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-- Mixing RAP + HIP HOP
Mixing RAP + HIP HOP
Hi... Im mainly just a trance lover... but ive noticed that no one at my college really loves trance and they probably wouldn't like to dance to it at parties...
So ive been wanted to learn how to DJ rap+ hip hop
How do u do it? it seems totally different from mixing trance...
breakbeats.... no time to mix in (songs start off fast with vocals, end real fast)... short ass songs...
Beatmatch the songs, and during the 8-16 bars after the vocals but before the end, (some songs dont give you this, in which case you have to get a bit creative with slamming tracks in and such) bring the cued track in without the bass, then switch the bass quickly at a good point. Thats just one way, obviously there are many others, just as with trance and house.
try some eddie halliwell style fader tricks, if you dont want to scratch but want to make it interseting, as imo there is nothing more boring than hip hop and rap
Just get ahold of some of the more popular rap songs out and try some different things. You'll notice a group of songs from the same producer that are produced about the same time will mix real well together (such as The Game - How We Do and 50 Cent - Just a Lil Bit) those two have the same exact beat. Just practice, you'll come across a lot more things by doing then reading. I started off mixing trance and then got bored one day and started mixing rap and you gotta just keep the beat in your head as your looking through your tracks and try and see if they match in your head. Knowing your tracks is VERY important, you can't really try a song out and spend a minute trying to match it up because the songs are generally only 4 minutes to begin with. Trial and error in your bedroom will help you in front of a crowd.
just my opinion though.
stick to your heart let the music guide you and tell the lemmings to go fuck themselves you don't need their validation to know you have taste you already know that on the inside.
However if you really want to mix that. Being that i'm an ex hip hop DJ and turntablist (underground/terrorcore) I have some tips. Your beatmatching doesn't have to be as tight as with trance. Get it close but you won't have as much time. So go with sweet and short mixes. Scratch a few songs in. Meaning open up the fader and cue the song back and forth for about a measure and then drop it while cutting the other song out. Learn some basic scratches while you're at it.
I spin hip hop every Thursday. Here's my tips. I'll give you a site to get you started... www.DigiWaxx.com They are a free online record pool. They have a lot of the new stuff there, and most of their tracks have instrumentals, acapellas, clean edits, and dirty edits. Their songs are high quality and, best of all, it's FREE!!!
My tips...
1.- It is ESSENTIAL to get extended versions of all the songs. If you can't find an extended version, than get the instrumentals. I make my own edits of most of the tracks I play. If you use P2P, search for funkymix, wicked mix, and extended.
2.- Mixing hip hop is way different than trance. You still beatmach, but your mixes are short and to the point. You mix the songs on the chorus/hook. Like darkOmans said, that's usually 8-16 bars.
3.- Just like trance, you can make build ups on hip hop and drive the people crazy. That's what will set most hip hop DJ's apart. I like to get creative when I'm playing hip hop and I make my own "tools." Most DJ's don't, and that's why they sound the same. One of my tools I play is Pink Floyd's Proper Education over Cassie's Me and You, it was given to me by another DJ, but it's SICK! It never fails.
4.- Be unique. I like to mix classics with new stuff, mashups, and party breaks in my sets. That's my forumala and it works perfect. Right now, what's hot and I'm digging a lot is a style called BMORE (Baltimore). BMore very high BPMs, around 130BPM or so. This is a mash up style of music that blends hip hop or rock with really banging house/edm. My favorite tracks right now on this style are The Marvalettes & The Beattle's - Hey Mr Postman (BMore Mix), and Rockton - Your Bmore (The Outfield - Your Love).
5.- Hip hop can be a lot of fun, if you play beyond what the radio is playing. There's so much music to choose from. EDM is still my first love, but hip hop is paying me very nice money! And even at the hip hop clubs I throw in a few trance tracks and they like it. But I have to throw in very very very popular stuff, stuff that we all call CHEESE!!! hahaha yes, I'm talking about Sandstorm! hahaha 
But I just open with that one, than I throw in a lit bit of anthems, but than again, these are my own edits because the hip hop crowd doesnt like big break downs. They get bored when that happens.
- GOOD LUCK!
