The DNA of Rap Beats & Hip Hop Instrumentals

My purpose in this article is to break down the building blocks of rap beats and hip hop instrumentals in order to help you understand the different styles and help you in finding the right rap beats for yourself. These elements are little things that music fans unknowingly are drawn to in their music search.


The Kick-Drum

The first element in most rap beats and instrumentals that establishes the mood and tempo is the kick drum. In the world of hip hop and rap music, there is a wide variety of different type of kicks that are used. However, acoustic and natural kicks are rarely used in rap beats or rap instrumentals. Rap beats usually use some type of hard hitting or low-end booming kick that cuts through the speaker system and vibrates the bones in the listener's body.

This is a part of these genres of music, and because of the popularity of the low-end punch that the kicks in rap beats produce, it has become popular to put big speakers and subwoofers in cars so that the kicks and bass can be heard, sometimes for blocks.

Usually when a producer is creating rap beats or hip hop instrumentals, he is thinking and imagining what it will sound like when it ends up in the listeners car. Regular acoustic kicks don't usually produce the same end result as desired, and this is one of the reasons why they are not regularly used in rap beats. However, there are exceptions.


Snares & Claps

In the case of snares and claps, which one that is used in rap beats all depends on the mood and purpose of the beat or song. Although creativity is not limited in any way, usually snares are used for more serious or hard rap beats, and claps are used more for club/party hip hop instrumentals. There are times when this is reversed though, where party claps will blend with rap beats, and hard tough snares will work well in club hip hop instrumentals.

The beautiful thing about the world of independent music is that creativity is not limited to any set rules, but there are a few 'concepts' that will attract more attention.


Hi-Hats or Not?

There was a time when most rap beats or hip hop beats had hi-hats to ride along with the beat. But in these genres today, it is an element that is used at discretion. Times change, and so does music. Sometimes you will hear hi-hats in rap beats, and sometimes you won't hear them at all. Even when a producer does add this sound into a rap beat or instrumental, it usually won't sound like a normal acoustic hi-hat from a regular drumset.

It is usually eq'd into a different frequency and has more of an electronic analog sound to it. This is because in a lot of cases, depending on what type of beat or song it is, regular acoustic hi-hats can clash with the rap beats or hip hop instrumentals, and cause the beat to be difficult for the rapper to rap to.

It is important that the producer creating the rap beats & instrumentals think about and pay attention to how the beat will sound when the rapper puts his/her lyrics on it. That is one of the keys to creating rap beats that actually get used by rap artists.


Samples? Or: Original Keys?

A lot of rap beats and hip hop instrumentals use samples of old-time hit songs. Some times they are recognizable songs, and sometimes they are songs that you may have never heard of, but they still have that 'hit' ring to them that help make them successful all over again.

On the other side, a lot of rap beats use original compositions by the producer, producing all new keys and chords and melodies.

Both of these methods of production have their places in the creation of rap beats and hip hop instrumentals, but there is one element that makes one out-weigh the other, and that element is…

…Publishing

When a producer & artists use a sample in a rap beat or instrumental, usually if the song is going to be sold commercially for a profit, then they have to get permission from the original copyright holder of the sampled song, and pay out a hefty portion of the publishing royalties that will come from the new song.

Sometimes it can be as much as half or even more! There are times when a rap beat or hip hop instrumental is so hot, and the song is so hot, that the producer and rapper will take this hit, but a lot of producers nowadays are starting to create more original rap beats and instrumentals from scratch because of the financial strain that sampling can cause.

One is not necessarily better than the other; they just both serve different purposes, and are a personal preference.


The Sprinkles on Top…Strings & Sound Effects

There are many elements that can form the DNA of rap beats and hip hop instrumentals, but in the basic core are the elements that we talked about above, and of course the strings and sound effects. Not all rap beats will use the elements of strings or sound effects, but at the time that I am writing this article, they do play an important role in hip hop and rap music.

Strings fill up the space in a rap beat, and the sound effects usually help add sprinkle, or they wrap around certain lyrics or phrases that the rapper spits. They also give the listener something interesting to listen to by breaking the monogamy of the typical 4 or 8 bar loop that rap beats and instrumentals have. It can be surprising how much of a difference these small elements can add to a rap beat and make it sound like it is changing throughout the length of the song.


Bringing It All Together

These are just a few elements that make up the DNA of rap beats and hip hop instrumentals, but they are the core elements. When you are picking rap beats & instrumentals that fit your style, think about the purpose of the song you are writing, what you want it to accomplish, and use these elements to help you come to a decision on which rap beats fit that purpose. This should help you make your songs sound more professional.