Pitch Structure in Rap Flow

4. Flow in Harmony with Tracks

Pitch fluctuation is a crucial factor in rap flow, but for now I’d like to go back to the scope of 12-tone scheme and look further into the choice of target tones.

One question arises: How a rapper choose a target tone for their flow? Why NAS chose such a strange pitch like “lowered B”? There’s a clear reason—They construct harmony with background tracks.

Now check the key of the tracks and the relative positions of target tones using tonic solfa.

Notice that in all the cases, target tones are one of the scale tones! It’s highly likely that rappers instinctively adjust their pitches to scale tones so that their flows will fit in the tracks. Even without auto-tune, rappers have literally auto-tune system installed on their bodies😇

Now you understand why in some songs lowered pitches are set as targets too. They’re never out of tune. On the contrary, they’re in perfect harmony¹.

Stable or Unstable

And it is even more intriguing that in all the cases above the target tones are one of the stable tones in the keys.

It’s not just a coincidence. True there’re cases where an unstable tone is set as a target, but I suppose choosing stable tones will be the majority.

Setting stable tones as the target will make a flow stable (as a matter of course), while unstable tones will create musical tension. On this point, there’s no difference between traditional melodies and rap—And this is one of the most crucial parameters in rap flow. Let’s see how this stable/unstable law works in actual rap flow!

5. Tones in Minor Keys

First I’m gonna discuss rap flow in minor key environment as minor keys are more common in hip-hop.

La as the Target

La, being the center of a minor key, has the greatest power to stabilize flows.

Future – Where Ya At ft. Drake

The rap here is auto-tuned so you can easily hear the target pitch. The core phrase “Where your ass was at, dog,…” is sung at the pitch of la. This solid stability can give an impression of heaviness or strength, hence the best player for bragging and boastful rap.

Especially on such trap-styled beats, the bass part often continuously hitting la as well, la-targeted rap forms a unison harmony with it, resulting in an even heavier and stronger impression.

The Notorious B.I.G. – Suicidal Thoughts

The last track of his first album “Ready to Die”. The flow targets la throughout the whole song. Though pitch flutuation gets intensive after beats get in, you can still confirm la in the rhymes like “worst/purse” or phrases like “People at the funeral”.

In this song, the bass consistently repeating la too, la-targeted flow sounds very much monotonous since it doesn’t offer any new “colors” in music. While in other songs in the album many types of flows are shown, the mood here is distinctive; probably the best choice for a song titled “Suicidal Thoughts”, the last track of a story-telling concept album that starts with and end with heartbeats. Cool!

Do as the Target

In a minor key environment, do is the tone 3^rd above the center. Therefore, theoretically, it has a bit of highness that may give some buoyancy to a flow.

6ix9ine with Nicki Minaj – TROLLZ

6ix9ine initially sets la as the target, making a steady and tranquil mood. From 0:59 the flow dramatically changes. He’s almost shouting and looks like he’s losing control of his voice but actually not. He elaborately shifts the target tone to do, another stable tone.

What is the most impressive here will be the change of his voice, the shouts. However, the shift of target also lightens the weight of tones and creates new harmonies between the track.

Mi as the Target

mi, though one of the stable tone, has a kind of strongly elevated feel due to its relative position (5^th above the tonal center).

J. Cole – m y . l i f e [feat. 21 Savage, Morray]

The intro rap (0:34-) already targets mi, and after the beat starts (0:47-) the pitch gets much higher but the target is still mi, precisely an octave higher! This demonstrates that he is not merely “speaking”, but “singing” based on musical sensibilities such as key and octaves.
It goes with frequently bending down to re and return to mi iteratively. The second verse (2:10-) also vaguely targets mi, again bending down intensively.

Mi, placed much higher than la, is good at expressions like excitement, anger, upset, tension, blame, that sort of feelings. Hearing the difference between la-based flow and mi-based flow is important; the two may sound similar but the contents they convey are totally distinct to each other.

Re as the Target

Setting unstable tones as target will be relatively uncommon, but of-course can be utilized for various expressions.

Lil Yachty – Get Dripped ft. Playboi Carti

The flow of this song starts with re and it doesn’t resolve to neighbor tones, do or mi (eventually, the target tone is shifted up to mi around 0:45).
Re can evoke a floating vibes. Hopefully you’ll feel the instability of this flow.

So as the Target

Busta Rhymes – Put Your Hands Where My Eyes Could See

In this song, target tones are unclear in the beginning. From 0:40 la starts to act as the target, but soon at 0:50 (“Hit you with the shit…”) it’s shifted to so. The unstable tone brings some twisted feel to the flow.

And one thing you have to watch is at what word this unstable so resolves to la. The flow goes up to la at “toes”, “clothes”, “flows”, “know” and “pros”. You got it? —It perfectly corresponds to the rhyming! This is an extraordinarily crucial point on discussing rhyme and flow, which will be explained later in this article.

The rest two, fa and ti are the strong tendency tones. As it’s even rarer for them to be set as target tones, I’ll omit them.

6. Tones in Major Keys

In hip-hop, I suppose major key tracks are the minority so I leave just some brief comments. In a major key environment, do, mi and so work as stable tones.

So you can virtually apply the relationship of la–do–mi in minor to do–mi–so; do is the most stable and heaviest, while the others have lightness and highness.

Do : Chance the Rapper – All Day Long ft. John Legend

From 0:26 to 0:42, do is set as the target tone. In major keys do is the tonal center so the stability is most strong here.

Mi : Wiz Khalifa – Fly Solo

The song starts with the traditional vocal style but you can see that mi already acts as the main tone of the melody. From 0:48 starts the rap flow and it aims at mi again. Mi, placed higher than do, lightens the weight of flow and colorize music.

Mi is the strongest source of the brightness a major key has. So setting mi as the target tone theoretically brightens the flow most effectively.

So : Nujabes – Luv (sic)Pt.2 Acoustica

In this song the verse parts on the whole keep so as the target. Unlike in minor keys, so is sufficiently stable in major keys and doesn’t need any resolution. The vibe it brings is openness and highness like your feet don’t touch the ground. It matches the song whose lyrics contain such words like “heaven” or “sky”.

By the way, the track above is the “acoustic version” of the song and the rap seems to be re-recorded for the track. In the original version, the rap flow is quite different; Pitch fluctuation is stronger there and the target tones are unclear. It is worth comparing the two flows—Solid pitches vs fluid pitches.

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Thus it matters a lot which tone you choose as the target tone of flow. Rappers switch target tones amid a song to control stability, highness or colors of flow.