Document Type
Article
Publication Date
2017
College/Unit
Eberly College of Arts and Sciences
Department/Program/Center
World Languages, Literatures and Linguistics
Abstract
Duinker and Martin’s excellent study presents a wealth of new data, findings, and analyses. It represents a welcome focus on the details of musical aspects of hip-hop, as well as an effort to combine those details with more global aspects of recordings in order to clarify what our notions of hip-hop ‘style’ or ‘sound’ are based on. The examination of instrumental backgrounds and production parameters is particularly novel. I would suggest, however, that the study could have benefitted from the use of details pertaining to flow, particularly in the examination of trends over time and stylistic sub-groupings. I show that several parameters pertaining to the complexity, rhythmic placement, and repetitiveness of rhymes help track changes in hip-hop style over time, distinguish between more and less similar songs, and capture effects of apparent time within the same actual time period.
Digital Commons Citation
Katz, Jonah, "Style and Flow: A Commentary on Duinker & Martin" (2017). Faculty & Staff Scholarship. 1153.
https://researchrepository.wvu.edu/faculty_publications/1153