Due to the growing interest in battle rap and the entire hip-hop industry in general, we present you with a detailed conceptual apparatus (rap dictionary) on Rap so that you can understand what MCs are talking about in their battles.
Autotune– A program for processing and correcting the voice, used to correct the singer's singing from notes. In rap, it has become a household name and identifies all voice correction programs.
underground(underground - underground, underground) - a series artistic directions in contemporary art(in music, literature, cinema, fine arts etc.), which oppose themselves popular culture, mainstream.
Acapella- The text recorded on the microphone, separately from the minus.
Battle- Competition between rap artists is usually accompanied by humiliation of the opponent. A battle track is often nothing more than a diss on an opponent. Battles are divided into online battles (take place on the Internet) and live battles (everything takes place live).
Beat (Beat)- Drum-bass part minus. Previously, they read to a percussion part created by beat-boxing or tapping objects. Initially, this word was used as a beat in rap music. On this moment Any music that is rapped to is called a beat.
beatbox- A beat created solely with the help of the mouth, without the use of musical instruments.
Beatmaker- A person who creates beats in specialized programs such as Cubase, FL Studio and others. good level Beat creation is the use of instruments recorded live and not the use of samples.
beef(Beef) - A feud between rap artists, hangouts or labels, accompanied by diss and frequent live showdowns.
bootleg(bootleg) - a pirated compilation of tracks, which the artist may never even know about.
Becky- An additionally recorded audio track, where the performer usually pronounces only the second part of the line or highlights rhymes and phrases.
Backing vocalist- A person who helps the performer on stage. As a rule, he pronounces the second part of the line, so that the performer has the opportunity to draw air at this time.
Versus() - One of the two most popular live battles in Russia. Based in St. Petersburg.
ghostwriter- A specialist who writes texts for money.
Double time- Reading twice as fast as the rhythm of the music. Outstanding representatives this style are Ceza, Tech N9ne, FIKE, Dom1no and other artists.
double rhymes(Double-rhyme) - The end of the line has two words at once, on which the rhyme will be selected in the next line, also in two words. That is, if the first line ends with “brain and heart”, then it will be necessary to choose a consonance for the word “brain” and a separate consonance for the word “heart”. For example - “poster on the door” (brain - poster, heart - door).
Diss(diss, disrespect) - A track aimed at another artist or someone or something with the intent to "lower him". In such tracks, obscene speech is practiced, abuse towards the opponent and his relatives, threats, jokes below the belt, and so on. Dises are often used in beefs.
EP (EP)- A small album, usually up to 7 songs.
sound engineer- Specialist who mixes and masters tracks.
indabattle(Utkonos) - Battle taking place on the portal indarnb.ru. The second largest battle in Russia. It bears the slang name "Utkonos", because the father of the main organizer of the battle (Snake), is the owner of the Utkonos chain of stores.
instrumental- Synonym general meaning word bit
Cover(cover) - A new version track recorded (re-read) by another artist.
mouth guard- Slang name for the word "acapella".
square rhymes- Rhymes in the text are added at the end of the line, and rhyming words have the same endings. An example of "hand-flour", "mountain-time". It is believed that this is the easiest way to rhyme.
Concert director– A specialist responsible for organizing the performer's concerts.
crunk(Crunk) is a style of southern rap music, with repetitive phrases and fast dance rhythms.
live(live) - Audio or video recording from the performer's concert. As a rule, the mark live is put in the title of the track, so that it would be clear that this is not a studio version, but a recording from a concert.
label(label) - 1) Abroad, the label is record company, which has the rights to release and distribute artists' albums. 2) In Russia, a rap group is called a label. Often this group is primarily united by the studio.
Mike– Microphone
Mastering- the final stage of work on the song, which is designed to make a well-mixed mix louder, brighter, clearer, more transparent and put it on the same level with popular commercial tracks in terms of volume. Also at this stage, you can correct minor errors made during mixing.
Mix(mix) - several musical works(tracks) arranged in a continuous sequence. As a rule, mixes are compiled by DJs for various purposes (for example, for inclusion on the radio in thematic programs). Usually mixes consist of tracks that are similar in genre, mood and other features. On average, the duration of the mix ranges from 25 to 74 minutes.
Mixtape(Mixtape) - 1) In foreign rap, this word means a release made from remixes or mixed tracks. 2) In Russian rap, a mixtape is a collection of tracks recorded on backing tracks, illegally taken from other people's tracks. As a rule, mixtapes in Russia violate the copyrights of performers. A mixtape is also called a collection of tracks recorded for minus, laid out by beatmakers for general use.
