Battle (battle, battle, battle) - a competition between rap artists, usually accompanied by humiliation of the enemy. A battle track is often nothing more than a diss on an opponent.

Beef (beef - meat (beef)

Beef (beef - meat (beef), in figurative meaning complaint, dissatisfaction) - enmity between representatives of hip-hop culture. Beefs, their features and unspoken rules of conduct are an important part of hip-hop culture. The most famous beefs are between rappers, but such conflicts are also possible between other representatives of hip-hop culture: DJs, b-boys or graffiti artists.

The reasons for beefs are usually allegations of plagiarism, claims of leadership in the genre (unfounded in the opinion of the opponent), irreconcilable creative differences, affiliation with competing record labels, and even occasional insults.

In practice, conflicts are expressed in specially recorded songs (traditionally called disses) and interviews, less often in fights and skirmishes, in some cases ending in murders.

Beat (English beat)

Beat - measure in music, used in the expression English. beat per minute, bpm - beats per minute. The larger the value, the faster the tempo of the music.

Diss (diss, disrespect - disrespect)

Diss (diss, disrespect - disrespect) is a direction in hip-hop. In practice, diss is disrespectful in the text of one rapper (or group) to another rapper (s). In such tracks, obscene speech is practiced, swearing towards the enemy, sometimes threats. Often disses come in pairs, that is - “diss - reciprocal diss”, or in chains of disses. Often disses are ignored. Disses are used in beefs.

Mix

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 a mix ranges from 25 to 74 minutes (fits on an Audio CD), but can be much longer.

The sequence of tracks in the form of a mix is ​​specific in that the tracks smoothly replace each other. There is no "gap" in the form of silence at the junction between the tracks, and the tracks themselves in the process of transition coincide in tempo, dimension and other features, thus merging together. The process of creating a mix by a DJ is called mixing.

Skills / skills (from English skills)

Briefly - rap "skills". More details - reading, diction, text, chips, presentation, flow, interesting phrases, phrases, original rhyming, etc. In general, the whole list of skills and criteria by which MS can be assessed.

Flow (from the English Flow - "fluidity")

Rhythm, speed of rap reading. How a rap artist gets into the beat or creates additional swing and dynamics with his reading (sometimes even listening to an acapella, you can start swinging to the rhythm). It is worth noting that a good flow is not the maximum reading speed, but the correct speed.

The flow also includes changes to the speed of the recitation to express great emotions and show off his cool technique.

The rapper makes the rap sound more in tune with the instrumental than regular music. IN fashion songs from a simple recitative, a melody of words, a motive, clearly emerges.

For good rap flow needs good diction/pronunciation and breathing (so that there are no terrible breaks with sighs in the reading), some performers still add artistic or comical features to their voice, but this is already a matter of style.

square flow

When the words in a line either do not reach the bit, or there are more of them and the reading has to be accelerated, or they simply do not fit into the bit. That is, the music flows and the recitative flows, and someone constantly has some kind of stones jumping out of the river, and this is a square flow.

Innings

The emotions that the rap artist puts into the track, during performance, as well as the game of intonations. (Can also be used as a synonym for flow)

Punch, punchline (from English punch - to beat with a fist)

The concept appeared in battle rap. This is a laconic phrase / line (line) that should hook the opponent very strongly. As in heavy boxing, opponents shift and occasionally deliver crushing blows, so in battle rap reading, your main blow will be the punch line, where you will "hook" the enemy as much as possible with a short line.

Stuff (stuff - things, trash)

Usually rap artists name their works (tracks).
In principle, even a literal translation is suitable, "rappers do things," which means "appreciate my thing" - "appreciate my staff."

Sharp-X: The fact is that word Stuff in English it is almost always (among rappers) used with the prefix New. So it turns out New Stuff. That is, most often "staf" is the new work of rappers.

Rhyme with squares

Rhyming method ("square on square"). Rhyme in the text is added mainly at the end of the line, and lines of the same length - if you write such text on a sheet, then the written text forms a square or rectangle, hence the name itself. It is believed that this is the easiest way to rhyme, and if you can’t find fault with the above rap skills, then rate your opponent for “square”.

true

Tru (truth, truth, real) - the opposite of fake. "True rapper" is a rapper who reads the truth, a real rapper whose words do not differ from deeds.

fake

Fakes, fakers (fake - lie) - liars, performers in whose tracks there are a lot of lies, and reality diverges from the lyrics (To fake MC "s).

Mixtape

Mixtape (mixtape) - special kind music release. The name comes from English words mix and tape (literally translated as a mixed record).

