged, produccrs
1 or musicians are "charged only per record sold, so if your single ílops,
1
you won't be in thc red."'~ . .. . up. Mustcally speakmg, tcw rap albums have been ablc to match the
This issue of sampling thicvery usually pertams to tatrly recogmzabk
1
samplcs, which in legal terms rcfcrs prirnarily to harmo~ic, mclodic, ~nd
Ivrical thefts. Drum samplcs, which are particularly dtfficult to cla1m,
1 ~re thc rnost widcly used san1ples in rap music, not the "hooks" or
"key phrases" that constitute the traditional n:iarenal usagc issues. _so,
evcn with thc legal cxploston that rap sarnplmg has caused, the cur·.
rcnt state of samplmg clearancc does not begin to scratch thc smface ol
rappcr's use of prcrecordcd sounds: "While a Sly Stonc organ sampk
li J. A C • N O t S t / 'I 2.
may catch a layman's ear, the esscnce of the hip-hop song may be a
s~are drum from thc Honeydrippers' 'lmpeach the Presidcnt 'addcd to
Z1ggy M?dcliste's kick drum, or Larry Grahams' bass, rearr~nged into
a rhytl~tc pattern from J.B.'s drummer John 'Jabo' Starks (if vou've
heard Ene B. and Rakim, you've heard Jabo.) Unless vou're ordained
you m~y not recognize thc source."· 6 Maybc rap music rcpresents th;
?
real 1g ~ayback." By defining music in such a way as to obscure black
contnbut1011s and achicvements, thc music industry and the legal svs-
tem l~averendered c_urrent measurement of black rhythm, intonati~n,
:1°d_ttmbrc-for thctr profit-virtually inaccessiblc. Thc ,·erv laws that
Just'.fied and aided in the theft from and dcnigration of an 'oldcr gen-
cratt?n of black arti.sts have created a profitablc, legal Joopholc and a
rcla~l\·ely_free-play zone for today's black artists. This creativc cul-de-
sac is rapidly cvapo~ating. The record companies are increasingly likcly
to hold albums _unttl ali samplcs are clcarcd, until publishers and other
record comp~1t~s nego_tiate their profits. And many arcists past and
present are claunmg thetr ~harcs. Sadler and othcrs have bcen cmphattc
that the crackdown has ~enously affccted rap music production, making
bold s~plc use~, cspec1allysamplcs from the more powcrful publishers
and arttsts lcss_hkely.It <loesensure that musicians (including sampkd
~appers) are bemg c~m~cnsated for their work, and on the flip sidc it en-
u>Ura~es 1~ore soph1sttcatcd cloaking devices-ways to use interesring
material wtthout detcction.
. Eric B. and Rakim's 1986 debut album represents a critica! momcnt
m the devclopment of rap's sonic presence, the articulation of tech-
n<~logy_ ~ a colleagu~ in th~ ucation and a forthright acknowledgment
ot muste as commodu:y. Pazdin Fu/1is explicit both about the economic
~nd cultural considerations at work in rap music. Thc album cover art
k:arurcs a collection of hcavy gold rope chains, rings, and clips, $rno
htlls,and a personal check that appears to be signed bv Ronald Reagan
.lnd who~e dallar amount and payec are obscured by g~ld chai.ns.Eric B.
.andRa~m are so g?od ~t what they do that cven Reagan had to pay
grttty, heaw, dark bcats and overall character of Paid in Full, although a
numbcr of attemp:s havc bcen made.'· The titlc cut opens with a multi-
llrum rhythm sectton and a dialogue between Eric B. ami Rakim that
llll·.ue, them with~n a particular recording and production canip. The
fm,1n.·rsc opens w1th the bass linc from Dennis Edward's "Don't L00 k
illl\' r·urt 11er" ; m
· tt,
· Rakim tells the story of life on che edge and con-
•1·11111y_ ~eturns to_mo?ey, t~c means of survival. Thc constanr cutting
1 1
U d lll1X1ngof Ene B. s muste kceps che listencr in a perpetua! statc of
S11ulS,mic Fmns / 'J l
 1
1,11
anticipation; thc walking bass line and the flutc riff give thc illusion of
a lyric and purposeful gait. Rakim's dccp and ominous voice combined
with sarcastic refercnces to lifc on thc cdge of respcctability kcep the
1)11
listencr on edgc:
J\ Thinkin' of a master plan
This ain't nothin' but swcat inside my hand
So I dig into my pocket ali my moncy's spent
So I dig deepcr-srill comin' up with lint
So l start my missioo and lcavemv residencc
Thinkin' how I'm gonna gct som~dcad Prcsidents
I need mooey, l uscd to be a stick up kid
So I think of ali the devious things I did
I used to rol! up, "this is a hold up-ain't nuttin' funny
¡1
11¡1
Stop smiling ain't still don't nothin' movc but the money"
But now l learnedto earn causeI'm righteous
¡ I feel great, so maybc I might just
Searchfor a nine ro five
78
And if I thrivc, thcn maybe J'll stay alive.