Minus- A synonym for the general meaning of the word bit.
Independent battle- A battle taking place on the site hip-hop.ru, which is organized not by the forum administration, but by the forum members themselves.
Noname(Noname) - Not popular enough or unknown artist who does not have a "name". A relatively objective indicator in this aspect can be the number of audio in vk and the number of concerts, as well as the number of visitors who came to the concert.
HP (New Rap) - The largest news rap public vk.
Newschool – A new style hip hop, hallmarks which are the use of fast flow, dashes and various plugins and effects, such as melodyne and autotune.
Old school(old school) early style hip hop, also known as the old school. Prominent representatives of this style are 2Pac, Wu-TangClan and Onyx. Often this is a measured flow without the use of many effects and fast flows.
Official battle - Battle, held on the site hip-hop.ru, organized by the administration of the forum. The biggest battle in Russia.
Punch, punchline(Punch) - This is a concise phrase / line designed to hook an opponent. It can be both a vivid metaphor and a joke below the belt. “The presence of an opponent is optional. It's like a punch line to a joke. Just a catchy phrase or line"
Parts– The prescribed part of one performer on joint track.
Jumps, acceleration- The fundamental part of fast flow. Increase the speed of reading text.
PR– Distribution of the artist's creativity or any information and offer of services.
Innings- Emotions embedded in the reading, placed intonations, the way of pronouncing words, the use of vocals, dashes, accelerations and other specific rap techniques.
Producer– A specialist who is fully engaged in the promotion of the artist, dealing with all legal and financial issues. Often, the name of the performer (nickname) is registered by the producers to themselves, and when the performer changes the producer, he is forced to change the nickname as well, since all rights to the old nickname will belong to the old producer. For this reason, Loc-Dog was forced to change his nickname to Loc Dog.
promo(promo) - release to get acquainted with the work of a particular artist.
Release- Premiere of an album, track, video or collection
Remix(remix)- New arrangement already released track.
rapcore- a subgenre of rock music, characterized by the use of rap as vocals. Rapcore combines the instrumental and vocal properties of styles such as punk, alternative rock, and hip-hop.
Mixing- the stage of work on a song, during which the recorded audio tracks (instruments, main vocals, takes, etc.) are combined into one audio file using various devices and techniques, such as equalization, compression, volume manipulation, placement in space, adding sound effects. Note: vocal correction, synchronization of duplicates and backings - this is not a mixing process, this is a previous one
Note the installation phase.
swag(swag) - An expression of coolness and personality.
skils(Skills) - Submission and different kinds building rhymes.
SlovoSpb() - One of the two most popular live battles in Russia. Based in Krasnodar.
Compound rhymes- The end of the line in the next line rhymes with several words at once. Example: "Apocalypse - In the meantime, get well"
Storytelling- a track that tells a story, while sequentially describing the events, actions and deeds of real or fictional characters.
Sample– A relatively small fragment of a melody (music), taken as the basis for creating a minus. Beats are applied to the samples.
take- recorded fragment, attempt. Usage example: I recorded it all in one take, i.e. with one try.
Track(Track) - A synonym for the word "song" in rap.
Triplets- it time signature. In rap, it is now customary to call a reading with broken chips, like a tanguist, accelerations, etc.
True(True) - A performer who reads the truth, that is, what he really thinks, does and what happened in his life.
Platypus- Slang name for Indabattla.
fast flow(FastFlow) - A serving style based on dashes and accelerations.
fit(ft. or feat) - Means that this is a joint track of two or more artists
Flava(flave) - Hangout, company, group or label.
flow(Flow) - Speed of execution.
Freestyle(Freestyle) - Improvisation in rap. Reading the text composed by the performer on the go.
fake(Fake) - Performers whose lyrics are based on lies. Their characteristic feature is not the ability to "responsible for the words."
Hype- enthusiastic rumors, often deliberately inflated for marketing purposes.
hasl- Any kind of income related to rap or breaking the law (selling drugs, etc.)
hater- A listener who condemns any creativity and has an acute dislike for it.
Homey(Homie) - A friend or loved one.
H.x.ru(persimmon) - One of the most popular forums dedicated to hip-hop culture, hip-hop.ru.
The word "rap" comes from the English rap, rapping, which is usually translated as "knock, hit." It's not difficult to draw an analogy between tapping (and tapping the rhythm) and the rhythm of saying lyrics. Of course, there are also theories that rap is nothing but an acronym. So, it was deciphered both as "Radical American Poetry" (Radical American poetry), and as "Rhythm and Poetry" (Rhythm and poetry) ... yes, as soon as they did not decipher it, but such theories arose among the non-English-speaking population, yes, and the word never was written capital letters, so the first definition of rap most accurately reflects its essence.
