Rap, Hip Hop & EU Attitude Toward Pitch

Still jetlagged from time in Beijing, 12 time zones away from New York.

I wake up at 2am or 3am and start thinking about music. At the moment, it’s rap music.

Rap music/hiphop:

By eliminating or marginaizing pitch, the hiphop artists allow for moments where pitch comes back, gloriously. Sometimes a choir enters out of the blue, singing on pitch, not chanting.

Rap/hiphop simplifies pitch, offering a dramatic moment to bring it back in all of its glory.

I encourage the EU Lachenmann-Huber/spectral peeps to try this.

@nothinggetsoldfasterthananewsound

Pitch is almost non-existant in Central Europe. It will come back.

–William Anderson, RSF delegate to the 2018 ISCM World Music Days