lack of consistency on hip hop albums

[jeremy_]

i was discussing with my flatmate today how hip hop albums are inconsistent as opposed to albums from other genres. i got thinking about it and came to the conclusion that it is because different producers are used for each track on many hip hop albums.

most of the hip hop albums that i rate like and can listen through are produced by one person:

kanye's albums
cunninlynguists' albums
cyne's albums
dre - chronic (i know he didnt 'produce' it all but oversaw it all and influenced every track)

i think that having one producer gives an album musical clarity that hip hop albums generally lack. music other genres is produced by a band who make the music all tracks on the album.

at the end of the day production is what makes an album. i am a big nas fan but generally can't listen to his albums right through. i love his lyrics on practically every song but find the production all over the place. the new snoop album is a good example - i love a few songs like 'imagine' and 'round here' but cant stand the production on a song like 'candy'. this makes the album hit and miss for me and i don't rate it.

what do you reckon?

 

[Chronic]

I think that's certainly one of the reasons. You should define 'producer' though. In Hip-Hop a producer generally means the beatmaker but in the traditional sense a producer is someone who controls the recording sessions and guides the musicians etc.
Like you said Dre didn't produce everything on The Chronic, meaning he didn't create every single sound, but he did produce the entire thing, meaning he oversaw everything.

The producer actually overseeing the song is certainly something that's often lacking in Hip-Hop. A lot of Hip-Hop albums are really just very good mixtapes, rather than actual albums.

 

[*Riaz*]

I think that's certainly one of the reasons. You should define 'producer' though. In Hip-Hop a producer generally means the beatmaker but in the traditional sense a producer is someone who controls the recording sessions and guides the musicians etc.
Like you said Dre didn't produce everything on The Chronic, meaning he didn't create every single sound, but he did produce the entire thing, meaning he oversaw everything.

The producer actually overseeing the song is certainly something that's often lacking in Hip-Hop. A lot of Hip-Hop albums are really just very good mixtapes, rather than actual albums.

:thumb: :thumb:

 

[PELLA]

the rap game is money hungry, thats why you get wack ass beats appealing to everyone as appose to us rap cats.

 

[samtarin]

i agree that hip hop is like that but a lot of other genres are like that too. i listen to different stuff and though great artists seem great a lot the new stuff by people isnt always that great. look at pop. some people are one hit or one album wonders. just my thoughts

 

[ARon]

Also don't forget that more than any other genre, Rap fans in general are afraid of change. It might be the hardest to accept something really different, once it catches on though it catches on big. Thats why I think a lot of new artists comin out don't get a fair chance, everyone wants the old sound to be brougth again when it wont happen. But yeah, the fan plays a lot in it too. People want to appeal to everyone not just one small crowd.

Just thinking that it is consistent also. Artists be following the same "blueprint." Club song, street song, drug song, blah blah song, you get me.

 

[Mo_Murda]

Reason why rappers are all the same nowadays....

Cuz in order for them to get noticed they gotta have a track that has everyone noddin heads, singin their lyrics etc... but after that 99 percent of the rappers after gettin noticed continue the music that got them popular, "club" music... Its unfortunate but the music industry is all money now, most artists get bullshit for money anyways off their album sales, their label takes it all so they gotta keep comin out with unoriginal shit... I understand why they do it, but i don't necessarily agree with it..

Rap/Hip Hop is all the same now because thats how the music industry, the record labels have made it.. They're competing against each other and they don't want to risk throwing out something completely different for fear that they'll fall behind..

Everyone's addicted to the glamour that hip hop artists rap about, everyone wants to be rich so if they can't get the paper they'll get the closest thing to it... These artists music.

Hopefully this makes sense, i'm pretty drunk right now...

 

[Ras Masta]

Ehhh....

At the same time if you don't have a variety of producers your album just sounds the same. Like every song sounds the same.

I prefer focused projects with one producer though.

 

[_carmi]

I think that's certainly one of the reasons. You should define 'producer' though. In Hip-Hop a producer generally means the beatmaker but in the traditional sense a producer is someone who controls the recording sessions and guides the musicians etc.
Like you said Dre didn't produce everything on The Chronic, meaning he didn't create every single sound, but he did produce the entire thing, meaning he oversaw everything.

The producer actually overseeing the song is certainly something that's often lacking in Hip-Hop. A lot of Hip-Hop albums are really just very good mixtapes, rather than actual albums.

i concur with this.:thumb:

 

[Trickster]

Another reason artists use a whole bevy of producers on an album is so they can say on the front "Featuring production from Neptunes, Timbaland, Kanye West, Just Blaze" etc. I dont think enough rappers give enough care to who they have on their albums, it'll always be driven by money and how much the record company wants them to sell. Totally agree with one of the posts there about Nas's albums, if i could pick any artist that has this problem its definitely Nas, besides Illmatic i dont think theres an album that has any sort of consistency beat-wise in Nas's career, possibly Stillmatic maybe.

 

[samtarin]

Also don't forget that more than any other genre, Rap fans in general are afraid of change. It might be the hardest to accept something really different, once it catches on though it catches on big. Thats why I think a lot of new artists comin out don't get a fair chance, everyone wants the old sound to be brougth again when it wont happen. But yeah, the fan plays a lot in it too. People want to appeal to everyone not just one small crowd.

Just thinking that it is consistent also. Artists be following the same "blueprint." Club song, street song, drug song, blah blah song, you get me.

:thumb: good point

 

[BIG NASTY]

i don't mind multiple producers but most of the time the album needs to be mastered by one dude to make the CD bangin.

 

[samtarin]

i dont mind multiple producers as long as the album flows well song wise. meaning that they go together and you dont have high up songs then down low songs. i mean you can have a good cd with some fast songs and some slow songs but have it sound well but not everyone can manage that. i like the cds where i can listen to the cd and when it ends i still want more.

 

[S O F I]

Rappers think they have to have variety on their albums - songs that appeal to their diverse audience. I don't necessarily think so.

 

[BIG NASTY]

i dont mind multiple producers as long as the album flows well song wise. meaning that they go together and you dont have high up songs then down low songs. i mean you can have a good cd with some fast songs and some slow songs but have it sound well but not everyone can manage that. i like the cds where i can listen to the cd and when it ends i still want more.

what i said! shit needs to flow and how you can accomplish that is have one person mixing the whole album i.e. dr. dre

 

[Hymnz]

i think it is the job of the executive producer to make the album flow. in conjunction with other professionals, he should oversee final stage mastering (order of tracks, volume maximization etc). every project is different though.

 

[Kadafi Son]

i don't mind multiple producers but most of the time the album needs to be mastered by one dude to make the CD bangin.

I agree. Look at Bone Thug's East 1999, which was produced mainly by DJ Uneek. This album was a classic. But now, Bone got a lot of producers workin' on there tracks and now there songs ain't always bangin'

 

[ArtsyGirl]

I think multiple producers can work as long as they are all good, and take their time on understanding the mood of the album. Thats why one producer is good because they are as much a part of that albums success as the rapper and therefore take the time and effort more than a dude just doing one song.

 

[cannibalox]

Hip Hop has never been as good, as of now.

 

[Flipmo]

^^^^your a turd, go listen to K-fed

back on topic you need 1 person to oversee whole album and you should be good