And thanks to The Sugarhill Gang track "Rapper's Delight" (1979), the word "rapper" appeared and became widespread. Before, before the advent modern name rap artists, they were called spinners. This name takes its roots from the English spin - to rotate - initially the rapper's work was reduced to manipulating the player's disc.
But enough terms. What is rap and what is its essence? Now, rap is a form of dance music that is characterized by short musical phrases, simple harmonies, and jagged rhythms. In his modern form rap appeared in the 70s. The place of his birth was the American Bronx, and the progenitors - the black population of the country. But visiting Jamaicans "brought" rap to America. It is symbiosis African traditions and Jamaican music led to the fact that in the 70s they began to be called rap.
The spread of rap was greatly influenced by Negro amateur radio, which played this type of music every now and then. In those years, African-Americans were severely restricted in their rights compared to the white population, to the point that there were establishments only for whites. Therefore, blacks had fun as much as they could, including actively rapping. But more for fun than profit.
At first, rap sounded in black clubs in New York. This music was mainly used by disc jockeys who selected the repertoire for dancing. At this time, even minimal musical skills were not required for its performance. In addition, rap is almost the only direction of music in which there was no vocal, it was replaced by special shape singing - recitative.
Later, in 1977, rap hit the streets and evolved into breakdancing. And the enthusiasm of young people for the music of Parliament, Chic, Sly And the Family Stone and James Brown, led to the fact that there was a merger of rap with some other styles in which these performers also worked.
Soon rap went beyond the ghetto and began to gradually conquer the minds of white Americans. And artists such as Ice Cube, Ice T, Run DMC and Public Enemy have made significant changes in the stylistic coloring of this music, which has led to the use of some of its elements in all directions of rock, from techno to hard rock and from house to soul .
But rap went even further than just conquering the white population of America, it began to conquer the rest of the world, even to the point that it reached Russia. So, in the 80s, with the advent of the first discos and disc jockeys in the USSR, this Musical direction. And it is to rap and its influence that we owe the song "Carnival" by Sergey Minaev, which contains some of its elements.
We provoke the wrath of the gods, making up the top popularity of Russian rappers based on social networks.
How to understand which rapper is cooler? By the ability to weave rhymes or by a killer flow? Or maybe by the number of bullet holes in the body or the Grammy on the shelf? Or take touring or iTunes sales? Perhaps here everyone will have their own measures of coolness, fame and popularity. But measuring how much a rapper is loved by his fans is not so difficult - it's 2016 in the yard, and relatively objective popularity figures are right in front of him - in the musicians' social networks.
Enlisting the help of our friend from the public Imho Analytics, we tried to rank the popularity of Russian rappers based on social networks. Why social networks? Because they have long become as commonplace as an aluminum pan in the kitchen or a smartphone in your pocket. Even neighbor grandmothers have accounts in classmates, and only DMX is still unable to use a computer. And even despite the possibility of cheating, the numbers from social networks are more stable and generalized data than, for example, music sales figures or the density of the tour schedule.
How did we count?
We deduced the average number of musicians' followers on Twitter, Instagram and VKontakte. many listeners are subscribed to their favorite musicians on several social networks at once, and we did not want to inflate the numbers due to duplicate information.
And now let's go.
As you can see, the last ten turned out to be quite diverse - here you have a veteran Pencil, and youngsters like Basota, and connoisseurs of punk Anacondaz. Unexpectedly, Lupercal closes the top, which has been on the radar all this year, and in the fall he took part in the revolution of the game, releasing the release "House of a Thousand Drafts". Somewhere nearby there should have been Pharaoh, who was also heard all over last year, but the Dead Dynasty association has a common VK account, so it did not pass the contest mechanics.
Here we have an even more motley dozen. Close her parody projects Bread and Big Russian Boss, the sweet-voiced Tati is next to her label colleague and hero of the year, Scriptonite, and Kravets and Joniboy dilute the patriotism of Misha Mavashi and Harry Topor with romance.
In the middle of the list, strong rap fighters are concentrated - confidently and without surprises. ST starts the top ten, and Slim closes it, which goes almost head to head with his colleague Centr Ptahoy- 125 thousand subscribers against 128. In the middle of the list are namedropping master Janix, Smokey Mo, Rem Digga, The Chemodan Clan, MC Doni, Tony Routh and hit rock 25/17.
