Enter the Sensei’s of Rap: How Wu-Tang Definitively Influenced Hip-Hop

July 23, 2022 by Giovanni Recinos in Classic Reviews, Read

Both off the mic and on, the group of nine New Yorkers known as the Wu-Tang Clan would each bring their own different backgrounds, styles and influences to hip-hop culture. Wu-Tang would hit the scene in ‘93 with lyrics about chess, street slang, and marvel comics, all of this while sampling kung-fu flicks. Though these were not common themes in hip-hop at that time, for every reason that the Wu-Tang Clan should not have worked, was another reason that it did. On November 9th, 1993, hip-hop would be changed forever with the release of Wu-Tang’s debut album, Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers).

Before the album’s release, the group’s formation would be as chaotic as you would probably expect from a group of that size. With Ghostface Killah and Raekwon initially starting as street rivals, or RZA and U-God recently leaving incarceration, and members such as Method Man just narrowly escaping death, getting them all into the studio had to be some sort of fate at work. One of the members, RZA, would play a great role in this formation. After being dropped from the label Tommy Boy, he would swear to no longer succumb to the industry’s standards of “hit-making” and would begin producing music that he believed in. The next step in achieving this goal would be bringing together the superpower team to rap over these beats. RZA started in the family, with his cousins, the GZA and Ol’ Dirty Bastard.

The album plays out as a sort of calculated chaos, with no member sounding like another. Though this is the case, they are able to find chemistry through their obvious competitive hunger to deliver the best verse for each track. Whether it was Ghostface Killah’s blunt delivery, Ol’ Dirty Bastard’s sporadic personality or Inspectah Deck’s street knowledge, the groups' varying archetypes were able to find orchestration through the RZA’s guiding direction. While on paper the many topics on the project together could be seen as nonsensical, each members’ ability to bounce energy off one another turns it from just a bunch of ingredients, to a dish. With the Wu-Tang’s choices of themes and styles playing the critical “spices and flavors” that made their “dish” stand out from the rest. It should also be noted that a large percentage of the album’s success should be accounted towards Wu-Tang’s style and branding. With their grimy and low budget music videos, the iconic “W” logo, and chants including the famous, “SUUUU.”

Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers) would be an instant hit launching the careers of every member exponentially. Many labels including Def Jam Records would aim to sign the nine piece, but many of them would fail as they wanted to sign the group as solo members along with the group deal. RZA, who played the main role in deal making, would not allow this to happen as he wanted to infect the Wu-Tang brand through the entire industry, not just through one label. The group would eventually sign a group deal with Loud Records, with that solo deal freedom included. Method Man would be first, signing to Def Jam Records.

The Wu-Tang debut album would mark the beginning of Wu-Tang and RZA’s powerful streak of solo and group projects. With Method Man’s catchy Tical, following in 1994. Ol’ Dirty Bastard’s grimy and oddball personality on Return to the 36 Chambers: The Dirty Version, Raekwon’s mafioso movie inspired, Only Built 4 Cuban Linx…, and GZA’s lyrical masterpiece, Liquid Swords in 1995. Ghostface Killah would bring back his back-and-fourths with Raekwon on his debut, Ironman in 1996. Lastly, ending with Wu-Tang’s more mature follow up project Wu-Tang Forever in 1997. A majority of these projects would be almost solely produced by RZA. All of this does not even include the great list of features provided by the members to classic albums including Moment of Truth by Gang Starr, All Eyez on Me by 2Pac and even newer records all the way up to the recent release of Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers by Kendrick Lamar.

