Famous Hip Hop artists/ EMINEM
Listening Analysis: Copy the notes below into your music exercise book.
Tempo: Tells us the speed of music.
Lento- Slow
Moderato- Medium
Allegro- Fast
Accelerando- Gradually getting faster.
Ritardando- Gradually getting slower.
Time Signature: Tells us how many beats in a bar.
EG: 2 3 4
4, 4, 4
Tonality:Quality of sound.
Major: Sounding bright and happy.
Minor: Sounding sad and dark.
Dynamics: Volume of sound.
Piano: Soft
Mezzo: Medium
Forte: Loud
Fortissimo: Very Loud
Crescendo: Gradually getting louder
Decrescendo: Gradually getting softer
Listen to the following songs and fill in the table below:
1) Grandmaster Flash: here
Grandmaster Flash was a New York DJ who pioneered rap techniques such as mixing, scratching and phasing in the 1970’s. In the 1980s he went on to have a number of rap hits, including ‘The Message’, while claiming to have been the man who invented rap.
2) RunDMC: here
All members of RunDMC were raised in the same part of Queens, New York, and they were the first rappers to achieve platinum status, for their album Raising Hell. They took a strong anti-violence and anti- drug stand in their music and had hits such as ‘Rock Box’, ‘It’s like That’ and “Papa Crazy”.
‘It’s Tricky’
3) Public Enemy:
Political rappers, Public Enemy focused on issues of concern to Afro- Americans,such as prejudice and exploitation, and quickly became the ‘voice of the people’. Many of their songs were banned because the words were too explicitly violent or sexual.
4) Beastie Boys: here
Originally a punk band, Beastie Boys began incorporating rap into their songs from the mid 1980’s and continue today as one of the most controversial, enduring and successful pop rap acts. They have had four albums in the top 10.
Best known for ‘Fight for your Rights to Party’.
5) Jay Z: here
One of the most popular and successful of New York Rappers.
Known for ‘Izzo’, ‘Take Over’ and ‘Can’t Knock the Hustle’.
He was known for his crafty lyrics and metaphoric lines.
EMINEM:
Short Biography:
Born Marshall Mathers in 1973, Eminem had a difficult upbringing in Detroit and this is evident in his work.
He is well known for his skill in changing verbal pace and style without losing the beat, along with his abilities in assonance and alliteration, his critics claim he is a misogynes and homophobic.
Eminem displayed early interest in rap, performing from the age of 13, and came second in the 1997 Rap Olympics MC battle. This led indirectly to his first recording contract.
Being white rapper in a predominantly Afro- American market, it was extremely difficult to get acknowledged, however despite being the minority has been labelled
the ‘Great White Hope’ for rejuvenating rap at a time of growing sterility in the late 1990’s.
His first album, The Slim Shady LP, was one of the most popular albums of 1999.
While pop rap was consistently concerned with money, cars, jewellery and parties,
Eminem sang about deeper anger, social conditions, family break-up, mental illness, politics and the shallowness of the music industry.
Analysing Eminem’s Raps:
‘MOCKINGBIRD’ here
The song ‘Mockingbird’ is a good example of Eminem’s more serious style. A hit in 2004 in both the United States and Britain, the song is addressed to his daughter Haillie and Niece Laney, for whom he has custody. The song makes reference to recurring themes in his songs: his childhood, his relationship with his wife and his own life.
RAP Lyrics of “Mocking Bird”- Eminem:
Yeah
I know sometimes things may not always make sense to you right now
But hey, what daddy always tell you?
Straighten up little soldier
Stiffen up that upper lip
What you crying about?
You got me
Hailie I know you miss your mom and I know you miss your dad
Well I'm gone but I'm trying to give you the life that I never had
I can see you're sad, even when you smile, even when you laugh
I can see it in your eyes, deep inside you want to cry
Cause you're scared, I ain't there?
Daddy's with you in your prayers
No more crying, wipe them tears
Daddy's here, no more nightmares
We gon' pull together through it, we gon' do it
Laney uncles crazy, ain't he?