Many aspiring artists consider mixtapes as a means for their own promotion, so they readily give their new tracks to famous DJs for mixtapes.

At the same time, mixtapes have a semi-official status, small circulations (relative to official albums famous artists) and instantly leak to the Internet. IN currently There are a lot of mixtapes (no one even counted them), and famous people in certain circles release another 5-20 pieces daily.

Fit (English feat.)

Fit - from English featuring. What does it mean to participate! i.e. feat is a joint song!

Freestyle

Freestyle - improvisation in rap; recitation of a rhyming rhythmic recitative composed by the performer on the go. It's not a pre-written, rehearsed, "raw" form of hip hop. It is performed to beatbox, or to instrumental versions of previously recorded hip-hop songs. (wiki)).

Hustle

The word is used precisely in the concept of "spinning" through life (from the phrase "if you want to live, know how to spin").

Production

In translation, production, products.
In rap, it is usually used as music production, that is, "creating music", most often it means the production of music (in rap), but in principle, the production of a track includes recording, mixing, and mastering.

Respect

Respect (respect) - good location to a person, respect for his creativity.

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 V contemporary art(in music, literature, cinema, fine arts etc.), opposing themselves to mass 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 take a breath 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 pieces of music (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– New style of 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 various types of construction of 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- This 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.

IN last years musical tastes youth have undergone new round changes - the place of piercing rock ballads and incendiary dance electronics was taken by rap. Together with new culture new words also penetrated the masses - terms used among performers and their devoted listeners. However, those music lovers who first discovered rap are unlikely to understand the meaning of the words flow, battle, diss, beef, and similar slang words. Of course, descriptions of such terms are easy to find on specialized sites - the Russian-speaking sector of hip-hop is widely represented on the Internet. However, if most of the terms have specific definitions, then in a nutshell it is rather difficult to explain what a flow is.

Origin of the word "flow"

The word "flow" came to Russia from in English- the founder of rap culture. Flow is translated as "flow", "flow" - at first glance, this concept has nothing to do with hip-hop. However, in this case, there is a metaphorical transfer. Rap artists and their listeners equate rhythmic and multifaceted recitative to the even and noisy flow of water. Thus, for a hip-hop lover, flow is a rather important indicator of the quality of a track.

Flow as composition evaluation

Among the discussions of rappers and their work, one can often find the term in question as a review of an album or track. What is flow in this context - a positive or negative characteristic? Based on the translation of the word from English and a beautiful metaphor, a positive response. Flow is the recognition of the entire work of the rapper or his individual compositions as "kachny" or "swinging", that is, affecting listeners to such an extent that they involuntarily begin to shake their heads to the beat of the track being performed.

Flow as a musical term

Together with all of the above, it is worth noting that the term flow is not purely emotional - for hip-hop performers, it has a very specific meaning. Flow is the correct speed of reading, an impeccable technique for writing and reproducing text under the “pumping” beat. Nevertheless, you should not think that quality in this case depends on speed. A fast, but inconsistent reading will not excite the viewer in the same way as a slow, but clearly falling into rhythm. Thus, flow is not only an assessment of quality, but also a skill of the performer.

Flow in Russian rap

The ability to create really "rocking" tracks for a long time bypassed Russian-speaking performers. Quite often compositions were read out under not especially allocated bits by quiet, almost unemotional voices. This state of affairs was probably due to Russian mentality- gray and bleak everyday life with their dank weather and heavy skies did not encourage Russian rappers to show emotions. Listeners found something of their own in a quiet and melancholy performance, but hip-hop culture in Russia still remained isolated. With the appearance on the Russian stage of such rap figures as Hyde, Oxxxymiron, Horus (Lupercal) and other supporters of the prevailing technique of reading and the quality of text drawing, something appeared in the domestic hip-hop sector that fits all definitions of the word "flow". Even those who have not previously listened to and did not understand such music often highly appreciate these performers, paying attention to the fact that their tracks, unlike the compositions of many of their "colleagues", really "rock".

At the same time, fans of the "old" style of performance do not recognize such changes - in their opinion, in this form, Russian-language rap loses its soul, becoming only a technically filigree, but empty text. Rapper Ptah, whose compositions are mostly calm and melancholic, spoke extremely negatively about the tracks of the aforementioned Oxxxymiron, accusing him of excessive craving for pathos poetry and complex technique, which, as it seems to him, is why the work of Miron and similar rappers ceases to be "male". The conflict between the two rappers has not yet been settled - it is unlikely that two opponents will shake hands when they meet. Despite this, a new style rhyming and performance is gaining momentum and attracting more and more listeners, which is undoubtedly a good indicator. This only confirms that the same “flow” that could previously only be heard from overseas and some European performers still penetrated Russian-language rap.