One thing you can do is dump your songs into a wave editor and extend the intros and outros which will be a trememdous help.
| quote: |
| Originally posted by DjWoody I spin hip hop every Thursday. Here's my tips. I'll give you a site to get you started... www.DigiWaxx.com They are a free online record pool. They have a lot of the new stuff there, and most of their tracks have instrumentals, acapellas, clean edits, and dirty edits. Their songs are high quality and, best of all, it's FREE!!! My tips... 1.- It is ESSENTIAL to get extended versions of all the songs. If you can't find an extended version, than get the instrumentals. I make my own edits of most of the tracks I play. If you use P2P, search for funkymix, wicked mix, and extended. 2.- Mixing hip hop is way different than trance. You still beatmach, but your mixes are short and to the point. You mix the songs on the chorus/hook. Like darkOmans said, that's usually 8-16 bars. 3.- Just like trance, you can make build ups on hip hop and drive the people crazy. That's what will set most hip hop DJ's apart. I like to get creative when I'm playing hip hop and I make my own "tools." Most DJ's don't, and that's why they sound the same. One of my tools I play is Pink Floyd's Proper Education over Cassie's Me and You, it was given to me by another DJ, but it's SICK! It never fails. 4.- Be unique. I like to mix classics with new stuff, mashups, and party breaks in my sets. That's my forumala and it works perfect. Right now, what's hot and I'm digging a lot is a style called BMORE (Baltimore). BMore very high BPMs, around 130BPM or so. This is a mash up style of music that blends hip hop or rock with really banging house/edm. My favorite tracks right now on this style are The Marvalettes & The Beattle's - Hey Mr Postman (BMore Mix), and Rockton - Your Bmore (The Outfield - Your Love). 5.- Hip hop can be a lot of fun, if you play beyond what the radio is playing. There's so much music to choose from. EDM is still my first love, but hip hop is paying me very nice money! And even at the hip hop clubs I throw in a few trance tracks and they like it. But I have to throw in very very very popular stuff, stuff that we all call CHEESE!!! hahaha yes, I'm talking about Sandstorm! hahaha But I just open with that one, than I throw in a lit bit of anthems, but than again, these are my own edits because the hip hop crowd doesnt like big break downs. They get bored when that happens.- GOOD LUCK! |
| quote: |
| Originally posted by Zild One thing you can do is dump your songs into a wave editor and extend the intros and outros which will be a trememdous help. |
just develop your own style. i use serato and do instra loops at the beginning of tracks and mix. i also drop tracks on beat and mix them in within the first 4, 8, 16, or whatever beats.
i started djing w/ another hip hop dj and we both have totally different styles. he's a great scratcher and most of his mixes involve scratching and droping the next track (on beat and beatmatched) and using the faders. my mixes are straight up mixes and i rarely scratch. just mess around and do whatever works for you.
honestly, its more about track selection than anything else. you could keep a crowd on a dancefloor w/out mixing at all (but thats no fun). its important to have great songs ranging from 80 to 160 bpm so that you can mix strong sets. when you have a big gap in bpm's (say a bunch of songs around 100 and 140 but none in between) its harder to mix a good set. i made a post on here a while ago and listed 1 or 2 great hip hop tracks at each bpm for a beginning hip hop dj to use but i just dont have the time to do it right now... i'll try to get it on here soon. good luck
Another tip is to write down the BPM of the songs on little sticker you can attatch to the record or CD, or tag the mp3 file with the BPM, because the tempo of hip hop varies incredibly. Some songs can be as slow as 60 BPM while some can be almost up at 100+ BPM. This will save you quite of bit of time while selecting tracks and programming.
ok, when i spin, i start at any bpm and then work up or down through songs by bpm's. i usually start around 100bpm though... i organize my music by bpm (in serato). so if i start off at 110,i'll work down to 80 and then jump to 160, or i'll work up to 160 and jump down to 80. i like working down in bpms better than up.. you can really notice pitch changes, so dont make jumps more than 2 bpm. if you read the thread "hip hop" you will also learn a little more about how people mix hip hop... i gave you a list of good songs ranging from 80 to 160 bpm. this is just a start, but its good to have at least 1 song for every bpm when you start your hip hop journey. then when you add songs you like, you will have more than 1 for a lot of the bpms and can easily mix up and down through the diff bpm's. these are new to old rap songs. i put the best song i had for each bpm (my opinion) on this list, so you should be getting off to a good start. I dj 3x a week 4hrs a night strictly hip hop. (i mix trance at home)
