This is a theory that I firmly believe in. As a producer/emcee/songwriter myself, I constantly have melodies in my head and you can often find me singing around my apartment. For rappers, lyrics come easy. Rappers like Notorious B.I.G., Jay Z, and Lil Wayne are known for coming up with whole songs without writing anything down. So you combine the skill of coming up with melodies and to improvise lyrics off the cuff, you have the right combination needed to write good songs.
In the 90s and for much of this decade a rapper that attempted to seriously sing was considered “soft.” In urban music culture singing was associated with R&B not hip-hop. However, the new breed of rappers have embraced a more melodic approach to their lyrics. Led by megastar newcomers Drake and KiD CuDi, the modern day emcee can be heard using melodic raps throughout entire songs, or better yet singing entire R&B like songs. Some say that this style of rap isn’t real hip-hop, and some say it’s hip-hop evolving.
I think T-Pain’s harsh use of the auto-tune plug-in inspired the increased popularity of this type of rap style. Dayton, Ohio native, Roger Troutman, originated the vocoder auto-tune style, however T-Pain popularized it again for the millennial generation. Soon after T-Pain’s string of hits and his debut album entitled Rappa Ternt Sanga, many artists wanted to use his sound in hopes of duplicating his success. This resulted in many of the songs found on the Billboard charts containing vocals with auto-tune. Lil Wayne is often credited as the first rapper to commercially use auto-tune. His song “Lollipop” featured auto-tune throughout the whole song, and eventually became Lil Wayne’s first #1 hit of his career. Kanye West eventually gravitated to the auto-tune plug in, and created a whole album (808 and Heartbreaks) singing in auto-tune.
Although many rappers still recruit an R&B stud to croon out a hook for their next hit, many rappers have cut their expenses and are taking on the singing duties themselves. Some still use auto-tune, however, some are starting to forgo the auto-tune and rely on their own singing ability, or maybe not singing ability, but their ability to hold a note. This style has opened up many creative lanes for emcees to jump into, and it has encouraged emcees to do less of “traditional rapping” if you will. But whose to say that this is a good or bad thing for hip hop when we’re seeing hip hop reach heights that music critics never would of imagined at the beginning of its era. I don’t mind the new melodic style of rap as much as I mind the content of the music being produced by these artists. Some have meaningful songs about real issues or songs that are just cleverly written, and some just fail to add any originality to their content.
I feel like we’ll see this trend continue on and grow in popularity. I can also see this style evolving into a sub-genre of hip-hop. This could potentially help the genre maintain its relevance in the industry. However, critics may say that it is no longer hip-hop and has crossed over too much to have any association. How do you think this style will evolve?