Flow is another anglicism that has taken root in the Russian-speaking rap culture. In principle, it is quite natural: - the word is short and intriguing. In addition, flow, which means “fluidity, flow” in translation, is a multifaceted concept.

It refers to how the performer presents himself to the public, how he manages to "rock" the hall. Flow makes you perceive the text of words as an indisputable truth. Rhythm, high-quality reading, dynamism, varying speed to focus attention, or following the beat, plus the charisma of the performer (group) and all of the above - this together can be defined as a flow. If you try to fit a more or less adequate translation into one word, which means the essence of the term, following the rule of brevity, you know whose sister it is, it will be “feed”.

Disclaimer. When determining the flow of performers, their own subjective feelings from the perception of their work were used. Judgments do not claim to absolute truth, and it is likely that they may not coincide with the opinion of readers.

Flow's historical excursion

Flow is considered a new attribute of a quality performer, although in fact it is absolutely not so. Even among the very first rappers, often based on the melody and lyrics of their songs, they drew inspiration from English-speaking colleagues and surrounding reality The delivery was at a high level.

It's just that at the dawn of hip-hop and rap in Russia, the term flow did not exist. Without him, both the wild popularity and the ability to turn the audience on in such a way that they shouted out the words along with the performers were obvious. The group "Bachelor Party", which had already collapsed, at the core of which was the triumvirate Dan-Dolphin-Mutabor plus Deer, rocked not only the halls.

In every yard of the early 90s of the last century, teenagers knew their scandalous texts by heart. What is remarkable, and it was not necessary to teach them - the energy of the feed was transmitted even through the speakers of cassette tape recorders. They were among the pioneers of the format, contrastingly different from those that thundered at the same time, will not be remembered by the night, "Tender May" and "Mirage".

Another founder of Russian-speaking hip-hop is Vlad Valov (aka SHEFF), according to him own definition, has a "nuclear" flow. It is quite reasonable - he knows how to rhyme his thoughts and read them to the public in such a way that not only the words, but also the semantic message are clear.

For Decl and Timati, for all their popularity, the supply as such is far from not only nuclear, but also from the TNT equivalent. They tried to raise Flow by shocking the public. Of course, with the funds invested in promotion and the frequency of scrolling compositions on TV and radio.

Which means - flow has always been in rap culture. It's just that he, as a separate advantage of the performer (group), was not taken beyond the limits of creativity.

Modern legislators flow

Someone relies on the technicality of the reading, its dynamism, someone rests on the load of the text with meanings and artistry. Various ratings on the Internet, scrupulously counting the number of subscribers of performers, or by voting, are subjective by definition. But in almost all there is Guf, Scryptonite, Noise MS, the already mentioned Timati.

Oxymiron is especially technical, apparently due to English-language teaching. The soaked rhythm of American and British rap is transferred to own creativity, and, although it causes an ambiguous reaction among colleagues, in general it is a success with the public.

The appearance of the singer Bianchi in the ratings may seem like complete nonsense. But, besides the fact that there are few girls in hip-hop in general, she clearly has original style. She adds dancing to the pronunciation of texts and shamelessly exploits the sexuality of the image.

High-speed, or fast-flow, when the words of the recitative are pronounced quickly, is gaining momentum. At the same time, it is important for the performer not only to pronounce the text quickly, but also to make it legible. Execution requires technicality, and the ability to master the sense of rhythm masterfully, setting a swinging beat (during a drip performance), or following the established one. There is a concept of sluggish flow. Its essence is clear - the presentation does not cause a vivid emotional response from the public.

flow workout

Flow, like a pitch, is available to every hip-hoper or rapper by definition. The issue is quality and format. Probably, it makes no sense to explain in detail the importance in battles. An opponent with a well-honed delivery style obviously has an advantage.

The main problem is how to make it effective. The first step is to analyze the set successful performances. But mindless copying alone is not enough. His rivals and listeners will definitely notice him, and they will not fail to reproach him.

The second stage, ideally, is the creation of the original flow. What does it mean, own author's and performing style. Talent - neither buy, nor barter, nor steal. But on the flow it is possible, and if the goal is already designated as popularity, you need to work.

Meet on the net valuable advice how to improve the flow: polish diction, train the breather to pronounce long texts without shortness of breath and pauses, adding artistry. Delivery will get better. Another question is that this will happen through exercises, sleepless nights and everyday torment spent in search of your style in serving. What do you want? High-quality rap is work, and there are already so many sloppy surrogates.