G-funk
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- For the record label, see G-Funk Entertainment
| Gangsta Funk | |
| Stylistic origins | |
|---|---|
| Cultural origins | |
| Typical instruments | |
| Mainstream popularity | Popular from the early 1990s however declined after 1996. |
| Regional scenes | |
| West Coast hip hop | |
G-Funk, or "Gangsta Funk", is a type of hip hop music that emerged from West Coast gangsta rap in the early 1990s. G-funk (which uses funk music with artificially lowered tempos) 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—a feature that became the genre’s notable trademark[citation needed]. Additionally, 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].
This genre was characterized by a generally hedonistic subject matter including violence, sex, and drug use, and a slurred "lazy drawl" that sacrificed lyrical complexity for clarity and rhythmic cadence[citation needed]. G-funk became the premier subgenre of mainstream hip hop for a span of nearly four years (from the release of Dr. Dre's landmark debut, The Chronic, in late 1992, to the collapse of the Los Angeles-based labels, Ruthless Records, Priority Records, and Death Row Records, Sacramento-based label Blackmarket Records, Oakland-based label Jive, and Def Jam West in 1996 and 1997)[citation needed].
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[edit] Origins
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; the first hints of the whiny syn-leads and Parliament-Funkadelic-style bass grooves in Dre's work appeared on N.W.A.'s single "Alwayz Into Something" 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 the world to Snoop Dogg. 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 in the mainstream.
However, some have alleged that Dr. Dre stole the concept of G-funk from Above The Law's Cold 187um (AKA Big Hutch) while N.W.A. and Above The Law were both signed to Ruthless Records in the early-1990s. Above The Law have claimed that their album Black Mafia Life (1993), although it was released after The Chronic, had been in the works while Dre was still on Ruthless, and that he heard tracks from the album and imitated the style on The Chronic. It is notable that several songs on Black Mafia Life contain the same samples as songs on The Chronic ("Pimp Clinic", for example, is based upon the same samples as Dr. Dre's hit single "Let Me Ride"; therefore, the two songs are distinctly similar). Above The Law continue to argue that they are the architects of the G-funk style.
Others have drawn comparisons between G-funk and San Francisco-based Mobb Music, which has never gained widespread mainstream success but incorporates elements similar to G-funk, with more tempo variations, less portamento, synthesizers, Moog bass lines, and more live instruments.
[edit] Influence
After the release of The Chronic, many producers from the West Coast and even some from the East Coast began producing in the G-funk style or imitating it. Most notably, producers Warren G and DJ Quik produced their most well-known material in the G-funk vein, Dre's fellow Death Row "inmate" Daz produced significant material including Tha Dogg Pound's debut Dogg Food in the same style. Within only a few years such talented westcoast G-Funk producers hit the key boards with integrity, including QDIII, Rhythm D, Spice 1, Boody Rhymes Madness 4 Real, Dr. Jam, Brotha Lynch Hung, E-A-Ski, CMT, Tootie, N.O. Joe, T-Mix, Brian G, Yella, and Sam Sneed In the "Making of Ready to Die" issue of XXL magazine, ex-Bad Boy producer Easy Mo Bee stated that he was trying to bring a G-funk-inspired sound to The Notorious B.I.G.'s debut album.
Lasting influences that have carried on even after the heyday of the style include heavy use of funk-style synthesizers, and hooks sung and modified electronically through the use of a vocoder or Talk box in a style pioneered by funk group Zapp and Roger.
[edit] Criticism and backlash
Prior to the success of The Chronic, prominent groups of the golden age of hip hop such as Public Enemy and Native Tongues Posse, embraced more socially aware issues such as drug abuse, poverty, racism, and African American empowerment, whereas rappers utilizing the G-funk sound essentially rapped about the gangsta subject matter that Dre's former group, N.W.A, had helped bring to the mainstream in the late 1980s. This led to some criticism from hip hop purists, who accused these rappers of "dumbing down" rap. In 1994, Chicago rapper Common released the song "I Used to Love H.E.R." on his album Resurrection; the track essentially summed up the sentiments of hip-hop purists, and received notable attention in the underground. It was this disillusionment with mainstream hip hop that led certain hip hop critics to enthusiastically embrace East Coast albums such as Black Moon's Enta Da Stage, The Wu-Tang Clan's Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers) (see 1993 in music), and Nas's and The Notorious B.I.G.'s respective debut:Ready to Die and Nas's debut Illmatic (see 1994 in music). These successive releases were hailed as the beginning of an East Coast hip hop renaissance, that later included albums such as Only Built 4 Cuban Linx, The Infamous, Doe Or Die, It Was Written, and Reasonable Doubt. Ready to Die, in particular, established Bad Boy Records as a significant competitor against the West Coast hip hop scene led by Death Row Records.
Despite such criticism and mounting pressure from censorship groups (most notably C. Delores Tucker) opposed to gangsta rap, The Chronic and Doggystyle, were both critically-acclaimed as well as commercially successful. The singles "Nuthin' But a "G" Thang" (The Chronic) and "Gin and Juice" (Doggystyle) became the most famous examples of G-funk in this era. The G-funk sound could also be heard in rapper Tupac Shakur's most popular releases, including Me Against the World - "Heavy in the Game" and most notably the song "Cant C Me" (produced by Dr Dre) featured on All Eyez on Me, the latter of which was released on the Death Row label.
[edit] Future of the G-funk era
In late 1995 and 1996, following Dr. Dre's departure from Death Row Records, Eazy E's death, Brotha Lynch Hung's label legality issues, various legal proceedings against numerous West Coast G-Funk rappers, Tupac Shakur's murder, and Suge Knight's imprisonment for racketeering, the G-funk era effectively came to an end. Through this disarray many artists and producers if still active fell through the cracks into obscurity as the era collapsed. Dr. Dre attempted to update and expand on the sound with his late 1996 release Dr. Dre Presents...The Aftermath as well as 1997's Nas, Foxy Brown, AZ, and Nature Present The Firm: The Album, the latter of which he partially produced. While both albums went platinum, they were unsuccessful by Dre's standards, and had little impact on the hip-hop scene.
However, the G-funk sound has had a lasting impact on hip hop, and its influence can be heard in albums such as Dre's successful 1999 comeback 2001, which features a significantly different production style from The Chronic but has its roots in the G-funk sound he helped pioneer.
The sound has continued to utilized by a number of rap artists and producers including Kokane who in 2006 released three separate albums, "Kokane presents the Hood Mob", "Back 2 tha Clap, and "Pain killer'z". Two well established G-Funk artists DJ Quik and Warren G released albums in 2005 and were both commercially and critically solid indie albums. Two less commercially established but regionally popular acts, Foesum and Suga Free released an albums in 2006 using the sound template. In 2007, the Dogg Pound released Dogg Chit, produced almost entirely by Daz Dillinger, which featured a classic G-Funk sound throughout the album.
[edit] External Websites
[edit] References
- ^ Brown, Ethan (22). "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.”
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