bpm artist - song
161 lil wayne fireman,
160 lil flip - game over
159 brooke valentine feat dem franchize boys - pimped out
158 baby feat lil wayne - shine on
157 shawnna feat busta - gettin some (head)
156 juvenile - rodeo
155 d4l - laffy taffy
154 black eyed peas - pump it
153 chingy - holiday inn
152 young joc - shoulder lean
151 rick ross - push it
150 lil jon - what you gonna do
149 fat joe - make it rain
148 cherish feat sean paul - do it to it
147 three 6 mafia - poppin my collar
146 mary j blige - be without you (kendu mix)
145 purple ribbon allstars - kryptonite
144 bone thugs - crossroads
143 chamillionaire - ridin
142 n/a
141 n/a
140 ludacris - whats your fanitsy
139 mike jones and paul wall - they dont know
138 pitbull - getting freaky
137 rihanna - sos (resuce me)
136 shawnie - shake ya money maker
135 2 live crew - shake that ass bitch
134 da' dip - freak nasty
133 let me see your tootsie roll (dont know what artist)
132 mya feat missy elliot - my love is like woah
131 ludacris - roll out
130 black eyed peas - dont phunk with my heart
129 bone thugs - thuggish ruggish bone
128 christina aguilera - aint no other man
127 salt and peppa - push it
126 outkast - the way you move
125 sean paul - temperature
124 black eyed peas - my humps
123 eminem - just loose it
122 r kelly - feelin on your booty
121 pussycat dolls - dont cha
120 ll cool jay and jlo - control myself
119 pitbull and lil jon - toma
118 ying yang twins feat pitbull - shake
117 justin timberlake - sexy back
116 eminem - the way i am
115 nelly - tilt ya head back
114 nelly furtado - promiscious
113 caria feat missy elliot - one two step
112 gnarls barkley - crazy
111 usher - caught up
110 jagged edge - lets get married (remix)
109 missy elliot - we run this
108 pitbull feat lil jon - bojangles (remix)
107 young leek - jiggle it, eminem - shake that ass
106 kevin little - trun me on
105 beyonce - deja vu, pussycat dolls - buttons
104 mase - breathe stretch shake
103 destinys child - bootylicious
102 busta rymes - touch it
101 chris brown - run it
100 shakira - hips dont lie, cassie - me & u
99 julez santana - there it go (the whistle song)
98 t.i. - bring em out
97 bubba sarxxx - ms new booty
96 daddy yankee - gasolina
95 cassidy - get no better
94 t.i. - why you wanna, snoop - gin and juice
93 biggie smalls - hypnotize (biggie biggie), 50 cent - 21 questions
92 kanye west and jaymie fox - golddigger
91 fergie - london bridge, 2pac - california love
90 dr dre - keep their heads ringin (ring ding dong)
89 big tymers - number 1 stunner
88 daddy yankee - rompe
87 nelly - shake a tailfeather, beyonce - ring the alarm
86 juvenile - slow motion, sean paul - still in love
85 jay z and beyonce - upgrade you
84 kelis feat too short - bossy
83 fabolous - breathe, crime mobb - in my white tee
82 lil jon - snap ya fingers, chingy - one call away
81 50 cent - wanksta
80 fabolous - this is my party
this should help... good luck
make sure you let me know how it works out for ya and if you have any q's dont be afraid to ask
bisco
ps i made this list like 3 months ago so there are new club bangers not listed:
mims ~ this is why i'm hot
dj unk ~ walk it out
lil wayne ~ stuntin like my daddy
jim jones ~ ballin
rich boy ~ throw some d's
eminem/akon ~ smack that
akon ~ i wanna fuck/love you
lil wayne/crack ~ make it rain
TI ~ top back
and a bunch more....
pss and now that serato has pitch lock i can make larger bpm jumps and alot of what i typed in the intro paragraph is not the case anymore..
GOOD LUCK
You can also try mixing some baltimore club music. its high energy hip hop with bpm's around 130. its structured just like house music and you will have no problem w/ it.
Baltimore club music is crazy.
God bless you for that BPM list...
If you've got more and you're willing to share it, I'd love a PM...
You also don't have to just spin hip-hop and rap. There are a lot of main stream American dance songs out there that really lend themselves well on the dance floor.
Songs like:
Natasha Bedingfield - Unwritten
Nelly Furtado - Promiscuous
Justin Timberlake - Sexy Back
Also it's more acceptable to do cuts, frankly unless you're mixing in the 110s it is harder to beat match since a lot of hip-hop songs don't beat match well.
You need to know the rough tempo of your tracks to do this.
Rap has a wide range of BPM.
Also rap usually has some kind of intro 4, 8 or 16 beats. Find out how many beats the track has before the first verse kicks in, time it right and fade or cut over.
man NO what to play ..... FUCK beat matching das shit . not with hip hop . if u no what to play ur set . make sure to kill the song before the second verse. must kill a song before a chorus or right after it dont ever kill in the middle of a verse people normally get into singing the verse. i no this for a fact i have beeen djing dancehall rap hiphop for years now . but the main thing no what songs to play. hmmmm if u need any more tips pm me ... if u need me to elaborate on what ever u want to no
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