Hip Hop and Chords

bkd3vil

New member
Is it just me, or do most composed hip hop have no chords? Ive been wonderin how come I dont hear chords and just now I saw a In Da club remake on warbeats and there was no chords. Isnt a composition musically incorrect with out chords and scales?
 
It could be but most of producer never really went to music school, they can play be ear and heart but they wouldnt be able to write down the music itself.
 
when youre playing 4 synths in one track, a leading chord can be too powerful of a sound. rap beats now a day are composed of " lil noises n ****" as kweli so eloquently put it
 
Hip hop and rap beats are by no means traditional musical compositions and and if you asked most producers these days what a blue note is they would tell you it's a jazz record label, so it's a little much to expect an understanding of scales and chord structure.
 
I figured as much but Dre has a PHD in music theory and is now working with orchestras. Thats more knowledge then most musicians will ever obtain in their entire life. Yet, he didnt use chords on In Da Club.
 
bkd3vil said:
Is it just me, or do most composed hip hop have no chords? Ive been wonderin how come I dont hear chords and just now I saw a In Da club remake on warbeats and there was no chords. Isnt a composition musically incorrect with out chords and scales?

chords arent really neccessary, sometimes the melody alone can be fine, the harmony is usually created throught the vocals imo
 
Dre might have a Phd in music theory, but how many producers have Dre money or Dre time. When he came uo with world class wrecking crew he sampled and I'm sure he didn't know sh!t about chords until later when he could afford to, I mean who the do you know that can afford to hire an orchestra for some beats, Dre is ridiculous. Dilla didn't have a degree in music but he would kill Dre in a beat battle.
 
DisoBAYish said:
Dre might have a Phd in music theory, but how many producers have Dre money or Dre time. When he came uo with world class wrecking crew he sampled and I'm sure he didn't know sh!t about chords until later when he could afford to, I mean who the do you know that can afford to hire an orchestra for some beats, Dre is ridiculous. Dilla didn't have a degree in music but he would kill Dre in a beat battle.

an unmixed raw, strait beat battle sure...

but when it comes to the final product.. nobody mixes better then the Doctor

i mean.. u dont need to LEARN chords.. its one of those trial and error type things.. u play one note.. u look at the notes near it.. nd wateva sounds good they probably memorized it.. now do u need to learn the names, and all that.. sure u can if u'd like.. as people say he's workin wit orchestra now.. dre needs these people more then they need him

so how would it sound if dre walked up to dem and was like "i want u to play somethin thats real dark soundin.."

im sure he learned for personal knowledge, to make his music well rounded and more emotional (dominant chords and things like that) & to not look like a fool in front of others..
 
Rap Songs out right now with chords in them(don't know if they're samples, but know they have chords)....
Rich Boy feat. Keri/Polow "My Friend"
Baby feat. Lil Wayne "Pop Bottles"
Chamillionaire feat. Slick Rick "Hip Hop Police"
Mims "Like This"
Gorilla Zoe "Hood Nikka"
Yung Berg "Sexy Lady"
"Crank Dat Soulja Boy"
50 Cent "To The Bank" & "Rollercoaster" not sure about "Get Money" that could just be a thick synth preset, but for me to replay it, I'd use chords.

I think because they're not used as intricately as in other genres of music, you guys miss them.
 
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I'm not suprised that rap doesn't have that many chords. It really doesn't need them. I mean, the idea was the emphasize the breakbeat and the bass. I mean you can add chords, but it's not neccesary. Even in funk, sometimes there was only a one chord vamp but it's how they played it.

The beauty of rap is, good bassline, great drum track and somekind of melodic line (but even that's optional) and what's on your mind...unfourtunatley, what's on some MC's mind's is nothing.
 
i agree with the ones above. some hip hop doesnt really need chords. but imo when they dont have great of a melody either it just sounds simple and generic (crank dat anything). me personally i use chords in a lot of my productions. R&B and a lot of other genre's use chords in almost everything, so i guess it depends on what u do personally
 
I don't know, a chord is just a name given for a particular harmony. Anytime three different notes or more are sounding, you've got a chord. Just because the harmony is formed by different instruments, instead of one, doesn't stop it from being a chord. In hip hop, there is often an underlying bass note, some sort of higher register tone, and a human voice. Provided they're different notes, that would be a chord.
 
DisoBAYish said:
Dre might have a Phd in music theory, but how many producers have Dre money or Dre time. When he came uo with world class wrecking crew he sampled and I'm sure he didn't know sh!t about chords until later when he could afford to, I mean who the do you know that can afford to hire an orchestra for some beats, Dre is ridiculous. Dilla didn't have a degree in music but he would kill Dre in a beat battle.


lol timbaland........0:33sec http://youtube.com/watch?v=j_3mixzNFjE
 
the idea that rap doesnt have chords is a joke. whoever said that just has no ear. Almost all dre beats have chords, so do almost all other major producers, neptunes, swizzy, blaze, ninth, all of em, all RnB songs have chords, otherwise the vocalist wouldnt know where to go or how to harmonize,

Major songs with chords

Tupac: Changes
Game:westside story
Kanye: all falls down
Nas: one mic

Im not saying all have them, but many do and rely on them
 
Some producers use chords some don't. I personally love using chords with a catchy melody and a hard baseline, but it took me a while to learn all about harmony and melodies. I'm not going to complain about producers using or not using chords. Hey whatever works for you right? Plus look at it like this if there wasn't simple music out there how would we appreciate something more complex
 
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