Pop Culture Anonymous: The Cross Pollination of Hip Hop

Yes, I am aware that this is my second Pop Culture Anonymous post and both times I have done this column I have talked about Hip Hop music. However, I promise that next time I will write about something else... Cross my heart, hope to die. But now that we have gotten that little bit out of the way, lets get down to the topic at hand.

No, I do not look at myself as a Hip Hop connoisseur, expert, or authority but rather as one who listens, loves, and is inspired by the genre more days than none. So despite the fact that an extensive grounding in Hip Hop from a more historical perspective would certainly be beneficial, I doubt that it is imperative. However, regardless of my lack of knowledge in some of hip hop's older music, there is one thing that I have in common with you, the 20-something individual, like myself, sitting at a computer in between somewhere and nowhere: We do not understand the concept of a world without hip hop.

I sound very hip hop-centric right now and that is okay for now, because I would say that most everybody on some level or another listens to the genre. As the demographic of listeners broadens, so do the conventions.

Typically, we can all agree that casual listeners will not necessarily pick up on the fluctuations in production techniques over the course of time and that more devoted fans can point them out with ease and in a nutshell, we could generally say that the late 80's early 90's were characterized very much by drum and base, the late 90's and early 00's were basic synthesis, and from '02-'08 was the more mainstream rise of the sample.

Yes, sampling has been around since the beginning of time so don't blithely think you have a one up on me just yet... However, to say that musicians like Kanye West and Swizz Beatz didn't have a say in making soul beat samples what they are now is a major lapse in judgment. The fact is that, regardless of whether or not you agree with me on this, because of people like these, everybody wants a Kanye track with lots of bass, drums, and a fat lady singing on repeat over and over...

But now we move onward to what I am really trying to discuss in this post: The cross pollination of hip hop. I mean, yes, discussing nostalgic musical recaps of over the last 20 years of my life is great and all, but I could go on about a bunch of other pointless shit that would make this article a waste of space too...

So what is the cross pollination of hip hop and why have I chosen to talk about it? Because it is vastly changing. Cross pollination is essentially the cross breeding of different categories to essentially create something new. With hip hop music, this has been important primarily for its success... However, with regards to picking and choosing from different songs and forms of inspiration, only up until fairly recently (i.e... 10-13 years ago) has the hip hop genre somewhat become comfortable with other faculties of music beyond "traditionally black" genres such as soul and blues.

We can see this now especially with the way production adjusted to more synthesis in the early 2000s and would later allow for more experimental sampling to take place. A good examples would be Special Delivery by G-Dep, Ghostface, Keith Murray and Craig Mac.


After the rise of the sample due to Kanye West's work on Jay Z's Blueprint series back in the early 2000s, we saw a new perspective on hip hop unfurl which at the same time gave birth to a massive number of excellent pieces. But before this turns into a history lesson. What is the point? Well, this about brings us to present day where hip hop is cross pollinating with more electronically inspired tracks such as:

Ludacris' "Ultimate Satisfaction" taken from Benny Benassi's "Satisfaction",

Original:


Ludacris' Version:


Kanye West's "Stronger" Which Is Sampled From Daft Punk's "Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger",

Original:


Kanye's Version (if you don't know this, you live in a fucking cave):


Crystal Castles' "Courtship Dating" and 50 Cent's "Ayo Technology"*

Crystal Castles' Version:


50 Cent's Version:


Despite the fact that Timberland's track "Ayo Technology" and Crystal Castles' track "Courtship Dating" have similar sounds, there is no conclusive information indicating who sampled from who. A common belief is that both artists used the same sample track which is believable. However, the point isn't who sampled from who, but the fact that hip hop is getting sent into a more electronically oriented direction. The movement is excellent, however, with voice enhancing features like T-Pain's infamous auto tune now being royally abused by Kanye West, the incorporation of electronic music in inappropriate, or generally overused applications can damage the genre.

So where does this leave us? I just showed you six videos and talked about the rise of the electronic sample, but what does this mean for the cross pollination of hip hop? To me, in conclusion, I find it to be a beautiful thing. However, I think that at the same time, it is still important to sustain certain styling conventions that preserve hip hop as the art that it is. Yes, the drum and base will be there(we hope) and of course the lyricism which is the staple of hip hop, but at the end of the day, if we cross breed genres at the perfect pace, then you get a truly advanced art that transcends other music groups. However, if one cross pollinates genres too much, then all we end up with is a whole lot of static.

Chuch,
-Knowledge