Hip Hop Beats in time signatures other than 4/4???

  • Thread starter Thread starter Protagonist
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It's actualy still in 4/4, in four 4-beat bars, but in the first bar he accents 1, 2-and, and 4 then covers a straight 4/4 for 3 more bars. It's a good example of syncopation. He accents the "and" beat to get a feel like 3 in the first bar.

So if you have a groove that counts like this:

1-and-2-and-3-and-4-and

Where a normal backbeat would accent the second and fourth beats, like this:

1-and-2-and-3-and-4-and

in "Grammy Family" he's accenting like this:

1-and-2-and-3-and-4-and

It makes for a cool 3 feel in that first bar, and since it's grouped by accent it feels like three eighths, three eighths, two eighths, four quarters (repeated 3 times)

Nice feel, but still 4/4 technically. Syncopation is a powerful tool for making interesting rhythms in common time. (Any time really.)

Nice example!

p.s. If the color thing confuses you, just count out those lines to a 4/4 beat, and clap your hands on the red parts to see what I mean.
 
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well actually if you count it, after the first bar that has syncopation, theirs actually 4 more bars of 4/4, so its like hes laying 5 bars down, then starting over rhis progression. Ive tried to recreate this and its hard form me, how off is the syncopation? are the snares actually between the beats with an off set?
 
Grammy Family is 4s, he just rapped with a swag thar's confusing you.

The way you know any song is in 4s is if you can sing another song over the beat without any problems other than having to speed up or slow down.

I think "i'm Ready" by dipset may be an off #, but I'd have to hear it to confirm.
 
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yea i think its in 4/4 too, but he lays 5 bars, then startes over
 
Whoops, the "regular" back repeats 4 times (as Gutty pointed out.).

"Grammy Family" In a nutshell...

Start a 4/4, clap on the red beats.

1-and-2-and-3-and-4-and
1-and-2-and-3-and-4-and
1-and-2-and-3-and-4-and
1-and-2-and-3-and-4-and
1-and-2-and-3-and-4-and

Rinse and repeat.
 
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yo stark, that helps out a lot, so your saying the start of the bar thats the oddball, starts with a snare? is that the reds?

yo that grammy family is one of my favorite joints out right now just because how different it is
 
runk music from dipset isn't in 4/4 ithink, and rihanna's Pon de replay neither...
 
^^^I think the off snare may confuse people into thinking otherwise, but that's the recipe, 4/4.
 
oh whoops didnt read to clap on the reds, answered my own question. HEHE
 
Yup. It's a great groove. Slinky.

Hey Gutty, I just noticed that you're using a 3-on-4 syncopated line in the intro to your song "L-Ville Hood Hop". It's the buzzy synth part running three note arpeggios.

See, you're doing it and you didn't even know. ;)
 
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really? huh? didnt even know, maybe thats a reason so many people like that one
 
wow at all the confused cats. its really simple to find 4/4 if u can count beats 1,2,3,4 9 times outta 10 its 4/4
 
^^ exactly, its 4/4, nice groove though, he does similar grooves like this before. That last post by Stark should help those still confused on this one.
 
3/4 note

It's realy simple!
if you count 1 - 2 - 3 - 1 - 2 - 3 - 1 - 2 - 3 - 1 - 2 - 3
then it's a 3/4

I don't think that it is simple to rap on an instrumental like that!
pz
RZ
 
Ghetto Mafia "Straight from The Dec, they created their own trademark style off of 3/4.
Kanya " We Are The Champions" also 3/4. Majority of my shyt offline, 3/4.
 
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"Spaceships" By Kanye. The sample was in 3/4 but the beat was actually done in 4/4. It's a double up on the tempo and a little creative slicing. It just sounds complex. Remember when you sample the hi-hats actually move your song you dont actually have to count downbeats. It's all about being creative. Whatever feels good.
 
deRaNged 4 Phuk'dup said:
There's a group out of atlanta whos names I can't remember(Ghetto Mafia i beleive), they were making a buzz in the late 90s. The had a reall choppy style, did alot of songs to 3/4.
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King Ace, you remember Ghetto Mafia? I was thinking that was their name, those dudes used to kill that 3/4 style!
 
Urban music is majorly constructed in a 4/4 pattern because of the manny in which the lyricism of the music was designed. Before there were mpc's, producers, and DJ's; the manipulation of the lyricism in urban music required a steady beat although originally there were no "beats". If you look at the styles of music that fathered genre's like Hip-Hop you'd see that those styles very seldomly encompassed a 3/4 or related pattern, and if it did it would change the feel of the song and it would stray away from it's original genre. (i.e. "The Blues" - 3/4 Blues just sounds so offset that it doesn't quite sound like blues other than the chord progressions)

Music that is construct in 3/4 and other closely related signatures embody a certain stylistic to the piece; i.e. - most music composed in 3/4 are said to be "Waltzy" and would stray far away from the principles and rhythmic function of "Urban Music". This is not to say that a creative person can't pull off a 3/4 Hip-Hop beat; it just wouldn't be Hip Hop in it's purest form, it'd be something branched off from Hip Hop but "grooved" to not stray too far away from it's roots/foundation.

Peace.
-C.T.
 
3/4 | 6/8 beats

Thanks for the feedback everyone. I'll have to check out ghetto mafia, seems like they did some 3/4 stuff. Also, someone mentioned this earlier, but the last song off Jay-Z's black album is definately 3/4 (6/8 depending on how you count). I think he kills it in that song...funny cause that was always one of my favorite songs off that album. Maybe because it wasn't in 4/4. As far as rappers not being able to rap on a 3/4 beat...I think Jay proves that wrong.
 
Does any one have an Audible example. Ya all have drumkits. make an example.
 
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