Kill The Hype the title track is really a combination of three narratives influenced by many musical styles with a clear message. The first two pay homage to two separate artists that I admire. The first is Bobby Womack and the track is based around “Across110th Street ” it was the title track for a film bearing the same title American crime movie released in 1973. The song itself is much more than that though it’s more of a struggle song for the black people of American a rally call to stand up and be proud. Like many other impressionable artists, I was immediately captivated by its raw emotion. Still to this day it’s my favourite film theme and I really do not see that changing anytime soon.
Ironically the movie theme has a similar narrative to the third choice.The second narrative was based upon a remix version of Rapper Scarface “Hand Of The Dead Body” which was remixed by another idol of mine Goldie and Rob Playford under the alias of Possible 187 remix.
This is where the inspiration came for the intro of “Kill The Hype”. So, the musical elements are inspired by funk and seventies film scoring with a gritty subject narrative. The culture of unnecessary aggressive abuse of excessive force and violence within law enforcement across the globe. Hence one of the influences behind the title “Kill The Hype” that and the many combined musical styles. It seems to be commonplace every time you switch on your TV you see more and more abuse of power and corruption by the same people who swore an oath to protect not harm innocent public. Anyway, provocative or controversial the narrative made sense to explore even though it is really subtle in its execution. The beat once again inspired by a Hip-Hop producer I admire the RZA from the Wu-Tang clan.
Again I layered a breakbeat under my main programmed beat in true oldschool Hip Hop style production.
The beat is a four-bar loop and once again there are offbeat combined with kick note length variations. Hi hats on the eight note and vary in velocity to help create a nice shuffle groove. I again used a crash and kick to create an explosive drop into the sixteen- bar verse. This time I tried to keep the chorus fairly simple with just the stripped back beat to begin with then added in a little FX and really great chopped brass sample to create more energy for the drop. The sample itself sounds like something from seventies cinema.
The same can be said for the main melodic brass elements in the verse which is often associated with nineties East Coast Hip-Hop especially productions from Brooklyn or Queensbridge. Honestly my favourite part of the production was the 808 style sub-bass which I chopped then resequenced not until after auditioning it first. I am really proud of this creation on a personal level.
There was plenty of chopping and layering within the arrangement and finally understanding song structure really helped. I used hazy style sweeps and vocal chops to help create a psychedelic vibe to the funk. I believe between the song’s narrative and the homage to the many musical influences of certain styles of which I flipped really echo’s the song’s title. Finished off with that chopped brass sample and my signature dramatic crash cymbal ending.
Biblography
[Online] Available at: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bg8qdj1nd_s] [Accessed 12th February 2020]
[Online] Available at: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JxCsIX6iU5o] [Accessed 12th February 2020]
[Online] Available at: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RZ67KyHX-cY] [Accessed 12th February 2020]
