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

[tuckgod]

this didnt really start the jay and Biggie... They just the only who advertised it.... Back in the late 80s early 90s we had to memorize our stuff and do one takes because studio time wasnt cheap. Kwame did the boy genius doing like 3-4 songs per 2hr session

Nah I know

I meant them frontin like they really came up with all that intricate wordplay on the spot in their head while they sitting smoking blunts or whatever weird shyt Jay was into, then everybody started getting on that “I don’t write” bullshyt

 

[marleyg]

r&b rap = gang$ta

 

[Double Burger With Cheese]

this didnt really start the jay and Biggie... They just the only who advertised it.... Back in the late 80s early 90s we had to memorize our stuff and do one takes because studio time wasnt cheap. Kwame did the boy genius doing like 3-4 songs per 2hr session

I’m sure Jay and Biggie wasn’t to first to record without ever writing the lyrics down, but what you describing is different. You had to memorize rhymes to be able to lay them down efficiently in the studio, but these were rhymes that were once written down on paper.

What Jay and Biggie popularized was writing the verse in they head without ever putting pen to paper. They evolved from writing lyrics on paper and memorizing them like you, to fully crafting them in their heads and memorizing them for when it was time to record.

What most the new generation is doing is not writing or memorizing. They are going in the booth with at most an idea or vibe, and coming up with the lyrics piece by piece on the spot.

 

[Low_key]

Emceeing is disappearing.

Mushmouth rap is the new wave

shyt went from being a art form to being a analytic contest. If u can get followers u can be a rapper/actor etc without having to take the formal steps someone at the highest level should have took

 

[Low_key]

YES ITS BEEN MENTIONED.
BUT THIS THREAD ISNT ABOUT
THAT TYPE OF PUNCHING IN.






​

Y’all keep saying “type” of punching but punching in is punching no matter who or when In the recording process it’s done. I think everyone agrees that new artist are bullshytting their way into making product with the method but I don’t think punch in makes a rapper obsolete

 

[Atsym Sknyfs]

I’m sure Jay and Biggie wasn’t to first to record without ever writing the lyrics down, but what you describing is different. You had to memorize rhymes to be able to lay them down efficiently in the studio, but these were rhymes that were once written down on paper.

What Jay and Biggie popularized was writing the verse in they head without ever putting pen to paper. They evolved from writing lyrics on paper and memorizing them like you, to fully crafting them in their heads and memorizing them for when it was time to record.

What most the new generation is doing is not writing or memorizing. They are going in the booth with at most an idea or vibe, and coming up with the lyrics piece by piece on the spot.

I know what you saying.. but jay and Big spent hours in the studio with the beat playing and "writing". Nobody had money to waste playing a beat for 2 hours... Like me memorizing my verses, nobody knows if i made it up on the spot or not.. i could be spending a half hour developing how im gonna flow and fit these lyrics into the beat. Im just saying

Plenty of BIG stories.. the beat playing for a hour or etc.... then he says im ready.. that hour adds up.. its cost you have to recoup..

And honestly, I doubt the songs are crafted from scratch. they might have lines here and there they thought of that they throw in.. we dont know exactly.

 

[Atsym Sknyfs]

I get it now....
they punch in basically as a form of us old heads writing down and crossing out... they don't know how to spell or write so they record and erase and rerecord.

 

[⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐]

that was early - the 1st half of R2D
by late summer of ‘94 a few months before R2D dropped he completely stop using paper

Wow, a true environmentalist

I get it now....
they punch in basically as a form of us old heads writing down and crossing out... they don't know how to spell or write so they record and erase and rerecord.

Exactly but once connected with the energy of the flow this creates a symbiotic effect with the work flow. I’ve done it before and liked the results but I’m a writer by disposition

 

[Atsym Sknyfs]

Wow, a true environmentalist

Exactly but once connected with the energy of the flow this creates a symbiotic effect with the work flow. I’ve done it before and liked the results but I’m a writer by disposition

But in the long run, doesn't that take more time? it may appear to be faster since everything is happening in the same space but it might technically be more time consuming. If they put the drugs and alcohol down during the session, they might realize that

 

[⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐]

But in the long run, doesn't that take more time? it may appear to be faster since everything is happening in the same space but it might technically be more time consuming. If they put the drugs and alcohol down during the session, they might realize that

