From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
G-funk, or Gangsta-Funk, is a sub-genre of hip hop music that emerged from West Coast gangsta rap in the early 1990s. G-funk (which uses funk music with an artificially lowered tempo) incorporates multi-layered and melodic synthesizers, slow hypnotic grooves, a deep bass, background female vocals, the extensive sampling of p-funk tunes, and a high portamento sine wave keyboard lead. The lyrical content consisted of sex, drugs, violence, and women. There was also a slurred “lazy” way of rapping in order to clarify words and stay in rhythmic cadence.
Unlike other earlier rap acts that also utilized funk samples (such as EPMD or The Bomb Squad), G-funk often utilized fewer, unaltered samples per song [1]. Music theorist Adam Krims has described G-funk as "a style of generally West Coast rap whose musical tracks tend to deploy live instrumentation, heavy on bass and keyboards, with minimal (sometimes no) sampling and often highly conventional harmonic progressions and harmonies".[2] Dr. Dre, a pioneer for the G-Funk genre, normally uses live musicians to replay the original music of sampled records. This enabled him to produce music that had his own sounds, rather than a direct copy of the sample[3].
There has been some debate over who should be considered the "father of G-funk." Dr. Dre is generally believed to have developed the sound.[4] It has been said that the sound of g-funk originated from Cold187um of Above the Law. Cold187um’s ideas were used by Dr. Dre for the Death Row debut album “The Chronic”. They both released records on Ruthless Records prior to this. Warren G and Snoop Dogg were with Cold187um before joining Dr. Dre and Deathrow. It’s been said that Dr. Dre gave no credit to Cold187um for the new sound created. On Snoop Dogg's Doggystyle album, Warren G and Daz Dillinger claim they produced "Ain't No Fun," even though Dre is credited as the album's sole producer[5].
The earliest use of sine wave synthesizers and Parliament-Funkadelic-style bass grooves in Dr. Dre's work appeared on N.W.A's single "Alwayz Into Somethin'" from their 1991 album Efil4zaggin. Dr. Dre's first true G-funk single, however, was 1992's "Deep Cover", the title song from the movie soundtrack of the same name, which also introduced Snoop Dogg to the world. When Dre's 1992 Death Row Records debut The Chronic was released in 1992, the album was immensely successful, and consequently made G-funk the most popular sub-genre of hip hop.[6]
Dr. Dre’s sound of g-funk has influenced many artists, such as Daz Dillinger, Warren G, DJ Quik, Warren G’s Regulators, Tha Dogg Pound’s Dogg Food, and DJ Quik’s Safe & Sound.
See also
References
- ^ Brown, Ethan (November 22, 2005). "Straight Outta Hollis". Queens Reigns Supreme: Fat Cat, 50 Cent, and the Rise of the Hip Hop Hustler. Anchor. ISBN 1-4000-9523-9. "[Unlike] popular hip-hop producers like the Bomb Squad, Dre instead utilized a single sample to drive a song."
- ^ Krims, Adam (2000). Rap Music and the Poetics of Meaning. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. pp. 74. ISBN 0521634474. http://books.google.com/books?id=Gg8UiSodjz8C&pg=PA75&dq=%22g-funk%22&sig=ACfU3U0SGQ2bjz1RT8pnQ_Cu0oCVBkvpfQ#PPA74,M1. Retrieved 2008-08-02.
- ^ http://articles.latimes.com/2007/sep/23/entertainment/ca-dre23?pg=3
- ^ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, "Dr. Dre (Andre Young", in Vladimir Bogdanov et al., All Music Guide to Rock, 3rd ed., Backbeat Books, p. 324. ISBN 087930653X.
- ^ http://www.ugo.com/music/top-11-hip-hop-producers/?cur=dr-dre
- ^ Stephen Thomas Erlewine. "Dr. Dre", allmusic. Retrieved December 2, 2008.
Top topics
Wikis
Search
