Storytelling is the epitome of Hip-Hop. When an artist tells a story in a song, it gives a visual to the message the are trying to convey. Nearly all artist have had a song where they tell a story, but Slick Rick is by far the pioneer and master of storytelling.
If you were to look up 'storytelling' in the Hip Hop Dictionary, the song "Children's Story" would be the example given. The two songs below are also well known story songs by Slick Rick, the first being "La Di Da Di" featuring Doug E. Fresh, the second being "Women Lose Weight" (The version I posted is a mix/mashup with the song "50 Ways To Leave Your Lover" by Paul Simon).
The form of storytelling in rap peaked during the late 80's and early 90's. Storytelling songs are usually catchy and have a wide audience. Notable artist that adopted this style are Big Daddy Kane, The Notorious B.I.G., Eminem, Ice Cube, A Tribe Called Quest, and Tupac. The list goes on and on. Posted below is a song by A Tribe Called Quest called "I Left My Wallet In El Segundo"
In the past decade, storytelling in Hip Hop has kinda died down. Artist these days have more-so adopted the mafioso style of rap, trying to one-up each other. One of my favorite artist, however, has brought back the original form of storytelling in my opinion. That artist would be Kendrick Lamar. He raps about his life experiences in a very visual way. Although he may be relatively new in the world of Hip Hop, I speculate that he is really going to bring back storytelling in Hip Hop. Posted below are two songs of his that I feel really capture the old school form of storytelling.
I agree with you for the most part. I think most of the popular rap has no storytelling, where as the underground is a lot deeper music.
ReplyDeleteI disagree, I believe present day artists still storytell. However, I feel in order to make money, artists are forced to make catchy songs that are more appealing to the ear. In addition, I feel the art of storytelling in present day has changed in that there are more artists who do it, but less artists who do it on a consistent basis.
ReplyDeleteThe lack of storytelling is present day artist is apparent because the industry has changed since then. I feel like you could have posted a song by I.T., Eminem, Common, Nas and Lupe Fiasco instead of three Slick Rick and two Kendrick Lamar songs.
ReplyDeleteYea looking back, I should have included more variety. Common would have been a great example
Deleteabsolutely agree 100% with the kendrick lamar references!! He's a very similar storyteller to artists we've been looking at on our spotify playlists like Nas and Outkast. Kendrick's imagery is what makes his story telling powerful, however in spite of this, story telling has not been popular in recent years due to the mainstream preference of a more syllabic beat and less lyrical expression
ReplyDeleteI agree that storytelling isn't as prominent in today's hip hop because most producers feel that kind of stuff won't sell in today's industry. I totally agree with your reference to Kendrick Lamar bringing back the element of storytelling in his songs and I, too, am very excited to see what else he comes out with.
ReplyDeleteThis whole article was very well written and the facts were definitely there. I'm a little on the fence with present day storytelling because I do feel like it is in today's music in some aspects, but today's music is really more so club hits.
ReplyDeleteThanks. And yea I totally agree
DeleteI like that you put Kendrick Lamar as an artist still doing the storytelling type of rapping.. i LOVE his album an one of my favorite parts about it is that the whole album tells the story of his childhood that has little skits and interludes, etc. I too feel like he is bringing storytelling back as a more prominent form of hiphop. of course a few artists have had songs here an there telling stories but not a whole album!
ReplyDeleteExactly. I feel some artist just do it every now and then only so that their album doesnt sound the same all the way through
DeleteWhen I think of storytelling, I automatically first think of Slick Rick's "Children's Story" so I liked how you mentioned it. I wished you showed me more examples of rappers who also use storytelling in the present time.
ReplyDeleteI agree that all those artists are great storytellers. However, I disagree with what you say about story telling peaking in the 80's and 90's. It may have been prominent then but story telling will always be a big part of hip hop.
ReplyDeleteI agree that storytelling will always be a big part of hip hop, its just not what you hear on the radio now, when back then it was
DeleteI think storytelling in hip hop has come a long way and the examples shown are great but saying that it has peaked and died down is a stretch. Today, tons of artits create stories with their music and i think that this quality will always be around and improving. Artists will always have stories and feelings to tell and their experiences will always show through their lyrics.
ReplyDeleteHip-Hop I agree has definitely lost its art for the most part with story telling as it was much more prominent in old school Hip-Hop. Now a days the stories are few and far between as hip hop has taken a different path with more catchy songs about partying and what not.
ReplyDeleteI think the art of storytelling in rap makes it more a attractive.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Benoy in the fact that many rappers tend to put out a popular chart-topping hit with no storyline just to make money. An example would be Wiz Khalifa doing the song Black & Yellow. After he made money on this, it gave way to his more poetic, true self.
ReplyDeleteI think storytelling has also lost its way in the sense that now days its more about how catchy the song is, and it doesn't put enough focus in getting a point across like storytelling does. Storytelling, if done right is definitely one of the best type of hip hop.
ReplyDeleteLike most of y'all said, storytelling isn't as prominent in modern day rap. Naturally, it will always have a prominent role in hip hop because artists need a way to convey and share their experiences with their audience, storytelling is the basis of that and it usually results in a great song. I've always been a huge TI fan and upon reading this blog post I immediately thought of his song "Still Ain't Forgave Myself". I also heavily fuck with the Kendrick Lamar songs you included above, I think most of us agree that Good Kid, M.A.A.D. City is a pretty epic album and definitely exemplifies hip hop story telling, especially with the inclusion of the skits and interludes.
ReplyDeleteI think storytelling in Hip Hop is better than artists trying to one up each other and trying to make music just for the simple fact that they're trying to get rich from it.
ReplyDelete