Perhaps the most controversial and interesting ten, because of which the editors argued the most. Is it possible to add Dolphin to this list from old memory? How close to rap are Dorn or Jah Khalib with Bianca? Also pay attention to the 14th position - the Ukrainian rapper Yarmak turned out to have a strong and large community of fans.
If the artists of the Gazgolder label are evenly distributed by rating, then the representatives Black Star aiming for the top ten. There are four of them at once - Mot, Christina C, L "One and Timati. Plus Djigan, who left the ranks of the Blackstar mafia. At the same time, Timati took the first place with an impressive margin from Basta, and Oksimiron, who flickered literally everywhere, only closes the top ten.
What you need to know before you start swearing in the comments?
1. The data are taken for the end of December and the first days of January of this year. Over the past time, the artists managed to gain a thousand or two additional subscribers, but due to the holidays, the activity was not the highest and these figures did not affect the final results.
2. Groups like Kasta, Caspian Gruz, TGK and others have counted general indicators and individual subscribers in the accounts of musicians.
3. The sum of subscribers and individual data on social networks were rounded separately, so when summing up the data, the final picture may differ upwards or downwards by a thousand, but this does not affect the final places.
When I was seven years old, I already knew who Tupac Shakur was, by eight I could name several names of rappers from the East and West coast, and at the age of 11 she knew the words to the song "Gangsta's Paradise" by Coolio by heart. I don't remember life well without hip-hop, and that doesn't mean that I'm a wildly advanced listener or a devoted connoisseur of the genre. Hip-hop has long entered the mainstream, since the mid-1980s, the expansion of the genre has not stopped for a second, but in last couple years has taken on truly impressive proportions.
Ten years ago, the scene and the hearts of young music lovers belonged to pop icons, and the competition for the title of the best-selling artist of the year took place within the same genre: Britney Spears competed with Christina Aguilera, Ricky Martin competed with Chris Martin. Taylor Swift has completely different rivals - she has to fight Iggy Azalea and Nicki Minaj for views, and Kanye West has no equal at all. I must say that Taylor herself, despite the status of a pop princess, builds her hits on flirting with hip-hop in one form or another.
Open any influential music publication - home page The Fader takes Tyler, The Creator, best track of the week according to Pitchfork - "Ice Princess" by Azealia Banks, and Noisey publishes documentary about a 13-year-old rap prodigy. All in all, hip hop definitely rules the music world. From time to time we wonder: when will the rap frenzy end? For an answer, we turned to professionals.
Oleg Sobolev
musical critic
The fashion for hip-hop to expropriate pop music will end exactly when hip-hop itself ceases to be popular. That is, given hip-hop's innate ability to mutate over time, never. It's a long story - black music has always attracted white people. Enough to remember The group Rolling stone s, who played black R&B covers early in his career, or, to go even further, The Original Dixieland Jazz Band, the first recorded jazz group in the world, made up entirely of white people. R&B and jazz eventually went out of fashion, but hip-hop is much more tenacious - and as long as it lives, it will be in great demand in the context of pop music.
As for things that are more general, extra-musical, it seems to me that these are strongly domestic affairs. There is now a black president, a bunch of prominent black celebrities, a huge increase in the popularity of local sports, in which black athletes also dictate the rules. Incredible increase in political activism and civic engagement on the part of blacks - remember the plot with the city of Ferguson. In short, it is black people who now rule America in every way. Therefore, culture strives for black things - for the same sport, for example (even Taylor Swift is photographed with the New York Knicks). In the same England, for example, it’s a little different: if you take music, then their most important pop stars - Adele or Sam Smith - also live in black music, but from the 1960s, and they are infinitely far from the current state of American pop culture .
Andrei Bukharin
music reviewer
It seems to me that this is an incorrect statement of the question. Hip-hop was introduced to the mainstream by Malcolm McLaren in 1982 with his first solo album. The fashion for him began towards the end of the decade, at the same time the first white rappers appeared (Beastie Boys and such a funny character as Vanilla Ice). In the 1990s, rap flourished, it occupied MTV and already then became mainstream, and its elements began to be used with might and main in pop music and new music. dance music. Even in Russia, hip-hopers appeared (“Bachelor Party”, Bad Balance, Mister Malay, Bogdan Titomir). What is happening at the current stage is not called fashion, it's just ubiquitous - rap is read in Kapotna and the slums of Madras, in Cape Town and Bucharest - in all languages of the world. Hip-hop is the folk urban music of the world, the easiest to make and does not require any special talents. In our country, hip-hop also penetrates everywhere and hums in every car, replacing the old chanson for the boys in the area, which remained for the older generation. When will it end? Whether we like it or not (I don't like it at all, although I used rap in his heroic period), this will obviously not end soon. In any case, until something equally simple, effective for self-expression is invented. simple guy who has no other chance in this best of all possible worlds.
