NYTimes Vid: Why Rappers Stopped Writing: The Punch-In Method

[Nigerianwonder]

Unless u make music yourself I don’t think y’all understand how slick punching in can be when you are a talented artist. I’m 29 and I come from the era of three verses all written, rap it in one take yadayada. I understand the hip hop purist mentality but recording technology has come a long way and I’m sure some of y’all favorite legacy artist would be punching back then if the knew better and they prolly punch now. If u are strong songwriter it increases the capabilities of some of the schemes u can play with and it makes the art more cohesive cuz I doesn’t come off as stale how writing can sometimes. Just because a rapper records by punching doesn’t mean they couldn’t give u a technical performance if needed. Don’t fight the evolution

Punching in can be a method of writing however the way its used by lazy rappers tends mean focusing on simply rhyming each bar with the next. No actual substance or connected thoughts. Cause when you write down you lyrics you can go over them and make sure it all makes sense and is a fully thought coherent song.

 

[boskey]

Remember when the most important skill a rapper could have was his flow. And the main reason a rapper got called wack was cuz they had a wack or boring flow. That word doesn't even exist anymore...that's evolution

 

[Low_key]

Jay isn't punching in. He's comping.

People who know how to record don’t punch-in a million times. No engineer worth their check is going to tell you that's going to sound good. Wayne is comping too. You're doing the verses over a few times until you get one that works for you, and you go with the best performance. You don’t piece together a bunch of punches and pray they sound natural. That's what the amateurs do. Look at the dudes featured in the video. All trash. Because they're not actual MC's. They don’t even know how to sit and structure on paper. So they're not able to memorize like Wayne and Jay do when they come up with whole verses in their head.

This is a lazy generation. And that's why the quality of the music is so garbage with these dudes. They ain't willing to actually invest in the craft, and that's why their music sounds the way it does. Technology won't cover trash ass music.

I think our definition of punching in differs. If u piece a four a 8 and a four together that’s still punching in to me. People even write verses and punch it in to get it sounding cleaner, that’s still the punch in method. It’s not about just throwing shyt on the wall and seeing what sticks. It’s basically like live writing when u do it with no pad no pen, but like I said even lyrical pre written style rappers still punch in their written bars. When u master the method it increases the things u can do within a song. Even Beyoncé be punching in.. just listen close.

Now as far as amateur rappers of course it sounds like ass their amateurs for a reason lol it wouldn’t matter what method they use

 

[Double Burger With Cheese]

yeah, I just phrased that too quickly. He wrote, but his verses were punched in to hide technical skills, like breath control and flow right? Was just listening to Mega the last few days, the first two, and I see the criticism. When I was a kid, I didn't focus on that kind of thing, technical shyt like that. But, yeah, flow was choppy and you can kinda tell the punch in's.

And someone like Nas wasn't punching in, back then, he or like Pac was known for one take sessions, where he had a whole song already done.

Yeah mega always sounded like he was in a panic or some shyt or damn near out of breath. Everyone not a natural at actually laying down vocals even though you can get better overtime. Some naturally better than others though. I remember reading an article about Mike Jones years ago and he was in the studio with Missy Elliot, and it was saying how the nikka was doing like 100 takes in the booth. And he has a simple delivery. But some people just gonna have to punch in

 

[Low_key]

Punching in can be a method of writing however the way its used by lazy rappers tends mean focusing on simply rhyming each bar with the next. No actual substance or connected thoughts. Cause when you write down you lyrics you can go over them and make sure it all makes sense and is a fully thought coherent song.

I

Punching in can be a method of writing however the way its used by lazy rappers tends mean focusing on simply rhyming each bar with the next. No actual substance or connected thoughts. Cause when you write down you lyrics you can go over them and make sure it all makes sense and is a fully thought coherent song.

Yea like I said In another post those rappers y’all speak on just suck period so imo it wouldn’t matter if they wrote it or not. In todays landscape a rapper should start with writing to learn their sound and their lyrical devices then evolve to being able to do that same thing without writing it. The product comes out better because it doesn’t sound like it’s being recited

 

[Low_key]

Remember when the most important skill a rapper could have was his flow. And the main reason a rapper got called wack was cuz they had a wack or boring flow. That word doesn't even exist anymore...that's evolution

I disagree bro I feel like flow is at an all time high because people can simulate being a top tier mc(breathe wise) by just recording the lines in a stack. The reason people don’t talk about flow is for that reason(it’s not a part of a skill set anymore) and I’m only talking in the mainstream sense(I agree that the mainstream is ass right now)

 

[⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐]

I think our definition of punching in differs. If u piece a four a 8 and a four together that’s still punching in to me. People even write verses and punch it in to get it sounding cleaner, that’s still the punch in method. It’s not about just throwing shyt on the wall and seeing what sticks. It’s basically like live writing when u do it with no pad no pen, but like I said even lyrical pre written style rappers still punch in their written bars. When u master the method it increases the things u can do within a song. Even Beyoncé be punching in.. just listen close.