After Rakim's rhymc, thcy gct ready to !cave che studio. Rakim sug-
gcsts that they, "pump up the music and count [thcir] money." Eric B.
then tells Ely, thc cngincer: "Yo, but check chis out, yo Ely! Turn thc
bass down, and just kt the bcat keep rockin.'" Eric B. and Rakim sign
1 off with "Pcacc" right before a long and complcx scratch and samplc
solo by Eric B. Surcly Eric B. is not counting his money whilc Ely mixcs
1
this solo, but the illusion of effortlcssness further proves his/their ex-
:!111
pertise and mastcry over technology. A second conversation betwecn
Eric B. and Rakim brings thc listener back to the confines of the studio,
11iil
and, in what seems to be an afterthought, Eric B. asks, "what hap-
1il¡ I pened to peace?" Good question. The piccc doses with "Pcace" cchocd
11
1 1 in the mix.79
This rap's acknowlcdgmcnt of thc presencc of the recording studio
I· 1 juxtaposed against Rakim's rhymc about lifc on thc street without
moncy, demystifies tcchnology and its production and highlights the
1;1¡1' 1
reality of rapas a means of upward mobility for young blacks for whom
'11 meaningful jobs for meaningful pay are scarce. In this rap, thc studio and
the rehearsed monitored production (or absence of improvisation) asso-
ciatcd with it are deempbasized by Eric B. and Rakim. Thcy secm to bavc
1 i¡¡l
,1 I
l just walked in off the street and started rolling tbe tapes. Simultaneously,
the powcr oftechnology (thc rccording industry) is posited as thc rea-
1
son for their material succcss. Eric B. and Rakim suggest tbat they are
1¡1I
1
in controlofwhat technology produces-including its on-site manager,
1 Ely, the cngineer. Ncedlcss to say, actual artistic control over record-
11 ing production is quite circumscribed for musicians. Instead, Eric B.
¡I;
1
11\ 1\ l. A C K N O I S E / e¡.¡
and Rakim's control over Ely is to be understood as symbolic domina-
tion over tbc process of technological reproduction. Thcir overt concern
with profit and commodity production reveals the primary agenda of
thc recording industry as well as the real need to be compensated for
one's performance. They implicitly contradict the myth of artistic free-
dom and anxiety ovcr mass cultural marketing limits and yet scem to
perform crcatively. Eric B. and Rakim resist thc masked and natural-
ized dominancc of thc institutional structure by ovcrtly cxprcssing its
presence and logic.
Rap music is a tcchnologically sophisticated and complcx urban
sound. No doubt, its forebears strctch far into the orally influenced tra-
ditions of African-Amcrican culture. But the oral aspects of rapare not
to be understood as primary to the logicof rap nor separate from its
technological aspects. Rap is fundamentally literate and deeply tcchno-
logical. To intcrpret rapas a director natural outgrowth of oral African-
American forms is to romanticize and decontcxtualizc rap as a cultural
form. It rcquires erasing rap's significant sonic presence and its role in
shaping technologica], cultural, and legal issues as they relate to de-
fining and creating music. Retaining black cultural prioritics is an active
and often resistivc process that has involved manipulating established
recording policies, mixing tcchniques, lyrical construction, and the defi-
nition of music itsclf.
The lyrical and musical tcxts in rap are a dynamic hybrid of oral tra-
ditions, postliteratc orality, and advanced tcchnology. Rap lyrics are a
uitical part of a rapper's identity, strongly suggesting the importance
of authorship and individuality in rap music. Yet, sampling as it is used
hy rap artists indicares the importancc of collcctive identitics and group
histories. Thcre are hundreds of sharcd phrascs and slang words in rap
lyrics, yet a given rap text is the personal and emotivc voice of the rap-
pcr.~0The music is a complex cultural reformulation of a community's
knowledge and memory of itsclf. Rap Iyrics and the sampled sounds that
,ll"c.:ompanythem are highly litcratc and technological, yet they articulare
., distinct oral past.
I ,ike many groundbrcaking musical gcnres, rap has cxpandcd popular
,1uralterritory. Bringing togcther sound elemcnts from a widc range of
~ourccs and styles and relying heavily on rich Afrodiasporic music, rap
musicians' technological in(ter)ventions are not ends in and of them-
~l·lvcs,thcy are means to cultural cnds, ncw contexts in which priorities
.in- ,hapcd and expressed. Rap produccrs are not so much dclibcratcly
working against thc cultural logic of Western classical music as thcy are
Sa11/Sonic Forcc.f / 9'i
working within and among distinctly black practiccs, articulating srylis-
tic and compositional prioritics found in black cultures in thc diaspora.
As has been madc clcar, thcse practices do not take place in a cultural and
political vacuum. Rap's sonic forces are often contested on the grounds
that they are not creative, constirnte theft, and are nonrnusical. In othcr
cases, these black approachcs to the use and manipuJation of new tech-
nologies are rendered invisible as they are joyfully appropriatcd. Sam-
pling, as employed by rap produccrs, is a musical rime machine, a ma-
chine rhat keeps time for the body in motion and a machine that recalls
other times, a tcchnological proccss whereby old sounds and rcsonances
can be embeddcd and recontextualized in the present. Rap technicians
cmploy digital technology as instruments, revising black musical stylcs
and priorities through the manipulation of tcchnology. In this process
of tcchno-black cultural syncretism, tcchnological instruments and black
culturaJ priorities are revised and expandcd. In a simultaneous cxchangc,
rap music has made its mark on advanced rcchnology, and technology
has profoundJy changcd the sow1d of black music.

ti I isa Lconc

JI I A < K N O 1 '> F / ))f>