Things To Know About Hip Hop Concept Albums
Many music artists are keen to make concept albums because it is perceived to be ultimately the mark of creativity, a test of cohesion, and vision. However, the challenge of a visual musical story is quite simple since it is an aural experience. There is often a little privilege to convey your story with a larger number of words. In the modern soundscape with streaming and related platforms. It is worth remembering that most songs exist outside the context of their entirety. Contemporary music artists are faced with the challenge of coming up with concept albums which enables the songs to survive and thrive for longer and beyond their rigid confines. Here are things to know about the hip-hop concept albums.
The common approach to music is the narrative one in which the album is designed to tell a story. The story can take any direction such as that of a doomed or failing relationship and loss of fortunes among others. The narrative approach which is also referred to like the rap opera is undoubtedly a common technique employed by rappers as they craft concept albums. The popularity of the narration in hip-hop comes as no surprise because naturally people are attracted to verbal storytelling.
The other approach is the thematic content which differs a little from the narrative content. The thematic approach is designed to spin the content type and yarn and is more flexible. Instead of telling a straight clean story, hip hop albums which employ thematic content often revolve around exploring the connected themes and concepts. The downside of this approach is that it can easily be distrusted especially if it is linked thoughts on the album are coincidental or intentional. There is a broad notion that binds most of these albums and for them to be considered as concept albums, the artist must come up with a deliberate and elaborate design plan. Jay-Z for instance is a master of thematic content approach. Most of the modern hip hop songs have started to revolve around the thematic approach.
Whether the hip hop concept album takes the thematic or narrative approach, the content ultimately reveals the art. Whenever the hip hop concept album is in high form, it deals with the concept. On the other hand, low form concept intends to inform but do not dominate every second of the record album. The categorization of hip hop albums as either low or high eventually comes down to the seriousness of the artist. The hip-hop content creation idea does not have to be complicated but should at least show some organization in the way the record is made .
For many hip hop offers the perfect avenue for executing concept albums because of how heavily worded it is. The heavy nature offers practitioners a heavy narrative potential. If you have an interest in hip-hop concept albums as an artist, writer, or any other capacity, the way to succeed is to study successful record hits as this helps to understand what it takes to succeed in the genre.