For lack of a better way of putting it, I'll call it the "that part should be the WHOLE SONG" principle. As evidenced by the extending of breaks by the early hip hop djs and the production aesthetic that quickly became standard. Not a lot of change-ups, lots of repetition--basically the invention of "the beat."

It's a principle that proven both for the danceable club hits and the trance-inducing head nod backpack shit. You get to the good stuff immediately, and then you keep repeating it. Yes hooks, but even those subscribe to this principle for the most part and they're certainly not a must for quality hip hop.

Thinking about it, it seems like only recently have there been hits that depart from this principle--mostly the Kanye factor of more dynamic musical backdrops, or some of the messes Minaj is putting out.

I realized that even though at times I've thought it would be good if rappers rapped over stuff that keeps moving and progressing, most of the time when it happens ironically enough, I feel like something is missing.

This post was inspired by listening to Skyzoo's The Definitive Prayer, where he raps over a complete Axelrod instrumental, matching his vocal delivery to the changing song. It really is amazing, but at the same time, I don't know if it's just a novelty that's good for one song, but is somehow missing an important part of what makes hip hop work.

Thoughts? Examples that break this rule? Is it an outdated way of looking at hip hop, or still relevant?

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I check for: Serengeti, Zeroh, Open Mike Eagle, Jeremiah Jae, Moka Only.