Yeah but he loves you girl and you better know it
We're all we got in this world[2]
When it spins, when it swirls
When it whirls, when it twirls
Two little beautiful girls
Lookin' puzzled, in a daze
I know it's confusing you
Daddy's always on the move, mamma's always on the news
I try to keep you sheltered from it but somehow it seems
The harder that I try to do that, the more it backfires on me
All the things growing up his daddy that he had to see
Daddy don't want you to see but you see just as much as he did
We did not plan it to be this way, your mother and me
But things have gotten so bad between us
I don't see us ever being together ever again
Like we used to be when we were teenagers
But then of course everything always happens for a reason
I guess it was never meant to be
But it's just something we have no control over and that's what destiny is
But no more worries, rest your head and go to sleep
Maybe one day we'll wake up and this will all just be a dream
[Chorus]
Now hush little baby, don't you cry
Everything's gonna be alright
Stiffen that upper lip up little lady, I told ya
Daddy's here to hold ya through the night
I know mommy's not here right now and we don't know why
We fear how we feel inside
It may seem a little crazy, pretty baby
But I promise momma's gon' be alright
It's funny
I remember back one year when daddy had no money
Mommy wrapped the Christmas presents up
And stuck 'em under the tree and said some of 'em were from me
Cause daddy couldn't buy 'em
I'll never forget that Christmas I sat up the whole night crying
Cause daddy felt like a bum, see daddy had a job
But his job was to keep the food on the table for you and mom
And at the time every house that we lived in
Either kept getting broken into and robbed
Or shot up on the block and your mom was saving money for you in a jar
Tryna start a piggy bank for you so you could go to college
Almost had a thousand dollars till someone broke in and stole it
And I know it hurt so bad it broke your momma's heart
And it seemed like everything was just startin' to fall apart
Mom and dad was arguin' a lot so momma moved back
On the Chalmers in the flat one bedroom apartment
And dad moved back to the other side of 8 Mile on Novara
And that's when daddy went to California with his CD and met Dr. Dre
And flew you and momma out to see me
But daddy had to work, you and momma had to leave me
Then you started seeing daddy on the T.V. and momma didn't like it
And you and Laney were to young to understand it
Papa was a rollin' stone, momma developed a habit
And it all happened too fast for either one of us to grab it
I'm just sorry you were there and had to witness it first hand
Cause all I ever wanted to do was just make you proud
Now I'm sitting in this empty house, just reminiscing
Lookin' at your baby pictures, it just trips me out
To see how much you both have grown, it's almost like you're sisters now
Wow, guess you pretty much are and daddy's still here
Laney I'm talkin' to you too, daddy's still here
I like the sound of that chair
It's got a ring to it don't it?
Shh, momma's only gone for the moment
[Chorus]
And if you ask me too
Daddy's gonna buy you a mockingbird
I'mma give you the world
I'mma buy a diamond ring for you
I'mma sing for you
I'll do anything for you to see you smile
And if that mockingbird don't sing and that ring don't shine
I'mma break that birdies neck
I'll go back to the jeweler who sold it to ya
And make him eat every carat don't joke with dad (haha)
[1]Assonance- Dad and Had
[2]Alliteration with the ‘W’
[3]Assonance-Swirls/ Twirls
[4]Rhyme
In RAP, performers use a number of grammatical techniques when creating and delivering their raps.
1. Assonance- is the use of the same vowel sound with different consonants or same consonants with different vowel sounds. EG- time and light/ mystery and mastery.
2. Alliteration- is the use of the same vowel or consonant at the start of each word or stressed syllable in a line of verse (e.g. round and round the rugged rock the ragged rascal ran)
3. Rhyme- is the use of similar sounds at the end of two lines of verse
(Eg- Im a poet, and I didn’t know it).
Answer the questions in your Exercise books
‘Mockingbird’
Questions:
1. Underline the 5 phrases that use assonance.
2. Circle the words that use alliteration.
3. Highlight the phrases that use rhyme.
4. Describe the song introduction.
5. The rap accompanied by what instrument?
6. How many chord progression do you hear?
7. Is the chord progression in a major of minor key?
8. How does Eminem maintain the rhythm in his delivery
9. List two differences in Eminem’s delivery and instruments accompanying in
the verse and chorus.
10. The chorus music and lyrics make reference to a children’s rhyme. Which one is it and why might it be relevant to this song?
11. Listen closely to the lyrics. What are some of the personal experience Eminem describes in the song?
12. Given the personal nature of this song, why might it have been popular with the wider audience?
13. What is the time signature of the song?
14. Describe the tempo of the song. How does the tempo contribute to the song’s atmosphere?