The Wu-Tang debut set the groundwork to inspire generations with each of these projects further creating their own sub-genres and sounds. For example, RZA would be one of the first, if not the first, to adopt the “chipmunk samples” that would become a staple to early Kanye West production. Ghostface Killah would also adopt the persona Tony Starks or “Ironman” which would inspire artists such as MF DOOM or CZARFACE to adopt their own comic book inspired identities. Ol’ Dirty Bastard’s chaotic sound would open the floodgates to many experimental rappers including Mos Def, Danny Brown, JPEGMAFIA and others. Raekwon would help establish mafioso rap in New York and beyond, which would be carried into classic albums like Jay-Z’s, Reasonable Doubt, Notorious B.I.G.‘s, Life After Death and Pusha T’s, DAYTONA. The Wu-Tang Clan were not lying when they said they were for the children, as they would become strong idols and influencers to all kinds of future artists, whether they were from the East or West.

Giovanni Recinos is a staff writer.

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How J Dilla's "Donuts" Permanently Reshaped Hip-Hop Production

July 10, 2022 by Luke Modugno in Classic Reviews, Read

by Luke Modugno

Art is fluid, everchanging. Altered by powerful voices and minds, potent creatives seem to always carve out new paths and directions within the artistic bounds of their medium. However, you seldom see a singular composition definitively erase the once unnavigable borders of art and delineate new ones. Circumstance, unmitigated creative fearlessness and a willingness to adapt are required in order to shift the tectonic plates that lie beneath the surface of an art as ancient as music. All of those requirements were met when fabled rap producer J Dilla left the world of art with his groundbreaking beat tape Donuts.

Donuts was born out of circumstance. J Dilla emerged in the late 90’s as a prominent underground producer for local rappers, until breaking through with the notable rap collective Slum Village. Working with acts such as A Tribe Called Quest, Common, The Pharcyde and more, Dilla quickly made a name for himself with the complexity in which he chopped and looped his beats. Dilla’s production wasn’t just unique and ear-catching. There was distinct warmth, vibrance and vivaciousness erridating from the way Dilla’s kicks, drums and loops sat.

Whenever Dilla decided to hop behind the boards, his beats exemplified personification of the human experience. The intimate guitar on “Didn’t Cha Know'' projects the image of a dawn sunrise peeking through a window with the curtains flapping in the wind, especially paired with the silky-smooth vocals of Erykah Badu. The kicks draped over the melancholic vocals of The Pharcyde on “Runnin’' sounds like a comfortingly warm summer night. Uptempo, drawn-back, soulful or bouncy. Dilla was a chameleon that could shape-shift his production style to fit the artist he was working with flawlessly. Dilla didn’t just produce, it was more than that. His dense hip-hop orchestras reverberated with listeners at a deeper level.

It was this boundless talent, along with tragedy, that allowed for the creation of Donuts. In 2005, Dilla was diagnosed with a rare blood disorder known as Thrombotic Thrombocytopenic purpura (TTP). Unfortunately, TTP is extremely deadly, with a fatality rate of 70-80%. Despite at first continuing to tour and work, Dilla was eventually confined to a hospital bed as his symptoms continued to worsen. Understanding his mortality, Dilla brought his MPC3000 and a record player to accompany him in the solidarity of his hospital bed. The goal? Use his ingenious, renaissance-level production skills to create a project that acted as a love-letter to his family, friends, fans and his time spent on Earth.

As friends and family came to visit Dilla, they would contribute to the creation of Donuts, by gifting him new records to chop, loop, manipulate and organize into his cacophonously intricate production style. Being the chronic sampler that Dilla was, his ear became immensely picky.

In a documentary made about the album's creation, Dilla’s mother illustrated just that, “When I took the crate up, and he looked through it, I think out of a whole milk crate full of 45s, I think he might have taken a dozen out of there and set them aside. He said 'you can take that back to the house'. He said 'none of that's good'." Using inspiration and direction from the people he loved most is a wholly tangible and immediate feature of the record, as Dilla cycles between a diverse set of genres and sounds for his samples, demonstrating the crate digging done on his behalf. From 70s soul records to traditional African drums, Donuts sounds what it would feel like if the complete contents of a dusty, out-of-date record store smelted the entirety of its stock into a singular vinyl disc. Borrowing literal milliseconds of various records for miniscule portions of songs off of Donuts, Dilla’s patchwork style blends and pairs endearingly well with the tools his family provided him with.

