The fine line between dope and wack

Y

YoungZay

flipmaster
I'm not a noob, you can check my beats just to be sure. I was just wondering about how FP would define a wack beat.

Right off the bat I would say:
No bassline
Repetitive Chops
Popular, Recognizable Sample
Chord Progression Within Your Chops?

Well, I don't know. What do you guys think?
P.S. Mods, Is this the right section? I was thinking about the Sampling & Digging section.
 
i dont think any of those characteristics would make a beat wack.....i mean usually its great having a nice bassline, but it depends on the beat really whether or not you need one, in my opinion. As for repetitive chops....same thing...listen to a lot of the popular beats by the "greatest" producers...majority of them are damn repetitive and can get annoying listening to without the vocals... and there's been plenty of popular/recognizable samples made into many beats...just because its recognizable or popular doesnt make it wack...the absence of creativity and originality make it wack...Theres songs out there that you could probably make 5 different beats out and have them all sound different...just depends on the producer....and chord progressions....theres only a handful of those you hear everyday...most pop songs use the same chord progression..

but anyway, i can see how these things could make a beat "wack"....but it really depends.

Personally, if the drums dont sound good...whether too soft, not banging enough, or the drum samples dont sound good together... or the general mix... sometimes a bad mix can still be a dope beat if the beat was done right.. it just really depends what i feel... some beats are down right wack as shit....others tho, i respect and appreciate, even if they aren't my favored style...just because i don't like this/that style, doesn't mean i think the beat is wack...i'm not a fan of country music...do i think its wack? not at all! its just not my thing.
 
ok, i get what your sayin. you raise a good point about the "not my style thing", too. for example, Ryan Leslie isnt at all "my style", but hes a dope producer. And yeah, I feel you. My examples, wouldnt NECESSARILY make a beat wack, but it COULD make a beat wack. Good debating haha.
 
they definitely could make a beat wack...I just thought I'd give my opinion on it anyway...like I said, some beats are wack...others not my style....speaking of ryan leslie....i think i like him more than his beats...tho i haven't heard a whole lot of his music, watching videos of him making beats is crazy...he's like a 1 man band..shit might not be my style, but dude gets nothing but respect from me haha
 
Aw man, those videos were nuts. Like when he gets that horn shipped in an hour, and stays up til 4 in the morning working on a beat.
 
Everyone keeps talking about this Ryan Leslie fellow..need to see what the all the words are about...Lookin him up now.

As far as wack beats and dope beats...I think a beat almost always sounds wack if people either overuse/abuse effects (reverb on everything) or use no effects (no compression, limiting, space on the drums or atmospherics). For dope beats, my ear seems to really like lush soundscapes, bangin and smacky drums, and emphasised lo-ends.. think J Dilla and Flying Lotus. Beautiful shit. It all really depends tho.. quantumleap made a good point regarding country..What is dope to me, is shite to other people, but you can usually tell about the quality of the track by the arrangement/mix. My productions have steadily grown away from repetitiveness and placing everything in the dead center of the track
 
The listener in question is the difference between a wack beat and a dope beat. What might be good or justified to you as being proper, nice sounding or even aesthetically pleasing might not appeal to me. There are rules to music - atonality is atonality and grotesque is grotesque but you can't really say "no bassline" is the fine line between them lol YOU are the line between them, that's all.
 
LostProfit said:
The listener in question is the difference between a wack beat and a dope beat. What might be good or justified to you as being proper, nice sounding or even aesthetically pleasing might not appeal to me. There are rules to music - atonality is atonality and grotesque is grotesque but you can't really say "no bassline" is the fine line between them lol YOU are the line between them, that's all.
Click to expand...
. This is true some1 could pay u to make a beat that u might think is wack but if the customer is happy then you don't care what it sounds like
 
What makes a beat wack? A listener's opinion. If you don't please his/her ears, the beat's wack. If you do please his/her ears, the beat's dope.

LOL at those two wack beat videos. So wack they're good.
 
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Over produced tracks always sound wack too me. Or tracks with way too little or not enough going on in them. Also a lack of variety in the arrangement can make the beat get boring real quick
 
Straight up comes down to opinion.

A straight jazz drummer could likely hate pop dance drumming because of how simple it is.

A straight pop dancer may hate jazz drumming because it isn't as simple to dance to

A metalhead may hate an indie rock song because the riffs are too simple and not distorted

A straight indie player may hate a metal song because the emphasis on skill rather then song structure and easily listening.

a total dubstep lover may hate that old school rhythm and blues because it is lacking in bass frequencies.

A r and b man may hate that dubstep is focused on synthesizers and there is disregard for mid frequencies

If you want to make a popular hip hop style, you don't need to give a shit about other styles of music. But if you want to be able to create many styles of music (styles you may not even particular feel for), you have to be open to the variety of music.

Really just comes down to what you want to do, and no body can get down to ANY style. A big piece of varying your style will come to that realization. As many people will agree




I know i didn't just talk about hip hop, but i felt a more general reply fit the topic well. :cheers::cheers:
 
I have to chime in and agree with probably 80% of the thread.

I make wack loops/beats alllll the time and I'll have about 60% get all sorts of compliments.

I've had a song I considered wack get picked up by a rapper, then remixed by a world famous producer.

Songs been played in three different counties now. People really seemed to like it.

":Beauty is in the eye of the beholder :: Dope is in the ear of listener"
 
I don't think you can define it. I think it's just a case of how it sounds. As someone said, lots of popular music is wrist slittingly repetitive lol
 
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