An Approach to Chord Progressions in Hip Hop Beats

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PurpleMuzak

PurpleMuzak

E.Mollusk Beats
Hello Fellas!
Since there are lot of music-theory savvy people on here I thought you might share your experience on this topic.

So I decided to finally tackle chord progressions and I can play those I-IV-V progressions with minor chords interspersed, no biggie....if I JUST play the chords on my piano that is.

However when I specifically try to come up with a chord sequence for a hip hop song and play the chords first it feels kinda awkward. To me it seems like most hip hop beats do not emphasize the chords themselves but focus more on melody. Or if they DO have chords they are more likely to be 2 chords being played over and over again.

How do you guys approach the composition of a hip-hop beat?
I'm beginning to feel that I`m overthinking this whole music theory business. :(
 
Need to identify whether you are going to use major chord progressions or minor key chord progressions first

Then, if minor, whether you are going to use modal, harmonic or jazz minor progressions - they are very different beasts

Modal, you are likely to use chord bVII as a substitute for v to provide a sense of movement so you progression will move something like

i-bVII-i-bVII-iv-iib5-bVII-i e.g. Am-G-Am-G-Dm-Bmb5-G-Am - scale tones are 1-2-b3-4-5-b6-b7-8

[mp3]http://www.bandcoach.org/fp/audio/hipHopProgressionsMinor-01.mp3[/mp3]

Harmonic, you will use chord V as the active chord for creating movement, something similar to the above but now

i-V-i-V-iv-iib5-V-i e.g. Am-E-Am-E-Dm-Bmb5-E-Am - scale tones are 1-2-b3-4-5-b6-7-8

[mp3]http://www.bandcoach.org/fp/audio/hipHopProgressionsMinor-02.mp3[/mp3]

Jazz minor, IV is now major as well, and 2 is now minor, so you get more push still, something like the above but now

i-V-i-V-IV-ii-V-i e.g. Am-E-Am-E-D-Bm-E-Am - scale tones are 1-2-b3-4-5-6-7-8

[mp3]http://www.bandcoach.org/fp/audio/hipHopProgressionsMinor-03.mp3[/mp3]

Of course you can combine all three forms and create some truly interesting progressions

i-bVII-i-V-iv-ii-V-i e.g. Am-G-Am-E-Dm-Bm-E-Am - scale tones are 1-2-b3-4-5-b6-6-b7-7-8

[mp3]http://www.bandcoach.org/fp/audio/hipHopProgressionsMinor-04.mp3[/mp3]

Add in parallel major borrowings and life gets real interesting

i-V-i-bVII-IV-iib5-V-I e.g. Am-E-Am-G-D-Bmb5-E-A - scale tones are 1-2-b3-3-4-5-b6-6-b7-7-8

[mp3]http://www.bandcoach.org/fp/audio/hipHopProgressionsMinor-05.mp3[/mp3]

enjoy
 
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Haha you`re going next-level again with your posts!
Thanks for the insights into advanced chord progression, but the problem I have are not the progressions themselves but rather composing a song around it.

If I were to pick up an acoustic guitar to compose a song, then no problem, it`s just strumming the chrod progression. But when I'm in FL Studio trying to make a beat this way there's kinda like a void in my head. In other words it is exceedinly difficult to come up with a song in my head that builds around these chords.
Usually I would just pick a scale, play a melody that sounds right and emphasize the melody with chords.

Probably it's just a matter of how I approach the composition of a beat with chords and it will straighten itself out with time. I was just curious if you could share your own experience with incorporating chord progressions to hip hop beats.
 
Anybody got a chart I can look at to help develop progressions?

I Have the same issue as the OP every time I start with a progression it never ends up sounding like hip hop but more like kid music or something really really pop-ish.

Are there certain chord progressions that create an aggressive or darker feel?
 
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