Cadence & Flow -- A Study in MMG
When man first walked the earth some millions of years ago (or thousands of years, if you’re into that), the first instrument he learned how to play was percussion. Now, I don’t know what they used. Maybe they beat their chests, clapped their hands or used the bones from their fallen enemies to hit a rock, but it happened.
In music, rhythm means everything. Without rhythm, notes don’t end and songs have no structure. Rhythm is the backbone of music; this is especially apropos in hip hop, a genre dominated by rhythm and the way in which meaningful words can ride on top of them, like a boat on the turbulent seas.
There are two main characteristics of rhythm in hip hop — flow and cadence. When a rapper possesses “cadence,” that means he knows instinctively how to intertwine his vocals with the beat to a point where the two become inseparable. To return to the boat metaphor, cadence would look much like a ship bobbing between waves, leaving not the faintest hint of wake.
Cadence allows for the beat to play an equal part in conveying the message of the song, generally focusing on hitting the end of phrases harder, then giving the listener a respite before launching into more rhymes.
An understanding of flow is slightly more difficult to explain. Imagine an aircraft carrier plowing through small waves, destroying them and leaving a massive frothing impact on the ocean’s surface. This is a perfect metaphor for flow — the ability to master the intricacies of a beat, exploit its structural and rhythmic tendencies, and take complete control of a song.
Rappers twist the beginnings and endings of phrases to convey their message. The beat becomes secondary, a counterpoint, serving to remind the listener of how “normal” rappers would do things before going above and beyond the call of duty.
Of course, examples of rappers who possess flow, cadence and a combination of the two abound. Artists like Busta Rhymes and Yelawolf have made their marks based on their flow, using complex and often fast-paced rhymes to decimate the confines of meter and bar lines, while rappers like 2Pac and Waka Flocka Flame use beats like a stepladder, helping them get their message out.
During my recent listening endeavors, I found a curious contrast between these two qualities under the same collective: Maybach Music. I was listening to the posse cut from Wale’s most recent album, Ambition, and I was struck by the two completely different styles of Mr. Folarin and his boss, Rick Ross, aka Rozay, aka Pretty Ricky, aka Officer Ross. The two members of MMG possess these two contrasting qualities and can effectively illustrate the differences between the two.
Since first splashing onto the scene, Wale’s clever rhymes and complex delivery have been his trademarks. Dude drops more basketball references on his first album alone than I thought could be possible. What makes Wale special is his remarkable flow — dude takes beats and makes them his bitch, throwing in polysyllabic rhymes at the drop of a fitted. Take the opening lines from “Legendary”:
Top of the dome with it, or wroten lyrics
They ain’t grossing a million liquid, don’t form an opinion
While Young Folarin does allow the 1’s of each bar to kick, by rhyming “with it,” “lyrics,” “million,” “liquid,” and “opinion,” Wale’s voice and rhythmic understanding draw attention away from the beat and toward his words. Another great example comes from his collaboration with Lloyd on the raspy-voiced “Sabotage”:
I swear, I kinda feel like she’s slightly bizarre
Sabotage all the time, have me Avatar'd
Blue ball, who fault? Mine, only cause I stick around
Here, Olubowale doesn’t let the 1’s kick. He rhymes right over them, dropping syllables on the offbeats, basically letting us all know “hey, I can do this shit too.” It’s very effective in bringing the spotlight on himself, rather than allowing the beat to dictate where his voice goes. By ducking the rhythm of the beat, Wale flows in and out of treacherous waters, making it more interesting to listen to.
Meanwhile, Pretty Boy Rick takes his cadence from more conventional artists, also to great effect. In my humble opinion, right now, Rick Ross is the best in the game at taking a beat and making it speak for him as much as his own words. Take, for example, his guest verse on Wale and Jeremih’s “That Way”:
You listen to this, and you can’t help but feel the beat in your chest. Rozay does an impeccable job of letting every single 1 kick and leaving a nice space before coming back in to rhyme, as if to let his words sink in. It takes a blend of patience and skill to recognize when to lay off a beat and let it ride out, and Ross captures that in its essence on almost every track he appears on.
Listening to Rick spit is like a harkening back to the days of the “boom bap,” when a beat was a snare, a bass and little else. These lines off of the Teflon Don’s “B.M.F. (Blowin' Money Fast)”:
These muthafuckas mad that I’m icy
Stunt so hard make them come and indict me
Despite the completely over-the-top beat in the background (of course, it’s produced by Lex Luger), Ross' bars have such a swagger and a mastery of timing that you can’t deny the catchiness. It also helps when you throw an ad lib onto every 1; “BAWSE” and “UNGH” are possibly the best indicators of a new phrase in rap today.
What makes both Wale and Rick Ross great also tends to hurt them in the long run, though. Wale’s stretched phrases and bars often make the listener lose interest because it requires so much attention to follow him through a song, while Rozay has the opposite problem, where short phrases and less complex patterns tend to make him seem bland in comparison to the more distinguished voices in hip hop. To be the complete package, you have to know when to let the beat talk for you, and when to rip the beat a new one.
Now I leave you readers with this question: based on your vast knowledge of hip hop, who best combines these two qualities? Who has perfected the art of laying off and laying into different beats? Is it a member of the old school still prevalent today, like Nas or Jay-Z? Or is it a more recent artist who’s making big waves, like Kendrick Lamar or Lupe Fiasco?
The choice is yours, and yours alone…
—Written by Xionc, holla at ya boy