Throughout the final year of his life, Dilla’s condition worsened considerably. His legs and arms would periodically swell, hindering his ability to work on Donuts. If the pain of using his fingers to operate his MPC became too much to handle, his mother would massage his fingertips, he was simply bent on finishing the record. His sheer determination radiates from each track. From the roaring, vigorous guitar that defines the blood-curdling opener “Workinonit,” spry dance tracks such as “Dilla Says Go” and “Light It,” somber love songs like “Stop”, to signature soul loops on “One for Ghost” and “U-Love,” “Donuts” is a 31-song exhibition in sampling mastery and pushing the boundary of what it means to produce into uncharted territory. This isn’t hyperbole either. Think John Coltrane, Duke Ellington, Wolfgang Mozart, this is the company J Dilla stands in with just how innovative projects like Donuts are. Let me explain.

Dilla wasn’t just chopping samples in a way that made your head bop, he was tinkering with and altering our conception of music time. Thanks to the compositional study done by author Dan Charnas in his novel “Dilla Time: The Life and After-Life of J Dilla,” we have a genuine understanding of just how indelible Dilla’s mark on music is. Let’s take a deep-dive into some music theory.

The vast majority of European music counts its rhythm evenly, meaning every beat is of equal length. This is otherwise known as straight time.

Things changed with the introduction of jazz, particularly African-American jazz. Early jazz goliaths such as Louis Armstrong started introducing the concept of beats coming long-short, long-short, which then became known as swing time.

None of that meant anything to J Dilla. With the technological revelation of the MPC, rules like that were nothing more than a musical custom. Thus brought the creation of Dilla Time, fusing both swing and straight time simultaneously. Effectively shredding the shackles of hip-hop producers for eternity, Donuts quite literally reimagined how we view music.

Donuts was officially released on February 7, 2006 to immediate critical acclaim. Sadly, Dilla passed away just three days following the release of the record, unable to revel in the musical feat he had just accomplished. Although Dilla was relatively underground at the time of his passing, the hip-hop world has never glossed over the significance of his work.

“We have to make music and think ‘if Dilla was alive, would he like this?’” said Kanye West in an interview with HYPEBEAST. “It was like he was making Quincy Jones production sessions out of his MPC. His music just felt like drugs.” Frequent collaborator, friend and fellow member of the Mt. Everest of legendary hip-hop producers Madlib has been outspoken in his praise of Dilla. “ “[His production was] like that human feel, and the selections that he chose to sample. Every producer bows down to Dilla whether they like it or not, because everybody took something from him like Coltrane.”

Madlib isn’t wrong. Dilla’s influence reaches well beyond the borders of hip-hop. From modern jazz to R&B, to funk, to lo-fi, Dilla’s bold defiance of musical rules continues to inspire waves upon waves of producers who think outside-the-box. Every off kilter drum, kick or vocal sample that sounds uniquely out-of-place can be traced back to this record and the mind of Dilla. In that way, much like the shape that a donut embodies, Dilla’s impact on hip-hop will be never ending. Rest in Peace Jay Dee.

Luke Modugno is the editor-in-chief of StereoVision.

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A Dynamic and Dynastic Duo: How Snoop’s “Doggystyle” Shaped West Coast Rap

June 26, 2022 by Giovanni Recinos in Classic Reviews, Read

by Giovanni Recinos

After The Chronic by Dr. Dre was released on December 15, 1992, Death Row Records took over hip-hop.

It introduced the world to a powerful crew of rappers and performers such as Daz Dillinger and Kurupt (otherwise known as Tha Dogg Pound), Nate Dogg and Lady of Rage. While The Chronic was technically Dr. Dre's project, many of its most memorable moments were attributed to Dre’s trust in his then new and most popular protégé, Snoop Doggy Dogg.

