Multi-genre/talent artists
- Mar 6, 2017
- 4 min read
Versatility is what I believe is one of the most important qualities of internationally successful artists of today. Multi-talent artists are at the pinnacle of the industry, showing their mastery of their knowledge to be able to be successful across multiple platforms of performance and understanding of genre aesthetics.
Being an aspiring Hip hop producer, it’s essential to understand musical characteristics of various genres and subgenres that influence and can intertwine with each other creating new subgenres or fit within existing ones. The responsibility of understanding genres and their roots isn’t solely on the producer or engineer but also the artist as both need to successfully communicate artistic ideas for the project and come to logical conclusions on what needs to be done to accurately create a piece of work that fits within that genre or subgenre with respect to that genre’s musical aesthetic.
American Hip hop artist, Jermaine Lamarr Cole released his fourth studio album ‘4 Your Eyez Only’ on December 9, 2016, which musically is heavily influenced by jazz and classical musical elements while overall being considered as a hip hop album. Cole and many other internationally successful hip-hop artists are known for their ability to add elements of other genres into their music. To better understand the elements, we have to look into what makes this album jazz and classical influenced while falling under the categories of hip hop, conscious hip hop, jazz rap and trap.
The album as a whole can be considered as conscious hip hop because of it’s theme and messages which are displayed lyrically by J. Cole. Conscious hip hop or rap is a subgenre of hip hop that discussed themes such as creating awareness for marginalised groups, challenging dominant political or philosophical notions. The elements and styles within copious rap described by rap and hip hop expert Henry Adaso, include positive, uplifting messages. Early examples of conscious rap tracks include Grandmaster Flash & The Furious 5’s “The Message” released 1982 and Slick Rick’s "Hey Young World" released 1988. From It’s beginning from around the 80’s, conscious rap continued to grow and was closely linked to political hip hop or rap, however, this subgenre was associated with strong politically charged songs, similar to conscious rap, however, less uplifting which may be subjective but more antiauthoritarian. Early examples include Public Enemy and N.W.A who also fall under the category of gangsta rap.
If we go further back to the roots of conscious hip hop we have to also understand what makes hip hop, hip hop, both lyrically and musically. Like many genres, hip hop formed an entire subculture, including turntablism and sampling among other things such as hip hop fashion. It’s such a huge genre that is forever growing and developing musically that if I want to create successful hip hop based projects, I must draw from my inspirations like J. Cole and understand why his work influences me so much and why I am so drawn to his music especially the work from his latest album.
The album begins with the first track ‘For Whom the Bell Tolls’ which sets the tone for the whole album, what stands out to me are the horns being played by jazz artist Theo Croker. Crocker is renown for his speciality as a jazz trumpeter, guided by Donald Byrd, leading jazz trumpeter, multi-Grammy Award-winning composer, recording artist and pioneer in jazz education, known for successfully and controversially in the 1970s for blending jazz, funk and RnB, creating another subgenre. Jazz is a broad term which is hard to define as it has many subgenres but overall the main musical element consists of improvisation which is apparent during the recording session of 4 your eyez only. As it can be seen Crocker alters melodies and even changes time signature, not restricting himself to the time signature of the backing track.
Another genre that can be used to describe one of the tracks is the heavy funk influence on the 7th track, ‘Foldin Clothes’. The track begins with a strong rhythmic groove of a bass line played by J. Cole himself and Steve Lacy, a guitarist and backup vocalist for the group ‘The Internet’. Funk usually rhythmically is based on a two-celled onbeat/offbeat structures, the kick in Foldin Clothes can be heard to be to be two on beat two offbeat followed by another on beat and two offbeat then finally one on beat.
Also, another funk element that can be heard is the guitar playing in a percussive style with a wah pedal effect playing a simple 3 chord pattern. You can hear the similarities of the bass and guitars between the playing style of the J. Cole’s track with funk legend, James Brown’s ‘The Payback’ and ‘Sex Machine’.
Cole and his Dreamville crew successfully created a piece of work that is arguably a timeless piece of work as it fused modern trap style hip hop with elements of jazz, funk and even some classical string elements. understanding these genres have continued to inspire me more into studying further into the roots of hip hop and going through artist’s influences and their influences, broadening my knowledge and driving me to create music with respects to these legendary artists.
Resources:
Wikipediaorg. (2017). Wikipediaorg. Retrieved, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/4_Your_Eyez_Only
Wikipediaorg. (2017). Wikipediaorg. Retrieved, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J._Cole
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theo_Croker
Aboutcom. (2017). ThoughtCo. Retrieved, from http://rap.about.com/od/genresstyles/p/ConsciousRap.htm
William yardley. (2017). Nytimescom. Retrieved, from http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/12/arts/music/donald-byrd-renegade-jazz-trumpeter-dies-at-80.html
Geniuscom. (2017). Genius. Retrieved, from https://genius.com/J-cole-foldin-clothes-lyrics
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