I assert that all rap flows can be classified as using pitch in one of five different ways, with each type of pitched rap flow carrying its own unique set of analytical implications. Furthermore, I argue that pitched vocals take a wider array of forms in rap music than in other genres of popular music, ranging from carefully-pitched singing of modern rap flows to the imprecise and exaggerated declamatory features of speech that distinguished rap from other genres during its formative years. In what follows, I demonstrate the ways in which rappers manipulate pitch to create a structural parameter that can operate independently from or in tandem with rhythm and rhyme. In this article, I contend that pitch plays an important role in the structure and delivery of rap flows. In doing so, I have offered descriptions of pitch in rap flows that are easily replicated in a classroom setting, or by an analyst basing their work on aspects of rap music that are more easily identifiable by ear.
While it is technically possible to quantify all pitches and rhythms in a rapper’s flow with the help of software, I have chosen to ground my analyses in observance of pitch done by ear.
This leaves little room to notate the rapid pitch shifts that characterize spoken word.Īs such, it makes perfect sense that the majority of music-theoretical scholarly attention thus far has been focused on musical characteristics that are both more readily-quantifiable and unique to rap, such as developing a typology of flow techniques (Adams 2009), attending to various issues via corpus studies (Condit-Schultz 2016 Ohriner 2016), and the interaction between rapped flow and produced beats (Adams 2008). This is because while rhythmic notation has theoretically infinite complexity, our standard pitch notation asks that we quantize notated pitches to one of twelve semitones. While the pitch of a rapper’s flow is technically no less quantifiable than rhythm or rhyme, it is less readily so when using typical music notation, making pitch perhaps a less attractive subject for analysis. While rap “flow”-a rapper’s delivery of the lyrics-has been the subject of an increasing amount of scholarship, the importance of vocal pitch as a parameter of flow is undertheorized. To what extent should vocal pitch be considered when analyzing rap tracks? How do we differentiate between rapping and singing? What techniques do rappers employ to manipulate their vocal pitch in ways that are meaningful and musically impactful? These questions are the motivation for the present article. The disparity in vocal pitch between two tracks by the same artist leaves us with many questions. A transcribed section of Lamar’s “Swimming Pools (Drank)” (2012, 0:25–0:39).
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