50 Cent enumerates how Hip Hop's recording process has evolved.
Technology has made collaborations in Hip Hop much easier - but arguably far less organic.
In an interview with Complex, 50 Cent spoke on the matter, particularly in reference to earlier song of his, "Wait Until Tonight."
50 explained that often times, the production is completed prior to
him laying a verse. "You got a lot of guys that make records and
everything’s done for you before you get there. The producer actually
made the record. It has a sample playing and a chorus, you did your
verse, you have three other rappers that generate interest from
different demographics rap behind you and it’s done."
Fif added a caveat, stating that there was some utility in that type
of recording process. "Those records, they’re good too because sometimes
those are the things that you don’t have to think about. You hear it,
you go, 'Okay, I know what it is,' and you just party to it. There’s no
substance to it that makes you stop and think."
The Queens emcee explained how "Wait Until Tonight" brought him back
to earlier times insofar as the recording process. "'Wait Until
Tonight,' for me that’s a representation of what I fell in love with in
the beginning of me enjoying Hip Hop culture. With the actual writers,
it’s [from] when we watch each other and see what we offer and try and
top it. It was about being competitive, not just going back and forth
arguing with each other. Now they think being competitive is beefing.
But they didn’t use that terminology until after the Biggie and 2Pac
situation went bad. They would have called it battling prior to that.
They think that’s being competitive, saying something about someone
else, not actually making a record that impacts."
