Track Teardown Two....Dagnabit!

Song Facts-

Title: 'Saydatthen'

Artist: Slaughterhouse

Members: (In order of appearance on track) Crooked I, Joell Ortiz, Royce da 5'9, Joe Budden

Producer: Nottz

Sample taken from: John Cameron 'Heat Haze' 1973

Record Label: Shady Records

Project: A Mixtape named 'House Rules'

Released: 2014

Tempo: 80bpm

Key: Cmajor

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House Rules is a mixtape from rap supergroup, Slaughterhouse. The members formed a group after appearing on a track in 2010 for a Joe Budden mixtape. Individually, each rapper has their own successful career, garnering international success and accolades from fans, peers and critics alike. All are incredibly gifted lyricists, well known for their thought provoking words of wisdom. Put them together and you have a powerhouse of talent and venom combined. On said mixtape, is one of my favourite tracks, 'Saydatthen'.

The track was produced by Nottz, who's production credits include hip hop heavyweights like Xzibit, Busta Rhymes, Snoop Dogg and countless others. This song is truly haunting in melody, menacing and eery. Whilst the song has about 8 bars looped, stretching the incredible 132 bar, 6min 36second total, it NEVER sounds repetitive. We are going to delve into that a little in this teardown.

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First and foremost, the piano keys, electric guitar slide that transitions 4 bar loops and the individual rappers voices, are in the front of the mix. They are the three most clearly identifiable elements to the song. Opening the track is an electric guitar slide that rings out for about a bar and sets the tone for the song. Menacing from the get go. Underneath that initial slide, lies both a reasonably spaced double kick and a high hat that rings out for a little. After those elements quickly dissipate, this is when the listener first feels the eery direction of the song. The piano has a slight reverb, so each key rings out ever so slightly. It really adds to the macabre feel of the project, giving the keys some depth and real presence in the mix. Underneath the keys, lies a bass guitar strumming along in time with the piano keys. There are two chord progressions present which help direct the keys in the eery fashion that is present.

On about bar 5 to 10, we hear a snare drum come in with a couple of hits in between the kick drum as well. It sets a traditional hip hop boom boom bap, boom boom bap feel. Mixing in with a double hi hat at bar 7, it creates a sense of urgency in the song. I believe that the percussions present in this song are of a low fi recording, which helps bring them to the back of the mix ever so slightly, to allow the more melodic elements to be more prominent. From bar 7 to 10, we hear the bass guitar drop a chord in progression and in strum patterning, which helps direct the overall feel of the track from the previous 4 bar strum pattern. It is almost a 'droning' kind of feel to the bass guitar. A drone in music is ' A harmonic or monophonic effect or accompaniment where a note or chord is continuously sounded throughout most or all of a piece of music' (2017, Wikipedia).

To help explain what my non music knowledge knowing ass is trying to say, here is a video clip of a droning effect with a bass guitar I found on YouTube-

The reasoning behind the looping short segments of the track is to allow for storytelling. Between the change up of the droning bass guitar chord progressions mixed with the piano keys and guitar slides, it really never feels repetitive, as you feel a shift in momentum, back and forth, every 4 bars. The percussions also have a low fi feel to them, meaning they were recorded with the intention of making them sound different or with error, on purpose. For instance, when recording the kick drum, it's almost a dead kind of feel. Flat, if you will. It may have been recorded in a small drum room. This will make the recorded sound flatter and less potent, as is evident in this track. This effect has allowed the 'repetitiveness' of the percussions and the rest of the song to be lively and different, which help carry the track through all 136 bars. A very slight reverb could also have been added to the small live drum room to help accentuate the boxy space feel that is heard in the track.

Another recorded acoustic element to the song that needs to be mentioned, is the vocals from the rappers. Each member has their own distinct, clearly identifiable delivery. They jump, gallop, dive under and soar above the beat to tell their stories. The vocals are layered for a group sound. The song is more of a diary entry into the minds of tormented souls. These 4 rappers really are in the upper echelon of lyricism and it is displayed throughout here.

And that's it Track teardown done!! Just kidding settle downnnnnn....

This is a little short for a track teardown so I am going to speak a bit on the sample that this song was taken from, and how the two differentiate!

So in this original version of the track, there is no percussion present at the beginning of the song. I believe this is where the main sample/melody was taken from. Another thing I noticed was that in this original, the bass guitar is more prominent. It is classed as an AfroRock song. It has a multitude of different instruments present that were not used in the sampled version of this song. It was mainly the melody that was taken from the original, with percussions added in that can accomodate a Hip Hop track. Also, the bass guitar sits lower in the mix of the Slaughterhouse track than it does in the original. This is because it would make the track too busy and could potentially drown out the voices of the artists.

Over all, the feel and mix of the song is just creepy as fuck. I love how sinister it sounds. This eeriness sets the tone for the artists to really delve into their own minds and speak without hesitance or filtration. The simplistic, yet trance like repetition the song has, gives the artists an opportunity to bare their souls and showcase some human vulnerability. I will leave you with a couple of heaviest lyrics from the song-

Royce da 5'9 -

If she left me, my inner self would shatter, I could leave her, cause I'm a selfish addict, The problem is, I just don't want nobody else to have her, If we split, I consider my health a hazard

Joe Budden -

I heard them words and they stung, my ears rung, Was told that cancer finally made it through his lungs, Some of y'all are blessed enough that y'all have no idea what the fuck I'm talking bout, cause y'all got no experience, So incase you hear this verse and think that there's the slightest chance that he'll survive, His cancer's on level four, and there's not a five

References-

All videos present in this blog were embedded from YouTube.

Drone Music Definition- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drone_(music)

Lyrics taken from- https://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/slaughterhouse/saydatthenhouserules.html

Song Facts from- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/House_Rules_(mixtape)