Can rappers use their own voice? “You used to dealing with basic b%$@es Basic sh&^ all the time Im a new classic, upgrade your status” Iggy Azalea’s name came up in a recent hip hop studies meeting when we were discussing authentic voice. Rappers have the right to change up their flow using a range of vocal effects in an album or even in a single song. Think E-40, MadLib and his alter ego’s, … Even solo artists understand that variety in the sound of their album is important. Boots Riley from the Coup shared that sentiment when former member E-Roc couldn’t continue with the group. Boots thought about how he needed to change up his voice throughout the album so that listeners would not get bored or disinterested in the sound. And when voice is brought up as a feature in hip hop music, I always think of Guru in my ears with “It’s mostly tha voice that gets them wet…” Voice in and out of the studio can vary, too. Right? Personally, I hope that I don’t have to be the same person at all times and in all situations in order to be “keeping it real”. Of course, there are my values, my truths and my experiences that I should represent accurately. But my opinions, my thoughts, my voice are all things that should be able to change, to use in whatever manner I see fit. I would imagine that each of us has different voices that we use according to a given situation and place. Given that each of as individuals will most likely want the freedom to express ourselves and grow with new expressions, it is hard to fully discredit someone who has a studio voice that differs from their voice outside of the studio. Bring in Iggy Azalea who has apparently been targeted for falsely portraying females in hip hop, maybe partially because of her background (Australian-born), but mostly because of her voice. I took a listen to “Fancy” from her recent album and she accentuates the end of each line with what sounds like a type of vocal fry, a clinging sound of the last syllable that makes that syllable draw on and lowers the pitch of her voice. Listen to the third verse where this is most pronounced: “Still stuntin’, how you love thaaaaattt? Got the whole world asking how I does thaaaaattt,” Well, I also somehow have her Ignorant Art album and regrettably took a listen to the songs on there where this vocal fry is less frequently used. It appeared that the Ignorant Art album had more singing elements and felt like it was poorly engineered because her voice comes in at different levels on certain songs. From hearing that album, it would appear that she was on the level of pop rap, combining danceable beats with heavy bass beats while using her own singing voice for most of the choruses. In this album, it seems a plausible idea that she could be a pop star, especially at strip clubs since her topic of choice seemed to be “popping that thang” and “dropping low” among other obnoxiously offensive songs. In recent times, her current voice seems to have taken a complete shift from this first album. On a freestyle with Sway in the Morning, she goes from a conversation in full Australian accent to dropping a verse in an over accentuated style, really hardening her words and punctuating certain syllables much more dramatically than she had just spoken a few seconds before. She appears to have adapted what she believes to be the “authentic” hip hop voice and now we must examine the reasons as to why she chose to do this. “Keeping it real” in hip hop is one of the greatest falsehoods in the music. The music industry is part music, but mostly marketing. They want to find ways for us, the listeners and consumers, to buy their products, I mean, listen to the music. It’s a scam and it’s better that you learn that now before you grow too attached to big name superstars. MC Gusto is more real than MC Ren. Check out CB4 to see how gangster rappers such as NWA were easily spoofed in the movie. I’m not saying that there aren’t members of our society that operate in gangs with gangster attitudes and tendencies, but what is the motive of a record company to continually release music that talks about violence, hate, and aggression? Not that Iggy Azalea is preaching those things, but just like many artists before her, she has assumed a role and a character that are not that of her background, making her an easy target as a cultural appropriator. Iggy Azalea may be keeping it real, but she isn’t representing herself and hip hop with respect. Her authentic voice is somewhere in between Australia and America, a combination of her love of hip hop and her experiences. If she is a true hip hop head as she claims to be, she would understand that she is falsely representing the culture by never paying homage to it or advancing it’s creative limits. Her celebrity may be advancing the careers of white females rappers, but her message does not appear to be advancing the culture. Nevertheless, she has created a successful music career for herself and for that, T.I. should be congratulated. youtu.be/rre0sFHlfBc
Posted on: Thu, 20 Nov 2014 04:12:23 +0000
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