It is not going to lend to efficiency in the recording process but the rapper will be less stifled by going between the creative aspects of writing to the performing aspects of recording

And they may not be disciplined enough to recite their lyrics enough to be able to get it recorded well when the time comes


Typically rappers paying for their own studio time on the way up learned that being efficient is of paramount importance. Imagine you make $5, $10, $15 hour or you work infrequently and your studio rate is $40, $55 or $60+ an hour


This generation honed their craft with a USB mic into a laptop inside of a closet in their bedroom

They never had to think “am I gonna eat good this week or am booking that studio session”

 

[Atsym Sknyfs]

It is not going to lend to efficiency in the recording process but the rapper will be less stifled by going between the creative aspects of writing to the performing aspects of recording

And they may not be disciplined enough to recite their lyrics enough to be able to get it recorded well when the time comes


Typically rappers paying for their own studio time on the way up learned that being efficient is of paramount importance. Imagine you make $5, $10, $15 hour or you work infrequently and your studio rate is $40, $55 or $60+ an hour


This generation honed their craft with a USB mic into a laptop inside of a closet in their bedroom

They never had to think “am I gonna eat good this week or am booking that studio session”

im 50 .... my cousin and I spent plenty of money on studio time in the late 80 and early 90s. We used to also pre-produce so we spend less time in what actually costs money..

I used to record freestyles and playing them back and then keep lines i liked and then fit those into songs...

Anyway... I get it but dont like it...

 

[Double Burger With Cheese]

But in the long run, doesn't that take more time? it may appear to be faster since everything is happening in the same space but it might technically be more time consuming. If they put the drugs and alcohol down during the session, they might realize that

Yes it takes more time. But I think what people are missing in this thread is the evolution of attention spans and shyt like that. The newer generation came up in a different world than us, where shyt like reading books or writing lyrics gonna be damn near foreign to them. Everything is more instant for them and they attention spans are WAY shorter than ours at the same ages. So something as simple as sitting down, listing to a beat over and over while you craft a song is dumb as hell to them.

Half of these younger rapper will not even listen to beats unless they in the studio. I’m actually around some of these nikkas and know exactly how they think. One rapper told me, they can listen to beats before the studio but it don’t make sense, cause they have to be in the moment to decide what to record. This is not efficient at all because now they in the studio listening to beats for over an hour instead of having at least the beats ready. But this is the norm now

 

[O.Red]

NAH JAY ISNT A PUNCH IN RAPPER.

HE WRITES THE VERSES IN HIS HEAD
THEN STEPS IN THE BOOTH
AND LAYS THEM DOWN.

FUTURE IS THE
REASON ALL OF THESE TALENTLESS
RAPPERS USE THE PUNCH IN METHOD.


SPIT A COUPLE OF BARS OFF THE DOME.
THEN DO IT AGAIN AND AGAIN
UNTIL YOU HAVE A SONG
AS THE ENGINEER PIECES
EVERYTHING TOGETHER.



​

Jay didn't punch in but Wayne, like many others of his generation, got their inspiration to stop writing from Jay/Big

 

[O.Red]

Also certain distinction need to be made to have this discussion.

There's the freestyling every few bars type of lunch in

There's punching in for stylistic reasons ex. The way Beanie Sigel would overlap his bars, starting the new bar as the previous was finishing

Then there's the construct the verse in your head, then go rap it style

Marvin Gaye would mumble melodies into the mic until he came up with something, that's technically punching in. You know who else records like this? Young Thug

So this is a good topic, but how objective are nikkas willing to be?

 

[Atsym Sknyfs]

Yes it takes more time. But I think what people are missing in this thread is the evolution of attention spans and shyt like that. The newer generation came up in a different world than us, where shyt like reading books or writing lyrics gonna be damn near foreign to them. Everything is more instant for them and they attention spans are WAY shorter than ours at the same ages. So something as simple as sitting down, listing to a beat over and over while you craft a song is dumb as hell to them.

Half of these younger rapper will not even listen to beats unless they in the studio. I’m actually around some of these nikkas and know exactly how they think. One rapper told me, they can listen to beats before the studio but it don’t make sense, cause they have to be in the moment to decide what to record. This is not efficient at all because now they in the studio listening to beats for over an hour instead of having at least the beats ready. But this is the norm now

The irony in your statement.. shorter attention spans so they record in short spurts.... BUT it actually takes longer and they to unfocused to see it