Snoop Dogg would become an instant icon for his refreshing rap style, consisting of smooth flows paired with often violent or rough street themes. After the release of the instant classic that was The Chronic, people highly anticipated the release of Snoop Dogg’s own debut album, Doggystyle.

We will be comparing these two projects often, as Doggystyle is in many ways just a different flavor and portrayal of the same goals as The Chronic. For example, both projects focused on one Death Row member, but both were still flooded with in-house and affiliate features. Both of the projects were overseen and finalized with Dr. Dre as the head producer and both also shared similar controversy for their misogynistic and often graphic crime related lyricism.

Due to the high demand of the project, Doggystyle would eventually be rushed by its distributors and would be released on November 23, 1993. Despite being “rushed” the album within itself is a high feat, including stand out verses from the entire Death Row posse, catchy club bangers and aggressive storytelling of gang lifestyle. In fact, it was such a high feat that for the time it was the fastest selling rap record. Not just for a debut rap record, but for any rap album up until its release.

While The Chronic introduced G-Funk, Snoop Dogg helped it grow and blossom beyond, into further experimentation. The sound of Dr. Dre’s debut was much harsher in production, with often creepier loops and more in-your-face instrumentation, which would pair well with Dr. Dre’s confrontational and straightforward delivery. While Doggystyle had its own spine-chilling moments including the tracks, “Serial Killa” or “Murda Was the Case,” a majority of the album would feel more rhythmic and bouncy to couple with Snoop’s seamless flow.

The influence of Doggystyle would bleed far within hip-hop, starting at Death Row Records. With Snoop Dogg playing a huge part on Tha Dogg Pound’s debut, Dogg Food, by not only making multiple appearances on it, but also through an obvious influence from Doggystyle. Much of this stemming from the fact that Tha Dogg Pound’s, Daz Dillinger played an extremely vital role in producing the backbone for some critical Doggystyle tracks, including the controversial club banger, “Ain’t No Fun (If The Homies Can’t Have None).”

2Pac’s classic record, All Eyez On Me, would also be affected by not only Doggystyle, but also by Death Row as a whole. Many of the album's tracks would be produced by Daz Dillinger as well, further pushing this G-Funk sound. The album would carry over much of the catchy Death Row songwriting, which was pioneered by Snoop Dogg especially. Themes on 2Pac’s album often involved sex, partying and a gangster lifestyle, in the same vain as Snoop’s classic. Though it should be mentioned that Snoop’s style would not be praised solely in the West Coast, as artists such as Ol’ Dirty Bastard and Notorious B.I.G. (even despite the beef) would praise their styles.

Beyond the nineties, the influence of Dre and Snoop would not come to an end. While mostly with Dr. Dre to thank in terms of their success, Snoop’s style would bleed into some of the next generation of Dre’s pupils. Artists affected would include Eminem, 50 Cent and The Game. Stylistically, some could argue that some of the most popular hooks in songs like 50 Cent’s, “In Da Club” or The Game’s, “Hate It or Love It,” originate from Snoop’s songwriting ability and ability to blend the sonics of “authenticity” with the ear for “radio friendly hits.”

50 Cent in particular is often credited for having a great amount of Southern influence in his music, which is also true. But Snoop had his own influence on the South. After leaving Death Row Records, Snoop Doggy Dogg would don the shorter and more common, “Snoop Dogg” with his switch to No Limit Records. At No Limit, Snoop would assist during some of the most critical and most popular years of the label. These years would be innovative for the South, with the label playing a huge era of growth for sub-genres that would eventually lead to sounds and genres such as trap. Many of these sub-genres would have great effects on the mainstream, today especially.

Long story short, whether directly or indirectly, Death Row, Snoop and Doggystyle in particular would have a great impact on the hip-hop music of all coasts and on both the mainstream and underground of today.

Giovanni Recinos is a staff writer.

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