Does the large Caribbean presence in NYC's Hip Hop scene explain the disconnect with other regions?

[FruitOfTheVale]

Disagree. Early NYC rap was heavy on the basslines because they were sampling from Disco and Disco-Funk which is all about the basslines.

The key word here is "heavier" i.e. the bass and kick dominated the mix in a lot of Southern/Western/Midwestern hip hop. New York didn't really make trunk rattling music until the mid/late 90s, their whole sound was treble-heavy which made sense for the soul and jazz sounds a lot of them were going for. Even the grittier boom bap though did not have much going on in the low end, it was atmospheric and dark but not bass-heavy.

The songs you posted definitely have defined bass lines but the way it's mixed is not the same.

One of the first bass-dominated NY songs that comes to mind is Black Rob - "Whoa". That was a legitimate street hit in other parts of the country and it had a lot to do with the thundering kick.

 

[bouncy]

The key word here is "heavier" i.e. the bass and kick dominated the mix in a lot of Southern/Western/Midwestern hip hop. New York didn't really make trunk rattling music until the mid/late 90s, their whole sound was treble-heavy which made sense for the soul and jazz sounds a lot of them were going for. Even the grittier boom bap though did not have much going on in the low end, it was atmospheric and dark but not bass-heavy.

The songs you posted definitely have defined bass lines but the way it's mixed is not the same.

One of the first bass-dominated NY songs that comes to mind is Black Rob - "Whoa". That was a legitimate street hit in other parts of the country and it had a lot to do with the thundering kick.

Nah, it started around 92/93 with the filtering. A tribe called quest's "low end theory", and Black Moon's "enter tha stage" was bass HEAVY. Right after that, filtering became the NYC sound, and most songs was bass heavy, and lo-fi. To me, the lo-fi is one reason why other regions had a one up on us, their stuff was more hi-fi.

Off topic but, Dr.Dre said "low end theory" inspired "the chronic". His thing was he wanted to prove you could still make bass heavy, hard hitting drums, music that still sounded clean. He definitely proved his point, because I still listen to "the chronic" when I want to hear the loud, clean, bass heavy, hard drum sound to this day!

 

[FruitOfTheVale]

Nah, it started around 92/93 with the filtering. A tribe called quest's "low end theory", and Black Moon's "enter tha stage" was bass HEAVY. Right after that, filtering became the NYC sound, and most songs was bass heavy, and lo-fi. To me, the lo-fi is one reason why other regions had a one up on us, their stuff was more hi-fi.

Off topic but, Dr.Dre said "low end theory" inspired "the chronic". His thing was he wanted to prove you could still make bass heavy, hard hitting drums, music that still sounded clean. He definitely proved his point, because I still listen to "the chronic" when I want to hear the loud, clean, bass heavy, hard drum sound to this day!

I definitely agree that NY rap was lo-fi, idk about bass heavy though. Songs like this are what I mean by bass heavy:







The songs are mixed for 4 15s, you can hear the boom from three blocks away before you even hear the words lol.

 

[bouncy]

I definitely agree that NY rap was lo-fi, idk about bass heavy though. Songs like this are what I mean by bass heavy:







The songs are mixed for 4 15s, you can hear the boom from three blocks away before you even hear the words lol.

These are 808 heavy, not necessarily bassline heavy(minus too short which was an offshoot of old NYC rap). An they are loud to give that impression. This is what i mean:

You play that on your system, and watch shyt start rattling

There was a whole bunch like this in NYC.



Also, I think people forget that even though a lot of us in NYC rode the trains, and listend to music with cheap headphones, we still had a car culture for the drug dealers, and people who had money. Brothers had nuff speakers in their cars. Plus, we were a speaker culture for parties. We used to have BIG ASS speakers for parties. Bass always was important for us once rap solidified itself.

 

[IllmaticDelta]

The key word here is "heavier" i.e. the bass and kick dominated the mix in a lot of Southern/Western/Midwestern hip hop. New York didn't really make trunk rattling music until the mid/late 90s, their whole sound was treble-heavy which made sense for the soul and jazz sounds a lot of them were going for. Even the grittier boom bap though did not have much going on in the low end, it was atmospheric and dark but not bass-heavy.

The songs you posted definitely have defined bass lines but the way it's mixed is not the same.

One of the first bass-dominated NY songs that comes to mind is Black Rob - "Whoa". That was a legitimate street hit in other parts of the country and it had a lot to do with the thundering kick.

Oh.I see

 

[bouncy]

How did I forget this one!


Remember this was 1992!

That bassline could be heard blocks away on a good system

 

[Lord_Chief_Rocka]

Nikkas saying people with Jamaican parents arent influenced by Jamaica

 

[IllmaticDelta]

Nikkas saying people with Jamaican parents arent influenced by Jamaica

Of course in most cases that would be true but In this case when you're Americanized and operating under another dominant culture/influence, whatever culture your parents came from, ceases to exist. In this case, Herc was playing Afam music, using Afram slang, Afram dressing styles etc...so that's why he didn't exude anything distinctly Jamaican in what he was doing.

 

[Jemmy]

The key word here is "heavier" i.e. the bass and kick dominated the mix in a lot of Southern/Western/Midwestern hip hop. New York didn't really make trunk rattling music until the mid/late 90s, their whole sound was treble-heavy which made sense for the soul and jazz sounds a lot of them were going for. Even the grittier boom bap though did not have much going on in the low end, it was atmospheric and dark but not bass-heavy.

The songs you posted definitely have defined bass lines but the way it's mixed is not the same.

One of the first bass-dominated NY songs that comes to mind is Black Rob - "Whoa". That was a legitimate street hit in other parts of the country and it had a lot to do with the thundering kick.

New York didn't make trunk rattling music???? The whole 80s New York Rap scene was nothing but 808. That's all it was about. Especially in Queens when they had The Showboys Drag Rap Triggerman sound going that New Orleans later took which helped create bounce music. There wouldn't even be a 808 in Hip Hop if it wasn't for New York producers.

 

[Jemmy]

Oh.I see

Dude skipped the whole 80s lol like Mantronix wasnt doing all of this stuff that's poppin now. All the drum rolls he was already doing that. The whole Clipse Hell Hath No Fury album was influenced by him.

 

[bouncy]

New York didn't make trunk rattling music???? The whole 80s New York Rap scene was nothing but 808. That's all it was about. Especially in Queens when they had The Showboys Drag Rap Triggerman sound going that New Orleans later took which helped create bounce music. There wouldn't even be a 808 in Hip Hop if it wasn't for New York producers.

Speaking of the 80's, and bass used the way I like, and yall taking me back, let me hit yall with this!

I'm on my dj shyt right now.


Check the 808's

 

[IllmaticDelta]

Dude skipped the whole 80s lol like Mantronix wasnt doing all of this stuff that's poppin now. All the drum rolls he was already doing that. The whole Clipse Hell Hath No Fury album was influenced by him.

Yeah, I was thinking about NYC's electro-hop which is more 808 heavy than bassline heavy

 

[IllmaticDelta]

 

[bouncy]

This used to bump at the jam

 

[Poitier]

this my parent's music lol