On Beat Selection, Hooks and Mainstream Hip Hop – by Shai Linne

(Note: Quotation from shai-linne on a holy-culture forum discussion in his response to user named, “Intellek.” Also, this is not an original title for his post; it was untitled on the forum).

“Remember back in the day when there were only a few guest artists on records? Nowadays, there’s so many guest features that most albums look like compilations based on the track listing and credits. This is because back in the day, as one of y’all pointed out earlier, hip-hop wasn’t nearly as hook driven as it is today. One of the reasons why you see guest artists so much these days (besides label/ marketing politics) is because often, the guest is the one writing the hook. In fact, it’s gotten to the point where (mostly in secular but growing in CHH), when producers send beats to artists now, the beat often has the hook already written into it and often already recorded so the artist can’t mess up a good track with a horrible hook lol. I want to expand a little on what I was talking about in terms of making/ selecting music and writing lyrics that fit the idea of the song. This is something I’ve wrestled with for a while. I think this plays into the whole beat selection aspect.

I remember some ppl here questioning why there are so many “murder the flesh” songs in CHH. To me, the answer was obvious, and it wasn’t just lack of creativity (although that has probably played a part, too). Imo, the issue is that a lot of dudes are using a particular style of beat that conveys a particular kind of emotion. With many “crunk” south-type beats, that emotion is aggressiveness, passion, rowdiness, maybe even anger. If you’re a secular artist, you can take those emotions and use them to talk about whatever sinful thing you want- killing cats, going to the club and wilding out, street life, etc. As a CHH artist, if you want to use beats that convey those emotions, what are you going to talk about? The artists that choose this route often direct the anger at sin, i.e. killing the flesh. I think it’s the same as the demon killing phenomenon in CHH back in the day. Gangstas got saved and wanted to do music. So they did the same style and just re-directed their anger towards demons. Underground hip-hoppers who get saved often take the diss/battle thing and either diss/ battle false teachers or other CHH artists lol. I know this because I’ve done it. lol.

I’m not excusing the lack of creativity in doing songs with the same theme. But what that shows me is that a lot of artists choose the beat first and then decide what they want to rap about, as opposed to coming up with an idea and then finding a beat to match. So put yourself in the position of the Lecrae (I only use him because most of us are familiar with his catalogue). You’re working on your album. Someone emails you the beat for “Send Me” or “Go Hard”. You love it and want to use it. Now comes the question, “What will the song be about?” Well, you can immediately rule out a love song to wifey, a prayer of repentance or a song that explores your inner fears lol. Nah, the song is gonna be a straight up anthem that rallies cats. For Crae, he chose to rally cats for the call of missions, which is one of the things he does best. Now I do think a person can take a different angle even with those beats, but when you hear the instrumentals, it does tap into emotions that are good for the particular topics he chose.

For those of us artists who love “boom-bap”, we have to ask ourselves if that 90’s style beat is the best beat for what we want to communicate. Imo, sometimes it is. Sometimes it’s not. Depends on what you wanna say. But if you try to squeeze everything you have to say into that (or any) particular mold, you’re going to be limited in your emotional range of expression. Nothing wrong with being limited, but once you get to album #3, you’re about 45 songs in. And if all songs have been in the same general emotional range, that can get old after a while (For some, at least. Others love it and that’s cool). This doesn’t just go for boom-bap, btw. All cultural forms are limited in what they can express, especially when it comes to making songs about an infinite God.

 I remember my man Donald Chavis had something in his quote to the effect of, “You can’t kill the flesh over no east coast beat” lol I disagree (to me, Killing Sin is the best album ever on that theme) but I get his point. His point is that “killing the flesh” takes a violent, aggressive mindset. Therefore, you need aggressive music to do it right. And southern “crunk” is the most aggressive music out there in his opinion. I see his logic. Personally, I lean towards being reflective and provoking deep thought. That’s my personality and is more true the older I get. Even if I convinced myself that I could do it well, “Crunk” is not gonna be ideal for the majority of things I wanna talk about or how I want to express them.

 “Boom-bap” cats often express frustration with “Crunk” music. Me and Hazakim and Json have had this convo many times. “Crunk” is “jump around, get crazy” music. Boom-bap is “head-nod, ooooh at the punch-line” music. Many of us came up in an era where cats were at concerts with arms folded listening to every word to dissect all wordplay, similes, rhyme schemes, etc. And that was even true for some mainstream artists in the mid-late nineties. We’re (sadly) not in that era anymore. In light of that, the boom bap artist can either

a. Do nothing. Continue doing what they’ve been doing

b. Jump on the crunk bandwagon and look crazy doing it because they either can’t do it well or it’s not their understood identity, so it comes off as inauthentic.

c. Make some adjustments to update the sound while remaining true to who they are as an artist and doing it with excellence

d. Recognize that their era has passed, thank God for the season they were able to do it and bow out gracefully

e. Retire from music as an angry, bitter professional “hater” who is angry & bitter because the new era doesn’t appreciate “good music”

A few observations:

1. Notice that all the options except “a” sometimes and “c” sometimes are going to give you you a quick exit from the music game. I praise God for people who do “a”. I actually lean towards “a” in the sense that I don’t go into doing an album feeling pressure to stay “relevant”. By God’s grace, I’m able to do that because of a small but loyal support base. But not everybody can do “a” and survive. Unfortunately, those who do “a” often have to suffer the consequence of low sales and diminished influence.

