Music genres
Friday 15 February 2008
Do you know your R&B from your funky house? Can you dance to bashment and spit to grime? n2k runs down the music genres with the help of resident DJ Silverjay.
Hip Hop
Hip Hop is all about rapping over beats but did you know that when hip hop first started out, the backing beats were mixed by a DJ? The tracks were usually samples of lots of different songs that the DJ played on the turntables.
Things have changed a bit today! Producers now create backing beats and tracks, though they still often use samples of other tracks. Jay Z, Nas and Eminem have all used samples from other tunes we know and then added their own verses and lyrics.
The biggest stars of hip hop are really these rappers but producers such as Timbaland, Magoo and the Neptunes have also risen to fame over the last few years, finally producers are also getting their dues for hip hop.
R’n’B
The full name for R’n’B is ‘rhythm and blues’. It started way back in the 1940's as a mixture of jazz, gospel and blues. Then in 80's r’n’b started to also bring in elements of soul, funk and even dance music.
Fast forward to the 90’s and producers such as R Kelly started collaborating with hip hop stars and soon a new genre emerged which mixed the vocal and soulful elements of r’n’b with rapping. Nowadays a rap or two is often squeezed into most R&B jams that you hear on the radio.
Partnerships such as Beyonce and Jay Z, Kelis and Nas, Kelly Rowlland and Nelly, Nicole and Timbaland, to name some, show how now the two genres can be seen as almost one sometimes.
Grime
Grime is a type of hip hop rapped over, hype beats – it’s basically a sub genre of hip hop. However the beats tend to be more syncopated and sparse. Many people say that Dizzee Rascal and Wiley were the pioneers of grime, however there were many in London who were collectively responsibly for the scene bubbling in the underground and ultimately becoming recognised.
Grime is a very British genre and it’s the raw, underground sound that makes it so easily identifiable. Grime is now no longer restricted to the underground, partly due to the significant support of radio stations such as 1Xtra, and TV channels like Channel U.
Bashment
The word bashment comes from Jamaican patois for party – bash. It’s all about toasting or rapping over raw beats – also known as 'riddims'. It’s essentially a type of hip hop with a fast reggae beat.
It’s also known as ‘dancehall’ – mainly because of the bashment parties that were held in Jamaica the late 70’s and early 80’s. The parties were held by ‘soundsystems’ who played the music made by local artists. The soundsystem tradition continues today and soundclashes between soundsystems are held all over the world.
Beenie Man, Sizzla and Capleton are some of the biggest bashment names out there, whilst on the pop side Sean Paul is probably the most famous name.
UK Garage
Going over to dance side of things now… garage or UKG evolved from electronic dance and house music
Garage is similar to hip hop in that songs frequently include samples and quick repetition of phrases. It's also diverse in terms of content - both singer Kele Le Roc and So Solid Crew fall into garage. In fact, many R'n'B songs are remixed into the garage versions.
Dubstep
Dubstep however is more moody and with more sparse beats and is a mixture between house and garage. Tracks also sometimes have big 'bass drops', where only the bass plays for a while.
Check out the sound of dubstep on Mary Ann Hobb’s show on Radio 1. The DJ has embraced the music even devoting a whole show to it called 'Dustep Warz' in 2006.
Some of the biggest artists in the genre include Skream and Digital Mystiz.
Funky House
Funky house kicked off in early 2000’s and came from both the house and UK garage scene. It sounds a lot soulful than traditional house and dance tunes, often with some silky vocals on top of the beat.
Some of the biggest tunes from last year were funky house tracks such as Fish Go Deep’s ‘The Cure and the Cause’ which could be heard in clubs up and down the country.
