According to the Encyclopedia Britannica, rap is a “musical style in which rhythmic and/or rhyming speech is chanted (“rapped”) to musical accompaniment. This backing music, which can include digital sampling (music and sounds extracted from other recordings), is also called hip-hop”.
The song “Paranoia” has characteristics of rap, showing examples of digital sampling that appear at 0:01sec and 0:07sec of the song. These sounds are taken from the Hairy Fairy Hotaruna by the Monroeville Music Center and are incorporated into the rhythm of Paranoia, which continue to appear throughout the song. Chance rapping over “musical accompaniment” give the lyrics more emphasis than if they were spoken plainly, as his words are accentuated by the music’s bass, pauses and kicks. The song also appears to have elements of hip hop, incorporating long drawn out electronic chords layered with a subtle synth. The cadence and rhyme scheme of the lyrics are normal for a song of its genre, including strong alliteration in lines like,
“Trapped in the middle of the map, with a little bitty rock
And a little bit of rap
That with a literary knack and a little shitty Mac
And like literally jack”
I feel Acid Rap and songs like Paranoia challenge the genre of rap. The song includes non traditional electronic sounds which are reminiscent those heard in pop songs. The intonation, and emotion of the song are more appealing because Chance’s position not only honest but vulnerable and concerned. This becomes more noticeable towards the end of the song, and in the final verse.
“It just got warm out, this this shit I’ve been warned about.
I hope that it storm in the morning, I hope that it’s pouring out.
I hate crowded beaches, I hate the sound of fireworks.
And I ponder what’s worse between knowing it’s over and dying first.
Cause everybody dies in the summer.
Wanna say ya goodbyes, tell them while it’s spring.
I heard everybody’s dying in the summer, so pray to God for a little more spring.”
– Brett
References:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZbNoAszHY-s
https://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/chi-chance-the-rapper-album-review-20130510-column.html
https://www.britannica.com/art/rap
https://consequenceofsound.net/2013/05/album-review-chance-the-rapper-acid-rap/
March 6, 2019 at 4:24 pm
Brett, I feel like you could have gone further in your discussion of the song and rap characteristics, much as you really expanded your discussion in wonderful ways in your second post.
B