CHAPTER 20 | HIP-HOP 511
timing section text comments
0:00 introduction After 2 bars of drum machine, 16 bars of
synthesized texture establish a groove that
is sustained throughout the song. In lieu of
harmonic motion, a rising and falling pentatonic
melody creates a sense of question-and-answer.
0:43 chorus
(partial)
It’s like a jungle
sometimes...
0:52 vamp Staccato repeated chords create an expectant
mood for the beginning of the rap, ushered in by
the sound of breaking glass.
1:02 verse 1 Broken glass
everywhere...
Melle Mel describes intolerable ghetto
conditions.
1:21 chorus Don’t push me... The emphatic delivery creates a triple-meter
polyrhythm against the beat.
1:30 It’s like a jungle... Only one statement.
1:35 verse 2 Standing on the front
stoop...
The story of a woman who descends from dancer
to prostitute to street person.
1:59 chorus Don’t push me...
2:09 It’s like a jungle... Two statements.
2:18 verse 3 My brother’s doing bad on
my mother’s TV...
A lighter story about too much television
progressively darkens with references to debt,
drug addiction, and insanity.
2:47 chorus Don’t push me...
2:57 It’s like a jungle... Two statements.
3:06 vamp 8 bars of the repeated chords, marking the
halfway point.
songwriters: Sylvia Robinson, Ed Fletcher,
and Melvin Glover
date: 1982
performers: Duke Bootee (Ed Fletcher) and
Melle Mel (Melvin Glover)
genre: rap
meter: duple
form: verse and chorus, with vamps and
interlude
Listening Guide 20.2
“The Message” GRANDMASTER FLASH AND
CD 4.7 THE FURIOUS FIVE
WHAT TO LISTEN FOR
- use of synthesizer and drum machine
- rhythmic, intoned speech (rapping)
instead of singing - socially conscious lyrics about ills of
ghetto life
(continued)
172028_20_495-513_r3_sd.indd 511 23/01/13 11:16 AM