Andrey Gorokhov
The question "when will the ubiquitous fashion for hip-hop end?" put me in a stupor, as befits any leading question. Answering it, I want to start making excuses that, sorry, I am catastrophically behind fashion and life and point-blank I don’t see hip-hop fashion, all the more ubiquitous, around me (in Berlin, Kyiv, Dnepropetrovsk - in the cities where I was in the last three months) there was no fashion for hip-hop. You can complain about a stupid question, but I will speak out as a cultural nerd. In 100 years, hip-hop will most likely exist in some other form, but even that I doubt. It is quite possible that the wave of hip-hop will move between the ghettos in the third world countries, like an eternal echo bouncing off the walls. Hip-hop - global phenomenon, and it does not disappear, even if your neighborhood is cured of it. When will the blue jeans trend disappear? And for football? What about black metal and punk rock? And on the heartfelt songs with a guitar? What about thrash? What about porn?
In my memory, that is, over the past 15 years, only in Germany there have been several dissimilar waves of hip-hop: aggro-hop, that is, aggressive macho rap with criminal twists, is something other than indie hip-hop , and hip-hop under beats is completely different than hip-hop under acoustic guitar or minimal electronics. And I wouldn't be surprised if a couple of dozen people in Stuttgart or Hamburg still wear huge ports at half-mast and listen to homemade mixtapes. And from there, a wave of a “new” sound can again come. These are viruses, and viruses do not spread in waves.
Alexander Kondukov
chief editor of Rolling Stone Russia
In fact, there is no trend for hip-hop, there is a trend for making money. Hip-hop is an illustration of all the commercial ventures that can come musical artist. Hip-hop stars have always strived for money, they advertise everything from supermarkets to sneakers. Therefore, in modern business When nothing in particular sells, everyone is consciously drawn to the money. About the same story happened when commercial hip-hop first appeared as a trend. It seems to me that something new is happening in alternative hip-hop right now. As never before, there are many collaborations between artists, everyone supports each other very tightly, they record on each other's albums. There was no such unity in the 1990s. Therefore, everyone instinctively approaches the hip-hop camp in order to stick together against the backdrop of monstrous musical processes, which lead to the fact that musicians earn exclusively corporate speeches and tours, but not sales of music media.
Now there are no canon hip-hop stars that can be idolized and put on the cover without a hitch. Try to compare Tupac Shakur with Drake - these are completely different people. I don't think Kendrick Lamar would have become famous in 1995. Against the background of the then LL Cool J, he would have looked like a dwarf. Now there are no dominant, super-powerful people on the stage, so all the laurels go to those who have minimal charisma. What is there to talk about if main rock band the world remains U2? There isn't much progress to be seen. If you go over iconic rock bands in your head, then there will be again a bias in Radiohead and The Rolling Stones. Therefore, angular rappers look brighter against this background, and those people who want to somehow earn money go to collaborations and work with them. Although I'm sure no one has any absolute knowledge of where commercial music. That is why these crazy deals are being made in connection with the purchase of the U2 and Beats album by Apple. In a general crisis, everyone tries to be the first in some segment, because no one knows what will really shoot. Anything can shoot, I hope it won't be Russian rock or new album Boris Grebenshchikov and tribute to Bashlachev.
Among the many musical genres and trends, rap music stands apart. This direction is rightfully considered popular, because its appearance was in no way connected with commerce.
The origins of rap
In Africa, for many centuries there has been a tradition to talk about various news and events, accompanying speech with drumming. At the same time, important information was diluted with various jokes, prayers, anecdotes. Gradually, things began to change. Rhythmic lyrics that were spoken to the music became a way of self-expression for African Americans. The youth composed hits right on the streets, telling them about everything that happened around. Sometimes it turned into a kind of competition, a test for the ability not only to pronounce capacious texts, but also to compose new ones, rhyme and create original and very interesting recordings.
Subsequently, it became so interesting and unusual that rap culture rapidly spread throughout the world. Today you can listen to your favorite songs online for free! Music is available on our website. Clear navigation and convenient search will allow you to quickly find the desired song, download mp3 without registration and enjoy high-quality sound.
Free rap is a real find for connoisseurs, a kind of manifestation of youth, emotional nourishment. Today, rap goes beyond music, turning into a certain culture, which is characterized by some behavioral characteristics. Even the clothes of rappers are different from what we are used to, and talented listeners often join the art of creating rhymes themselves and share their lyrics with the world.
