Dubstep production in hip-hop music?

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God

Creator of the Universe
ill o.g.
Are any of you familiar with hip-hop acts that effectively combine dubstep with hip-hop -- similar to how Nero "Promises" successfully combined trance/dance music with dubstep to create a new sound.

I heard remixes of hip-hop songs in dubstep, but has anyone really latched on to dubstep to create a new hip-hop sound?

If so, what do you think of their production? Can you provide links to these acts?

Thx,
G
 

Formant024

Digital Smokerings
ill o.g.
Nothing "real" hiphop related, imo, the role of a rapper becomes the original role of MC because most tracks are to dominating to spit over .

example


Noisia take the rapper in account in their production(s), so they produce tracks that leave room for the lyrics aside from the hook.



Though most of these productions lean towards grime more than dubstep.

Imo, those that can implement dubstep arent what you call trance/dance (chart material) and again have more grime than dubstep...

Here's another artist(dutch), beats produced by Noisia and you hear, if they pulled in any reese like hoovers the vocals are NOWHERE.




Commercial hiphop and dubstep have no future in the charts, good dubstep hiphop will end up "underground". Same for dnb, you couldve asked the same question 10 years ago and the same principle applies (yet, dnb had more musical content and much more room for anything vocal).
 

God

Creator of the Universe
ill o.g.
Thanks Formant. As a person who was involved in experimenting and then promoting the "technofication" of hip-hop starting as early as 2000 (save me the hate mail :), I think you really need to be open minded about the fusion of different genres.

The problem in the Foreign Beggars ft. Skrillex "Still Getting It" and some of the stuff I've been seeing on the intenet, is the lack of proper song structure to take away some of the complexity from dubstep and make it more palatable to a general audience.

For example, imagine the first song you posted called "Still Getting It." If the Foreign Beggars used the same timing and arpeggio from :21 to :36 in the video and used that loop as their verse beat, they could easily rap verses 1 and 2 on top of that simple beat. Instead, it sounds like they used that portion as the chorus.

The "dubstep" could be thrown in either directly into the chorus-- but NOT using Skrillex' aggressive dubstep breakdowns. Instead imagine if they would use the previously mentioned simple beat as their verse and then go into a dubstep chorus similar to Nero, "Promises" -- maybe with a chick singing the chorus.

In case you haven't heard Nero, here is the video. The chorus starts at the :47 mark.



Notice how the female vocal can clearly be executed over a dubstep beat -- the producers kept the beat simple while she was singing, but then added in "dubstep-hooks" throughout the beat to keep the "feeling" of dubstep in the chorus. It does not muddy the chorus.

Foreign Beggars could have used the aforementioned arpeggio beat as a verse, then go into a chorus similar to Nero, with a female vocal, and repeat the sequence for verse 2 and chorus 2.

Then -- for the bridge -- they should allow beat to go into full aggressive dubstep for a short period, in order to "lock down" the fact that the song is in fact dubstep hip-hop. So imagine if Nero's bridge at 3:00 - 3:27 or the aggressive Skrillex beat at :48 to 1:18 acted as a bridge. Then they can revert back to a verse and chorus to finish out the song.

You can send me your first royalty check from Sony Records as a thank you. :)
 

Formant024

Digital Smokerings
ill o.g.
God, what we need is phil spector because he knows how to sell the wall of sound commercialy hehe.
I know what you're saying, for this to work you must compose properly and get into war with loudness.
I'd know exactly where you'd have to take account in composing and the only exception you could make is when you have dmx, mystikal or some none rappin loudmouth peaking over the godawfully reeses complimenting the wub wub wub.

But!

Also note, dubstep comes pretty much in 2 flavors, high and low bpm, same like Timbaland did his breaks @ 130bpm or so while the tempo of the track seemed much lower. In nero's example the only thing reminding me of dubstep are the bass sounds and thats because true and proper dubstep is so fucking slow. People are mostly awestruck by sound and dont move due to the rhytmn...

Ever been to a dubstep party ? The track reaches climax, lights go out, the beat drops in with strobes and all of a sudden you're surrounded by bassface expressing zombies that seem to be stuck on the spot.

I personaly cant stand the likes of Nero and or Skrillex, im much to industrial minded to even want to take things to that level of rainbows and unicorns. But if you're looking to implement dubstep for commercial purposes, than yeah... by all means;

- Disregard dubstep drum programming
- Just use Reason
- Get euphoric with melodies to accompany the wub wub
- Include rappers with glowsticks
- Rainbows n Ponies
 

Sucio

Old and dirty...
ill o.g.
Battle Points: 304
I'm actually experimenting with it, now... And yes...most dubstep production is too much for an artist to spit over....but you can remove a lot and put your drops into the hook...and have a hook dominated by the beat with probably a one to two word phrase for the hook.... It can be done...But I am currently trying to get that working....it's difficult, but not impossible.



 

Formant024

Digital Smokerings
ill o.g.
well the best i can say is leave the hoovers out, use some bell/piano like synth sounds instead to accompany the basslines. The clip above points it out again, dude isnt the rapper, but the master of ceremony and only when he stops rapping it becomes dubstep.
 

Sucio

Old and dirty...
ill o.g.
Battle Points: 304
FM8, 2G.......FM8..........massive too, though....lol.
 

Sucio

Old and dirty...
ill o.g.
Battle Points: 304
Fm8 is tough.... But you have the most control with FM8.... I use primarily massive......Because I made some dope presets for them.....Fm8 i have few presets, because of the time it takes to put them together.....
 
I've tried and tried to get into dub step...I love the effects processing on sounds and whatnot...but the song structure is mad spar attic and "way out there"....that shit is really borderline wack.
Id agree for 99% of dubstep, but there is still that small percent that blows my mind.
 

Sucio

Old and dirty...
ill o.g.
Battle Points: 304
Some of it is overkill...but for the most part, I dig it.......a lot.
 

Iron Keys

ILLIEN MBAPPÉ
ill o.g.
Battle Points: 645
That 2nd Foreign Beggars track is pretty cool to be honest!

Dubstep with "urban"/rap vocals basically ends up = Grime. It seems pretty much unavoidable, I think it's due to the 2 step(?) pattern at those 130-140 tempos that causes the rhythm of the flow to sound that way.

That Nero track sounds like it uses the melody/hook from Lana Del Rey's "Summertime Sadness".

You could rap over electro-house stuff, if you changed the drum pattern to kicks on the off-beat, sounds quite hip-hoppy just with heavily glitchy/electronic elements.

Jay-Z's Why I Love You ... I think that's done over a typical dub-steppy style track.
 

Formant024

Digital Smokerings
ill o.g.
^^^ kids throwing up the metalheadz logo! +1

tbh, its has more dnb sounds than the typical dubstep sounds, the dominator hoover, the stabs all sounds like Konflict made a track with Goldie.
 

Step Soprano

ILLIEN
ill o.g.
eat .3 of molly, few shots of tequila. Add four on the floor, fuck with the lfo on a dope bass/synth line... drop some acid... eat more molly. Continue until hit is created.

Seriously, though. I will upload some dumbstep stuff I'm working on with one of my artists next week if the label is cool with it. If not I will create another account and upload anyway :)
 
^^^ kids throwing up the metalheadz logo! +1

tbh, its has more dnb sounds than the typical dubstep sounds, the dominator hoover, the stabs all sounds like Konflict made a track with Goldie.
"Im the one and only Dominator"
"Im the one and only Dominator"
"I wanna kiss myself"
 
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