I know some of you awesome gentlemen (and women), have been viewing this Hip Hop blog (yeah I’ve been stalking you, whattttt’s up?) but you have not been commenting. Don’t be shy! I’m looking forward to hearing feedback, criticisms and just general comments that contribute to any of the articles here. For the readers who are commenting, that’s great! This post is not directed at you!
Keep being incredible everyone!
Also, a well deserved shout-out to AstroBlackk for keeping this site running! Thank you sir.
Hip Hop Hooray was a single released in 1993 by the Hip Hop group Naughty By Nature. The single was created for Naughty by Nature’s album 19 Naughty III, and aside from their hit OPP, it is probably one of their most well known songs. The video itself is directed by Spike Lee and also has appearances from Eazy-E and Run DMC. Just In knowing Lee directed the video is enough for me to give it credibility. The album, 19 Naughty III, uses Hip Hop Hooray as a great selling point, and in turn provides other excellent tracks; while I cannot say that I liked any particular song on the album as much as Hip Hop Hooray, I can say with confidence that if you enjoyed this single you’ll definitely enjoy some of the other songs the album has to offer. Go listen to a copy.
I introduce STEP YOUR GAME UP! Tutorials I have written to help you, the emcee/lyricist or whatever you’re aiming for, to become adept at the art of writing lyrics. These guides, while tailored for the Hip Hop heads, can pertain to those in many different fields. That means whether you’re reading this guide to learn how to write lyrics for rock music, heavy metal or even poetry, you can take something out of these guides when it comes to writing solid lyrics; Essentially the lyricism in any field is all the same, it just depends on what you want to do with it. I will post numerous chapters and have a Q&A aspect to each of these posts, and definitely feel free to ask questions in the comments!
Rhyme Training
In the last chapter I covered basic rhyming and verse writing, and now we’re going to get a little bit more advanced. Ok I lied, we’re going to get WAY more advanced; maybe not that advanced, but advanced enough that you’ll feel more competent in the art of rhyming. How are we going to do this you ask? By learning how to freestyle!
Why Being Able To Freestyle Is Incredibly Beneficial
Being able to freestyle gives you an edge in writing when you’re NOT freestyling. Contradictory right? Well, not really. You see, when you’re writing a verse that rhymes, you list off in your head words that sound similar, and if you’re good or even decent at freestyle rhyming, you will be able to list of words faster and in essence work more efficiently. However, when you’re first starting out this is far more abstract and takes a lot more work.
On my commute to College today, I look through my list of albums and decide to listen to one of my favorites that I hadn’t listened to in awhile… Illmatic. It got me to thinking, Nas’ Illmatic is to me, and many others, the archetypal perfect Hip Hop album. The flow of the music is brilliant and not once does the music become bland or boring. I can listen to any track on Illmatic and still enjoy it just as much as the first time I ever heard it. Genius.
Normally I dislike the standard album intro but Illmatic was different. The Genesis was like a thesis of everything brilliant in Hip Hop during the 90′s. The samples from Wild Style and Nas and AZ talking about their distaste of the radio is more than enough to send tingles down my spine. Following the brilliance of The Genesis is the first actual track, New York State of Mind, Nas rhymes poetically about his lifestyle yet keeps it on a street level.
