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

[Low_key]

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.

I respect everything your saying, I still feel like it’s more a preference thing because a skilled rapper can go bar for bar and make it sound good and they can also write a whole verse but still record it line by line and it will sound better than if they rapped it straight through. I can tell u have knowledge in recording and I don’t claim to know it all so I would like to know what do u consider that kind of method?(people that wrote and punch the bars)

 

[Awesome Wells]

I respect everything your saying, I still feel like it’s more a preference thing because a skilled rapper can go bar for bar and make it sound good and they can also write a whole verse but still record it line by line and it will sound better than if they rapped it straight through. I can tell u have knowledge in recording and I don’t claim to know it all so I would like to know what do u consider that kind of method?(people that wrote and punch the bars)

It's the same for me even for the people that write.

Recording is a crucial part of being an MC. You have to know how to navigate the studio. Because that translates well to your live performances. If you can commit to memorizing your sh*t, either on paper or just in your head, and being able to record that straight through, that's mastery. And it makes for a better recording. Having an engineer punch you in every few phrases is just crazy, lol.

Pharrell and Babyface spoke on this before too. Even if they don’t have the actual words, they'll just hum or mumble words that they would like to have in the reference. Then later, they write the words in based on the melody, and then re-record with the phrases all in place. A lot of songwriters use that method when writing something for another artist, but they still go straight through and come back later to punch.

 

[nyknick]

 

[Low_key]

It's the same for me even for the people that write.

Recording is a crucial part of being an MC. You have to know how to navigate the studio. Because that translates well to your live performances. If you can commit to memorizing your sh*t, either on paper or just in your head, and being able to record that straight through, that's mastery. And it makes for a better recording. Having an engineer punch you in every few phrases is just crazy, lol.

Pharrell and Babyface spoke on this before too. Even if they don’t have the actual words, they'll just hum or mumble words that they would like to have in the reference. Then later, they write the words in based on the melody, and then re-record with the phrases all in place. A lot of songwriters use that method when writing something for another artist, but they still go straight through and come back later to punch.

I agree with having to know the ins and outs of recording to reach a top level. I also still feel like a top skill level MC can punch bar for bar and make good music BECAUSE of that knowledge. A bum is a bum and a goat is a goat u feel me lol. This was a good discussion tho bro I salute it

 

[CarltonJunior]

feel bad for these engineers, hope they getting a pay raise

Hate/love relationship

On one hand you have to pay for more studio time to get a song done and that'll keep you coming back because you an inefficient motherfukker

On the other hand it's stressful because I have to do a lot more work and more chances for issues to come up while you doing that shyt, computer could crash, saved the wrong takes, etc.

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

Yeah make no mistake that a lot of these nikkas are legit good at doing that shyt, my homeboy spit completely off the dome and can freestyle effortlessly for hours, I wouldn't dare. But it's still very unfocused and he can't do a lot of the basic shyt like count bars or identify song structure and that's the case for a lot of nikkas honestly

There's also a lot of rap styles that simply aren't possible without punching in, like gunna, or twista, that fast shotgun flow doesn't happen without it

 

[kingofnyc]

Not his fault people copied

From Biggie to Wayne.

u da homie in all … but STOP IT : biggie was 1st nikka not to write on paper

… Live from Bedford Stuyvesant the live-est one …. nikkaz know my Skee-Lo , I’m unbelievable …

 

[CarltonJunior]

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.

Yeah, it's like you learning the words to your own song and then when you memorize it you can record it better, I've done that too

I might even rap the same song 2/3 times with different vocal inflections and decide which one I like the most, one I might be chill, one I might be yelling/upbeat, one I might do a lil more of melodic singsongy style voice, etc.

There's no "wrong" way to record but I do think that the lack of thought and effort towards the bars does water down the quality moreso than how the bars were recorded

 

[Ribbs]

Awful, just awful.

Don’t call rap a sport when people using this punch-in method to be near the end of the bench.

 

[MisterMajesty]

This is how damn near all rappers record now. They go in the studio and record the shyt piece by piece. Sitting down with a notebook is basically outdated even though a lot of artist still do write. But punching in as you go along has become the standard and it’s been like this for a minute now. Don’t waste your time in any studio trying to explain to these nikkas why they should write because they gonna look at you like you stupid. It’s just the evolution of how people record

Would explain why so many have issues with performing it live .

 

[Awesome Wells]

I agree with having to know the ins and outs of recording to reach a top level. I also still feel like a top skill level MC can punch bar for bar and make good music BECAUSE of that knowledge. A bum is a bum and a goat is a goat u feel me lol. This was a good discussion tho bro I salute it

That's the thing though, top skill MC's wouldn't do that, lol.

Real MC's are too on top of their sh*t to even bother with that method. There's levels to this. These dudes we saw in the video are a joke. They're not MC's. So what they're actually looking for, is the easiest way to not have to do the work. They want the end result, but without having the talent to get there. That's the problem. They don’t have the skill to do it properly, so they want to find other ways to get by. It's crazy. But that's what technology allows today. So now we have all these mumble-mouth bums who think they're rapping, lol. They know they're trash though.

Good discussion, indeed, bro.

 

[Cladyclad]

u da homie in all … but STOP IT : biggie was 1st nikka not to write on paper

… Live from Bedford Stuyvesant the live-est one …. nikkaz know my Skee-Lo , I’m unbelievable …

Cease said Biggie wrote his lyrics down

 

[Mindfield333]

I understand what y’all don’t like about it because the rap hustlers use that method. But real MCs make dope music punching in. fukk y’all think Wayne and Jigga was doing, all them songs weren’t memorized, don’t u ever think that

A lot of these cats just traditionalist man. but the goalposts always moving bc I remember cats hating on computer producers at one point

 

[Low_key]

Hate/love relationship

On one hand you have to pay for more studio time to get a song done and that'll keep you coming back because you an inefficient motherfukker

On the other hand it's stressful because I have to do a lot more work and more chances for issues to come up while you doing that shyt, computer could crash, saved the wrong takes, etc.

Yeah make no mistake that a lot of these nikkas are legit good at doing that shyt, my homeboy spit completely off the dome and can freestyle effortlessly for hours, I wouldn't dare. But it's still very unfocused and he can't do a lot of the basic shyt like count bars or identify song structure and that's the case for a lot of nikkas honestly

There's also a lot of rap styles that simply aren't possible without punching in, like gunna, or twista, that fast shotgun flow doesn't happen without it

Exactly !! Most of the modern rap artists nikkas like are punching in and wouldn’t be able to produce the same sound without it cuz it allows u to make unnatural flows. U are right tho about most new era punch in artists don’t understand how to structure a song. And now with how short songs are now people don’t even try anymore.

 

[Low_key]

A lot of these cats just traditionalist man. but the goalposts always moving bc I remember cats hating on computer producers at one point

Yea it’s just the human nature in nikkas to only go with what they know. I’m in a spot where I can appreciate both methods but the facts are the industry is never going back so might as well embrace the new shyt and master that as well

 

[CHICAGO]

There's also a lot of rap styles that simply aren't possible without punching in, like gunna, or twista, that fast shotgun flow doesn't happen without it

nikka PLEASE
TWISTA HAS GOAT LEVEL
BREATH CONTROL.

DONT EVER MENTION THE GAWD
AND GUNNA IN THE SAME SENTENCE.





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