Now as far as amateur rappers of course it sounds like ass their amateurs for a reason lol it wouldn’t matter what method they use

The poster you’re responding to is correct

This method being discussed is in which rappers punch in bar for bar

It’s an entirely different process when a rapper re-records the same verse over again to comp in the best pieces of the performance, or even if they punch-in for just a line here and there through the verse they are recording. Although punching in may be what’s happening this does not denote the punch-in method being discussed here


Watch this video and you will see the punch-in method at it’s highest level of achievement ala the Flint style

Compare





To this

 

[Low_key]

The poster you’re responding to is correct

This method being discussed is in which rappers punch in bar for bar

It’s an entirely different process when a rapper re-records the same verse over again to comp in the best pieces of the performance, or even if they punch-in for just a line here and there through the verse they are recording. Although punching in may be what’s happening this does not denote the punch-in method being discussed here


Watch this video and you will see the punch-in method at it’s highest level of achievement

I respectfully disagree bro anything outside of doing your verse in one take(whether freestyle or written) is technically a punch in. Y’all are debating the lowest tier of the same method. “Comping” is just a different tier

 

[BigMoneyGrip]

Bu bu bu Drake… the coli

 

[DontEemTry]

This is also why so many of these nikkas can't perform live for shyt.

Also, how hard can it be to write these simple ass sing song ABC bars these nikkas spittin

 

[Bugzbunny129]

I do this to write, more than record.

Then as i listen to it, i edit the flow and then rerap it as a whole in 1 take.

Sometimes i can do it this way. Sometimes theyre written. Sometimes its both.

My fav is to write like 10 lines about any given topic, then ill start to freestyle and drop the best ones as i go. Thats my fav anyway.

 

[Awesome Wells]

I think our definition of punching in differs. If u piece a four a 8 and a four together that’s still punching in to me. People even write verses and punch it in to get it sounding cleaner, that’s still the punch in method. It’s not about just throwing shyt on the wall and seeing what sticks. It’s basically like live writing when u do it with no pad no pen, but like I said even lyrical pre written style rappers still punch in their written bars. When u master the method it increases the things u can do within a song. Even Beyoncé be punching in.. just listen close.

Now as far as amateur rappers of course it sounds like ass their amateurs for a reason lol it wouldn’t matter what method they use

There is only one definition of "punching".

Punching is actually intended to be corrective. That's the point of it. It's not supposed to be used to piece together mad parts of a verse you're coming up with on the spot. If you've recorded your whole verse and noticed that on the 8th bar you said a word wrong, you can punch in the phrase to correct that point. Beyonce punches to correct phrasing. She's not sitting there making up sh*t for an hour and having them punch her in every few seconds, lol. The fact that these no talent dudes are trying to normalize this sh*t is just wild.

Wayne came into the studio to do "So Many Places" with us, with the verses already memorized. They were ready to go. He's not making that up on the spot and then trying to record as sh*t comes to him. He came in ready to knock out each verse. After playback, if he hears something he wants to change, you use punching to go back to correct a small mistake or to rephrase a few words. Not to lay a whole damn verse, lol. You want your performance to sound natural, not pieced together by an engineer to make it sound complete. That's mad amateur. Like all those dudes in the video.

 

[boskey]

I disagree bro I feel like flow is at an all time high because people can simulate being a top tier mc(breathe wise) by just recording the lines in a stack. The reason people don’t talk about flow is for that reason(it’s not a part of a skill set anymore) and I’m only talking in the mainstream sense(I agree that the mainstream is ass right now)

I hear you but rappers are still getting credit for their bars even if they don't write them (Drake and Kanye). So I don't see why the concept of flow would disappear just cuz the technology makes it easier

 

[ISO]

Wasn't Mega pretty heavily criticized for this? The way his flow was so choppy and no breath control.

I’m pretty sure Cormega writes his rhymes.

 

[Low_key]

I hear you but rappers are still getting credit for their bars even if they don't write them (Drake and Kanye). So I don't see why the concept of flow would disappear just cuz the technology makes it easier

Same way lyricism(like u just mentioned) disappeared.. the consumer dictates what’s important unfortunately and the main consumer of music are young people. Their criteria is a lot different than ours