How to play rap?

[kr0n]

I don´t know how to play rap music... I got these preteens running around me they all like rap and I wanna keep them in music so I wanted to play rap bass with drum loops so they could do stuff... But I don´t know how? Yeah I´ll listen to songs but tell me in words how you see rap bass?

[topo morto]

Rap basslines are frequently awesome. Mostly they are stylistically influenced (or, hey, directly sampled) from funk/soul/jazz oriented styles. At least they were in my day!

Heavy on great feel, heavy on repetition.

As to how you play it...what's the problem?

[Vic Winters]

Depends on the artist. Songs produced by Dre are usually fairly simple. Play a riff 3 times, then a different one once. Repeat as necessary. 'Nothing but a G Thang' is a prime example.

[topo morto]

Dre is pretty old school now though, I guess (that's what I meant by 'in my day'!)

People rap over all sorts of styles of backing tracks. I get the feeling synth-oriented tracks are in a bit more at the moment - nothing you couldn't replicate with a good fuzz though.

[topo morto]

A few classics:

Digital Undergound "Humpty Dance" - YouTube

Dizzee Rascal - Bonkers - YouTube

The Notorious B.I.G - Hypnotize - YouTube (sampled from herb alpert)

Aesop Rock- Big Bang - YouTube

[mambo4]

step 1: play a classic , 20-50 year old soul, rock, or or funk bass line
step 2: rap over it

ok maybe a bit oversimplified, I know hip hop has evolved and it's now more than just looped tracks and rhymes...but the pop music it has become draws on those classic forms just as much as when Cool Herc was clocking his vinyl, back in the day...

[topo morto]

Here's a rhythm that's survived for a few years....

POW - Lethal Bizzle - YouTube

[niels125]

To me it seems like alot of famous basslines in hip hop/rapish music use a pattern similair to basslines of " lets' dance" or " under pressure"

Just use "cool" sounding simple looping basslines with alot of bass in it

[Woodsbass]

If you want modern, Tech N9ne is about as modern as it gets. Youtube the song

Dysfunctional - Tech N9ne

This is a great example of a rap bassline.

[So Low Bass]

Practice pushing the “Play” key for both “percussion” and “bass” on your computer simultaneously. Then purchase the Webster’s abridged edition dictionary of four letter words.

[Emibass]

I´m into recording/producing a rap album for a friend of mine. When recording bass I just play whatever the groove leads me into...no restrictions or rules. You can improvise as well, as long as the song lets you.