Hip hop in odd time signatures?

[Henrik]

It's bound to happen, and it probably already has happened in more underground circles, but I haven't really heard a lot of hip hop in anything other than 4; perhaps the odd 6/8 or 12/8 beat.

Suggestions please!

[Morgenthaler]

I asked a danish (well established) rapper. He said Gangstarr 'Stay Tuned' (but that is 6/8) but he also
mentioned Steve Coleman & The Metrics and Freestyle Fellowship. Maybe you might find something there.

[circh bustom]

Steve Coleman and the Tao of Mad Phat, and the record with the Five Elements that is live from France with Gene Lake on drums has some stuff that touches on odd time hip-hop.

Also, I believe some of the darker stuff from the Roots has been in some odd time signatures, maybe from the Phrenology years on. The early records all seem to be straight 4 but they got way experimental after 9/11. Dont quote me on that though about the odd times, but who ever got hurt disecting ?uestlove, ya dig?

[Josiah]

Odd times and hip hop... just isn't the nature of that beast I think. So much of hiphop is built around very catchy, very simple "grooves".

Though LOTS of hiphop combine a wide variety of odd note values and crossed values. It's very common to have part of the drum tracks straight and others swung.

[Todd Sucherman]

I did a couple gigs in the mid 90s with Fareed Haque where we played an instrumental hip hop version of Led Zeppelin's "The Crunge" with a hard swing. While not "proper" hip hop, it was a fusiony urban thing that was really cool as hell. 9/8 of course. The idea worked.

TS

[Henrik]

Thanks a lot for your suggestions, Morgenthaler and circh! I'll check those out; I might have already heard some Steve Coleman if they had Sean Rickman on drums at some point?

Odd times and hip hop... just isn't the nature of that beast I think. So much of hiphop is built around very catchy, very simple "grooves".

Well, since there's been "progressive" elements in pretty much every other aspect of hip hop (lyrics, beats, sounds, moods, types of flow, etc.) since it's inception, I'd still think it's a probable development. I don't think any art form can stay the same indefinitely without stagnating/dying. It's just in human nature to evolve, including our different sub cultures.

Of course you could argue that that certain aspect of hip hop is so central to the genre that if it were to change, the essence would be lost and it would no longer be hip hop...

I did a couple gigs in the mid 90s with Fareed Haque where we played an instrumental hip hop version of Led Zeppelin's "The Crunge" with a hard swing. While not "proper" hip hop, it was a fusiony urban thing that was really cool as hell. 9/8 of course. The idea worked.

TS

That sounds very cool, Todd; thanks for sharing! You wouldn't happen to have any live recordings of that lying around, would you? Would be awesome to hear it!

[bstocky]

There's a song by Goldie that's in an odd time. I don't remember the song at all or the time signature but I immediately thought of it when I saw this thread. I'm too lazy to look for it but it's out there somewhere.

[Gaddabout]

It's going to be hard to find hip hop that has an '8' in the bottom of the time signature, but there's quite a bit in 4s.

[Clint Hopkins]

This one by Venetian Snares might qualify:

[GoAndPractice]

"Something In The Way Of Things (In Town)" The Roots

More of a spoken word thing but still may count...