This whole Rihanna comparison, yet again, is stupid.
Yes, it has a similar sound to what Rihanna has recently done. That's a style of music. Rihanna hardly popularized it nor made it her own. As many people have already said, Beyonce has been doing hood/urban music for years. Just because the particular style of hip-hop has changed, doesn't mean Beyonce has. And it was pretty obvious Beyonce was going to do this style of music and I believe she's been working on her album for a long while now. Not to mention (what has I'm sure already been mentioned over and over because some people can't understand it) that Beyonce is from Houston and this style of music has been popular in Houston for a long time, so no doubt Beyonce knows it well. She did a Chopped n Screwed version of Bug- a Boo in 2007 on her Beyonce Experience World Tour after all.
And to the conversation of rap-singing, this is something that has been her's for a long while now:
This whole Rihanna comparison, yet again, is stupid.
Yes, it has a similar sound to what Rihanna has recently done. That's a style of music. Rihanna hardly popularized it nor made it her own. As many people have already said, Beyonce has been doing hood/urban music for years. Just because the particular style of hip-hop has changed, doesn't mean Beyonce has. And it was pretty obvious Beyonce was going to do this style of music and I believe she's been working on her album for a long while now. Not to mention (what has I'm sure already been mentioned over and over because some people can't understand it) that Beyonce is from Houston and this style of music has been popular in Houston for a long time, so no doubt Beyonce knows it well. She did a Chopped n Screwed version of Bug- a Boo in 2007 on her Beyonce Experience World Tour after all.
And to the conversation of rap-singing, this is something that has been her's for a long while now:
bone thugs n harmony's entire discography was similar to the rap singing that we hear on "No No No." That's why "breakdown" sounds so much like a bone thugs record (she reached out to them to do the collaboration because the butterfly era was when she made her hip hop "transition).
i'm not trolling , but I'll leave cuz i'm spending too much time in this one thread. At the end of the day bey still slays and I'll be copping album 5, just maybe won't be checking in on "I been on" that much
That is true, but they're a rap group, so they're not an obvious source of inspiration for teenage girl groups. That's the whole point.
The only other pop acts that had a popular rap-singing songs out before Destiny's Child in the 90's (that I can think of right now) were Mariah Carey and Michael Jackson.
Michael released "Jam" in 1993 and he was rap-singing on it. We all know Beyonce is highly influenced by Michael Jackson. In fact her staccato style was inspired by MJ's singing, so I guess it's just something ingrained in Bey.
Mariah Carey released "Breakdown" in 1997. A year before the No, No, No remix, but I don't think that song had anything to do with how DC sounded. Rap was just a part of DC's identity and a part of contemporary R&B music in general.
I think it would be getting ahead of oneself to claim that DC invented the rap-sung style, but it's not far fetched to say that they pioneered it, popularized it, and made it a standard way of doing things.
The two examples mentioned here are perfect. They show that no, Beyonce did not invent rap-sung style. But they show that the way it was done before Beyonce was very different, and I think we can all agree that the way they are done now for the most part are a lot closer to the DC style than the MC or MJ style.
So we should really just drop this conversation because it's not getting anyone anywhere. Bow down to the fact that Beyonce has been doing this for years, whether or not she invented it isn't the problem anyway. That's just another argument on it's own.
EDIT: I see someone mentioned Bone Thugs-n-Harmony and I agree they also embodied this rap-sung style as DC did.
I think it would be getting ahead of oneself to claim that DC invented the rap-sung style, but it's not far fetched to say that they pioneered it, popularized it, and made it a standard way of doing things in the industry.
The two examples mentioned here are perfect. They show that no, Beyonce did not invent rap-sung style. But they show that the way it was done before Beyonce was very different, and I think we can all agree that the way they are done now for the most part are a lot closer to the DC style than the MC or MJ style.
So we should really just drop this conversation because it's not getting anyone anywhere. Bow down to the fact that Beyonce has been doing this for years, whether or not she invented it isn't the problem anyway. That's just another argument on it's own.
EDIT: I see someone mentioned Bone Thugs-n-Harmony and I agree they also embodied this rap-sung style as DC did.
Yes, they did popularize it. Hard to argue with that and people that try just don't know what they're talking about.
Ugh. I can't stop playing this. Aaljadljddddd Bey has slayed me.
She is giving me EVERYTHING I wanted from her with this. Ratchet Bey
Hoodyonce in the first half >>>> The chopped & screwed in the second half
Spin called the song “schizophrenic,” writing: “Sasha Fierce is at her fiercest, ****-talking haters in a minute-long verse at the top: ‘I took some time to live my life, but don’t think I’m just his little wife,’ she charges, commanding those bishes to bow, bow down. Shout-outs to H-Town, Geto Boys’ Willie D, and Pimp C of UGK follow, all chopped and screwed with pitched-up and-down vocal warps, operatic wails, and skittering hi-hats.”
Vibe noted how busy the track sounds, but didn’t specifically say that was a bad thing: “The song is perhaps one of King Bey’s most experimental tracks yet. There are a lot of things going on in the single: angelic singing, distorted vocals, dance music crossover, and Beyonce calling out her place on the throne.”
The Hollywood Reporter described the effort as “odd,” noting: “[T]he track is a far cry from the triumphant, glistening pop most are used to hearing from Beyonce. Instead, it’s a gritty, Houston rap-tinged track that features an empowered Bey growling, ‘Bow down, bitches’ on multiple occasions.”
The Huffington Post called the song “a trap-style banger” while expressing concern for how Keri Hilson is faring following the release (because thank God, somebody had to): “‘Bow Down’ is exactly the type of song that will rile up the Beyhive, Beyonce’s fiercely loyal fan base. That may spell unfortunate news for Keri Hilson, who recently admitted that she was exhausted by the amount of hate she receives from fans of other singers, intimating that Beyonce plays a part in stirring the hate she’s exposed to on a daily basis.”
The Prophet Blog wasn’t afraid to take the song to task, starting with the cover, which he described as “try hard Tumblr-esque wannabe hipster artwork… [that] pretty much sums up the unoriginal ego trip that is ‘Bow Down,’ which sees Bey boasting about how great she is over one of those trendy trap beats that are so popular right now.”
Our own MuuMuse wondered, “Is this just another shout-out to La Toya, Latavia and Farrah? Probably that,” ultimately conceding, “There’s no way ‘Bow Down’ is a proper single–it’s too brief, disjointed and ‘out there’ to be anything more than a ‘buzz track.’ It’s also not really ‘a song.’”
, but I'll leave cuz i'm spending too much time in this one thread. At the end of the day bey still slays and I'll be copping album 5, just maybe won't be checking in on "I been on" that much
