Hey there, >bounce/oz readers! I’m AaronM, a new addition to the site. You may know my writing from Metal Lungies, the blog of the Sound of Young America, Maximum Fun, or my own blog Canned Thinking. Anyway, enough self-promotion for now. Let me set into my topic for today.
Well, the titular instrument at the top of this post is what I’m covering today. I was reminded of the strange power of the talkbox when I saw the fantastic music video for Snoop’s new song, “Sensual Seduction“. The video pays affectionate tribute to the low production values of late ’70s/early ’80s music videos, complete with Zapp & Roger-esque costumes and split images ala “When Doves Cry.” Snoop spends most of the song singing through a talk box to produce that vocoder-sounding singing.
Of course, one of the most famous instances of talkbox use was on the song this blog takes its title from. Zapp’s “More Bounce to the Ounce” is a funk classic and has been heavily sampled in hundreds of songs, including EPMD’s “You Gots To Chill” and Snoop himself on the self-explanatory “Snoop Bounce.”
Wikipedia also has a nice writeup of the basics of the ‘box, along with a short, interesting history. Definitely worth a read.
A talk box is a musical sound effects device that allows a musician to modify the sound of a musical instrument. The musician controls the modification by changing the shape of his or her mouth.
The effect can be used to shape the frequency content of the sound and to apply speech sounds (in the same way as singing) onto a musical instrument, typically a guitar (its non-guitar use is often confused with the vocoder) and keyboards.
Here are a few more recent talk box classics. Whether on the hook or used for main vox, the talk box is always a welcome addition to any jam.
Chromeo Fancy Footwork Fancy Footwork, 2007
An irresistible jammie by fellow Jewish Canadian electro lovers. Encourages men to impress girls by dancing to “show her that you’re not that shy.”
Daft Punk Digital Love Discovery, 2001
A really sweet ballad, with a catchy backing track sampled from synthesizer guru George Duke’s
“I Love You More.” Love songs are sweeter when sung through a talk box, it’s true.
Kool G Rap & Capone-N-Noreaga My Life (Remix) Soundbombing 3, 2002
CNN pay tribute to the Kool Genius in a nice collaboration. The remix, done by VIC, has some lovely pumping horns on the beat and a SMOOTH talk box chorus by someone named G-Wise. A nice summer jam for partying gangsters and wiseguys.
Snoop Dogg Sensual Seduction Ego Trippin’, 2008
I think you already know.
I got beef with the media. Now, this is something totally different for me, because I usually defend the media’s right to determine what’s newsworthy, exercise free speech, and sell advertising. It’s the way the industry works, if not necessarily in that order, and I’ve always respected that. Until now.
Can somebody please explain to me how a fuckstick like Don Imus can insult a whole basketball team, race, and gender in one statement, and weeks after the incident, hip hop is defending itself? In case you live in Burma and missed it, check this series of events:
1 - Imus blurts an oblivious and clumsy racial epithet, gets appropriately canned and reviled.
2 - The talk shows blow up, Maya Angelou says “all vulgarity is vulgarity.”
3 - Talk radio hosts: “if you condemn Imus, you cannot morally listen to hip hop.” (my favorite examples of this came from white middle aged bloggers and radio hosts.)
4 - Russell Simmons calls for labels to voluntarily bleep certain words from all hip hop releases.
Hip hop has taken so many knocks over the years from so many sources, it’s predictable that it comes up in discussions about race relations. But for folks to draw a line from a hillbilly’s ignorant and public racist insults to Snoop’s right to use the word “bitch” on a record is ridiculous. For starters, record companies know that most people who buy hip hop are white males, so today’s hip hop is largely devoid of racist insults.
But even if Snoop decided to call a white woman a “stupid cracka chickenhead,” for example, it would never be broadcast in public, on the air, and most likely, it would never be about a real, named group of women. Snoop is way too weeded up to come up with that shit.
I think it’s what the bougie writers call context.
And if you don’t enjoy hearing other women referred to as stupid cracka chickenheads, then I suppose you could just not listen to that record. Yes, vulgarity is vulgarity. And we should be free to choose not to hear it on public airwaves. But hip hop artists ought to be free to say whatever stupid shit they want to, and if people don’t have the same passion for stupid shit that this blogger does, then don’t buy it. Communities have a funny way of setting their own standards that way.
So why is the media all on the hip-hop-is-bad tip this month? I guess it’s selling advertising. But this story is not based in truth; it’s based on exploitation of the too-common misunderstanding that hip hop is, in itself, a societal ill. That’s what white boomers have always thought, and God help us, they happen to be running the media and the country these days.
Some of my favorite stupid shit:
Snoop Dogg Go Away Tha Last Meal, 2000 My all-time favorite use of the word “bitch” at 3:22. Gratuitous filth throughout.
Black Sheep Hoes We Knows A Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing, 1991 Answers, in detail, the question: “Dres, what’s it with you and all those hoes?”
Jay-Z feat. Memphis Bleek 2 Many Hoes Blueprint 2: The Gift and the Curse, 2002 Hova’s in on the ho game too, though much more artfully, evident as he advises a young ho to “disappear like Copperfield, go cop a feel.” Diamond D & the Psychotic Neurotics Sally Got a One Track Mind Stunts, Blunts & Hip Hop, 1992 Oooh, Sally’s gonna tear somebody up when she hears that right there. Even though she’s a straight whore. Diamond D’s words, not mine…
