Death of Gangsta Rap, Not Death of Autotune

Roger & Zapp were using vocoders to create "Computer Love" in 1983. In Cher's 2003 hit single "Believe," she tried out a vocoder as well. Blackstreet played around with computer singing in "Deep" from their 2003 album "Level II." And then came Auto-Tune, which is frequently confused with a vocoder because of the computer melody, but it's not the same recording utility and the voice doesn't sound the same. XXLMag.com does confirm that Auto-Tune "uses a form of vocoding to achieve its process" though and uses Black Eyed Peas' will.i.am song "Impatient" as an example of the difference between the vocoder and Auto-Tune.

By now anybody who is a fan of hip hop and rap knows that T-Pain made Auto-Tune far more popular than it had been decades before after he released 2005 songs like "I'm Sprung" and "I'm N Luv (Wit a Stripper)" from his "Rappa Ternt Sanga" album and then with 2007 songs like "Bartender" and "Buy U a Drank (Shawty Snappin')" from his "Epiphany" album.

However, there is a misconception that T-Pain uses Auto-Tune on every single, which isn't true for hit songs like 2005's "Church" and in parts of 2008's "Can't Believe It" from his "Thr33Ringz" album. At WGCI's Big Jam 2008, T-Pain also sang "Can't Believe It" live without Auto-Tune and sounded just about the same. However, there's no question that T-Pain's biggest hits were those using Auto-Tune, and other artists like Kanye West, Soulja Boy, Lil' Wayne, and R. Kelly took notice.

Part 2: Death of Auto-Tune or Death of R&B on Rap

Then Jay-Z released 2009's "Death of Autotune" to try to stop artists from following trends, which was interesting considering his friend and producer Kanye West created an entire album using Auto-Tune on 2008's "808s & Heartbreak." Jay-Z rhymes on his latest single "Death of Autotune": "This is anti-Auto-Tune/death of the ringtone" and "You n---gas singin' too much/Get back to rap/You T-Painin' too much." However, Jay-Z visited Chicago's 96.3 "B 96" earlier this month and stated that the comment about T-Pain wasn't meant to be insulting to the rapper; he was simply stating who the rappers were copying off of. So should there be death to Auto-Tune? Is Auto-Tune ruining the rap industry?

I found "Death of Autotune" to be strange considering Jay-Z constantly had super producer and comrade Pharrell singing on his tracks (ex. 2003's "Excuse Me Miss" and "I Just Wanna Love You"). Nobody said a word when Snoop Dogg came out with "Beautiful" produced by Pharrell, although that was about as singsongy as any Auto-Tune track. And everybody I know had bootlegs or official copies of Jay-Z and R. Kelly's collaboration "Best of Both Worlds" CDs and went to the concert before R. Kelly started wilding out. Was there not singing on there? What made that singing any better than Auto-Tune? Because there was no assistance in keeping the melody? If rappers are "singing too much," then shouldn't these hits mentioned above be mentioned too?

Part 3: Death of Gangsta Rap

I'd much rather hear Auto-Tune rappers all day, especially when they can perform it well like Lil' Wayne's hit "Lollipop" or Kanye West's "Love Lockdown" than hear anymore gangsta rap. Every time I turn around I hear another rapper talking about we need to get back to hardcore, "real" gangsta music about how wild it is in the projects and how violent it is in the streets. NWA, Ice-T, and Grandmaster Flash covered what the hood is like, so nothing the new gangsta rappers are talking about is unique. I have yet to hear a lyric, outside of artists like Tupac Shakur with songs like "Brenda's Got a Baby" and "Keep Ya Head Up," who gave a different spin on life in the hood. So why is it necessary to keep giving radios and CD players a reminder of something they can step outside to see? Every time I turn on the news and see another Chicago child has died at the hands of gunfire, I'm reminded of what gangstas do.

I'm okay with party hip hop music and I'm okay with using recording studio equipment to make a track that much more interesting. What I'm not okay with is glorifying gangstas, drugs, and hos. And while Jay-Z did make a track called "What We Talkin' 'Bout" from the "Blueprint 3" CD rhyming ""Ain't nothing cool 'bout carrying a strap/'Bout worrying your moms/And burying your best cat/Talkin' 'bout revenge/While you're carrying his casket/All teary-eyed/'Bout to take it to your mattress," he also has a track "Real As It Gets" with rapper Young Jeezy saying "You know I keep that 47 Uday Hussein." Explain to me why are rappers shouting out the eldest son of Saddam Hussein? Shout out somebody with some respectable credentials, somebody who helped you get to where you are today like Harriet Tubman, Nathaniel Turner, Huey Newton, Malcolm X, Marcus Garvey, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Frederick Douglass, or wordsmiths like Langston Hughes and Gwendolyn Brooks, not somebody who carried around an AK-47, shooting at a club for no apparent reason at all. Jay-Z was inspired by "American Gangsters" Frank Lucas, who in turn told Allhiphop.com to tell Jay-Z flat out to "Tell that young man to watch his mouth." Some rappers are forever trying to compare themselves to the next and more scandalous gangstas. Why?

Instead of "Death of Auto-Tune," let's have a song finally killing the idea of glorifying those who could care less about rap music, could care less about rappers, and could care less about saving the economy and hard life that gangsta rappers keep talking about. I don't care if it's T-Pain or Jay-Z making the song, but I need somebody to.