Hip Hop Lesson

Biting

this is something that you can as well as can't do....

more on this in the A.m

Hip Hop Lesson

The Punchline:

The punchline is something very simple that all hip hop artists need to be able to grasp and utilize as a part of their hip hop weaponry. What a punchline is in the basic point is the ending line of your "bar" its the last part that ends the bar. When you listen to anyone rhyme there are a lot of punchlines. Its the "zinger" that makes the crowd oohh and ahh when they hear it.

Some quality examples of punchlines can be by your favorite artists:

"Yo, I got slugs for snitches, no love for bitches,

Puttin' thugs in ditches when my trigger finger itches"

-Big L

"Immortal technique disintegrates Mic's when i spit

i cause more casualties than sunken slave ships"

-Immortal Technique

"If you go platinum, it's got nothing to do with luck,

It just means that a million people are stupid as f*ck"

-Immortal Technique

Some artists are also classified as a punchline artist. They specialize in dealing out damage in freestyle battles or in verse's on songs. Every line they end as a hard ending finisher. Its as if there was a fatality after every line the way they attack the artist/track/cd. You will usually hear a lot more punchlines when it comes to mixtapes or diss tracks for artists. Many of the punchlines are usually a good way to either pass the mic, start a verse or just to check the crowd to make sure they are still following. You have to be able to utilize the power of the punchline. For example in a battle if the punchline you thought would have went hard but yet as you said it, no one really got it then there is a problem. The punchline has to have the ability to touch the masses but yet get that ohh and ahh attack effect. But you cant really use your punchline untilyou have the ability to move the crowd...

Its Marching Band Time

I know this is a departure from what I usually write. But it is music. I love marching band (Maple Heights Mustangs) we killed the show. But I recently came from a part of marching band that I was unfamiliar with, drum corps/color guard and mostly competition band styles. I know for speaking for myself that I loved band we were a show band we made sure that the crowed enjoyed what we were playing and what we were doing. We danced played newer top 40 songs stand cheers were that of current genre songs. And it was good. On the somewhat opposite spectrum is show style. Now my first thought was is this really marching band. And it was just a style and way that I was not used to. They have the same aspects of that in show style but they compete on a more global level. With DCI (drum corps international) they have a lot more coordination and from my take they put a lot more practice into their pieces not saying that show band doesn't but some of these groups are on new levels. A lot of skills are showcased on the field. Between the spinning of the flags/rifles/sabers to the percision movements of the band itself it is pretty intricate.

From my perspective from the outside looking in and I love my show style and at first I stated that I'm not a fan of core style as it were. But as I continue to watch it more and more I can personally see why it is such a popular style. And why it is just as big if not bigger on a college level as well. I would recommend going to see a drum corps show it will put you onto a whole new level of band that I haven't experienced since high school.

Next time I'm taking it to my all time favorite: Black College Band aka HBCU bands