Abstracthiphop is a sub-genre of hip hop that deviates from the conventions of the genre. Lyrically it often focuses on more abstract ideas such as existentialism or social institutions, and musically it usually incorporates unconventional beats and production techniques.
The name ‘abstract’ comes from the fact that it was all made from sampling bits and pieces of music before it became a full blown genre. This goes all the way back to dj shadow and even prince paul.
It’s not hard to see why this style is deemed as ‘abstract’, when you take a look at some of the artists who fall under this category and how they rap their lyrics it really is a different approach to the norm that we have all grown to expect in hip hop. This style of rapping has been around since the early 2000s and has become increasingly popular as a genre within the underground.
This style of rapping can be seen throughout the genre and it lends a lot to the creativity and flow of the songs. Some examples of this include Nas – I Gave You Power which is so deep and intricate with a huge amount of meaning and context, it really is like poetry.
Another example is Schoolboy Q – On the Way! He uses a vocal pitch technique that is similar to Nelly’s and even Bizzy Bone’s. He uses his voice to rap on several notes at a time with occasional movement to nearby pitches, it’s just like a real person rapping, it’s really cool and a great way of making your raps more unique and expressive.