2. One of my biggest frustrations as a fan of CM is that I felt like after “Know Me (Huh-what) became their biggest hit, they started to do “b” on their later projects. I think this wound up hurting them as a group imo.

3. I think “d” is a godly response, but I think pride prevents a lot of cats from doing this when it seems obvious that they should.

4. I think “e” is funny, but sad at the same time. And I’ve seen it happen a lot. CHH artists who do “boom-bap” need to guard their hearts against this kind of response

5. “Doing “c” well is mad difficult!!! Think about the people in the secular (and Christian) hip-hop who have attempted to survive an era change. Most don’t survive. The examples of those who do are few and far between. I think it’s easier in other genres of music that aren’t as closely associated with youth culture. Part of that is just natural. People get older, generations and tastes change. And hip-hop doesn’t seem to “age” well. This is seen in the secular where you have dudes like Em, almost 40 years old and releasing an project like Bad Meets Evil, where he’s still talking like a vulgar juvenile. Dr. Dre is close to 50 and has a 30 year old son.” – Shai Linne (via holy culture forum).

Why Do An Album on God’s Attributes? by Shai Linne

 

“Christianity today is man-centered, not God-centered. God is made to wait patiently, even respectfully, on the whims of men. The image of God currently popular is that of a distracted Father, struggling in heartbroken desperation to get people to accept a Saviour of whom they feel no need and in whom they have very little interest. To persuade these self-sufficient souls to respond to His generous offers God will do almost anything, even using salesmanship methods and talking down to them in the chummiest way imaginable. This view of things is, of course, a kind of religious romanticism which, while it often uses flattering and sometimes embarrassing terms in praise of God, manages nevertheless to make man the star of the show.” (A.W. Tozer Man: The Dwelling Place of God)

As the time approaches for my new album The Attributes of God to be released, I wanted to share with you about why I did it. This idea has actually been in the works for years. Those of you who have been following my music for a while know that on Grassroots Vol. 1, there was a song with myself and Timothy Brindle entitled The Holiness of God. That song was supposed to be included on the Attributes album that Tim and I were working on. The song Humility of Christ, which appeared on Tim’s classic 2005 release Killing Sin, was also supposed to be on the project. When Tim stepped away from public ministry in 2006, the project was shelved. As time went on, it wasn’t clear whether or not Tim would be returning. In the same way that I was burdened to do an album on The Atonement in 2007, I began to feel burdened in 2010 to do an album on God’s character. Since Tim wasn’t back yet, I moved forward with it as a solo project. Thankfully, Tim has returned, and we were able to include him on a few of the songs as we got near completion of the project.

So why was I so heavily burdened to do this project? The answer may be surprising to some, but here’s why I did it:

Because A Lot of Christian Music Is Not Actually About God

I don’t mean for this to sound harsh or overly critical, but have any of you noticed that the vast majority of music that would fall into the category of “Christian” is not actually about God Himself? I think this is particularly the case with Christian Hip-hop, but it can be seen in other genres as well. How can I say this? Well, most of the music I hear is more about US and our response to God, but not God Himself. Don’t get me wrong. There’s a place for music that deals with our response to God, but when that is the overwhelming majority of the music, we slowly begin to distort the truth about who the God is that we’re supposedly responding to. The Tozer quote above was written over 50 years ago, but could have been written yesterday. Our culture is extremely narcissistic and man-centered, and it seems that much of Christian music has followed suit. The Bible, however, is radically God-centered, and I believe that a radically God-centered worldview should be reflected in the songs we write. Because of our man-centered tendencies, the songs we sing about God usually deal with the things we like about Him (which are usually the things that directly benefit us the most), such as His love, mercy and forgiveness, etc. These things are glorious and we should write songs about them. However, if that’s all we talk about, we create an incomplete and deficient view of God, which is not in line with His self-revelation.

So, for instance, when was the last time you heard a contemporary song that echoed the ancient songs of David about the righteousness and justice of God (Ps. 11:7)? Which Christian hit on Billboard sings along with Nahum that God is “jealous, avenging and wrathful” (Nahum 1:2-3)? Who is producing songs that speak to God’s sovereign rule over His creation (Ps. 2, 115)? Can you direct me to a popular song that celebrates God’s omniscience along with Hannah (1 Sam. 2:3)? God’s eternality along with Moses (Psalm 90:2)? God’s judgments along with Miriam (Ex. 15:21)? These things are often spoken of in Scripture, particularly in the context of Biblical songs, yet they tend to be largely missing from our songs today. That’s not to say that no one is doing it. God has raised up an increasing number of songwriters who are expounding on His character. But when something so foundational and essential has been so under-done, it becomes important for others to step to the plate and contribute. The Attributes of God album is simply my attempt at one such contribution.

grace and peace,
shai