Hip-hop has had a long love affair with the software, with innovators like T-Pain and Kanye West embracing it as an over-the-top artistic choice. Narrator: So, just how far has country strayed from its homegrown, bluegrass roots? Well, take one of the most controversial digital-processing tools, Auto-Tune. Holt: Hip-hop is one of the first mainstream music movements that really focused on prerecorded music and digital manipulation in process. Holt, an ethnomusicologist at Columbia University who's studied the relationship between music and Southern hip-hop. Holt: The shift toward digital instruments in general, you know, is always gonna have a bit of a hip-hop connotation. Mainstream country is relying less and less on the genre's traditional string instruments in favor of beat machines like the 808 and other synthetic elements long used in hip-hop production. You'll hear the difference if you listen to the Country Top 100 and pay attention to the instruments in the songs. They found that hip-hop's presence in country has exploded over the past eight years. Pandora did a large-scale analysis of every song on their platform to see how much has changed since 2010. Hunt is taking that skill and applying it to a country power ballad.
Almost all skilled MCs use syncopation to create complex rhythmic patterns that defy expectation. There, he's using a technique called syncopation, which is a major part of rap flow. Notice how when Hunt switches from singing to speaking, he'll often deliver bursts of syllables on offbeats. One of them, Sam Hunt, has even been dubbed "the country Drake" for his slick, streamlined R&B production and his conversational flow.
See how they all spit their lines like they're rapping? This first generation of new country acts paved the way for another crop of singers with hip-hop-inspired cadences. So, why is Nashville borrowing so heavily from hip-hop these days? It turns out the two genres share a long history, and in today's music landscape, country artists have strategic reasons to embrace hip-hop sounds and aesthetics.Ĭountry's drift toward hip-hop started in the late 2000s with the wave of so-called "country rappers." Just listen to the rapid-fire delivery of Colt Ford, Jason Aldean, and Blake Shelton.
Narrator: Country videos are looking a lot like hip-hop videos these days. And it's not just the girls and the cars.įor example, you might recognize this type of low-angle shot because it's been a signature of rap videos since the '90s.Īnd dance moves like this? Straight out of hip-hop choreography.Īs for the music itself, well, country's sounding a lot like hip-hop too.
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