Fabolous Sounds Off On “Singing” Rappers
“I hear Drake, Drake sings and he raps and it’s a mixture of it and I think it works. It’s evolved Hip Hop”
In a new era of Hip Hop, rappers have come to learn how to be a jack of all trades. Outside of simply rapping, some have acquired other talents such as Eminem stepping behind the boards and becoming a producer.
Some have done away with the necessity of utilizing an R&B singer for their hooks and using their own given melody to provide chorus in a singing-like fashion.
No other artist but Fablous, whose career is epitomized by his presence on R&B and his artful way of blending the two genres effortlessly, would be able to chime in on such a transition that Ja Rule once caught flack for and fell from grace because of. Well, that and 50 Cent, but that’s another story for another day.
During a conversation with RealTalkNY, the Brooklyn native gave his perspective on the change that has overwhelmed the music.
“Some rappers sing, some rappers rap. It’s about melody I think. Certain people used to get mad at Ja Rule for singing,but what if Ja Rule came out now? Everybody was mad. You may say he’s not singing on key or whatever, but all these guys are singing and using auto-tune, I’ve never had a problem with it. It’s melody, melodic, a lot of the joints that are hit records have that form to them.”
He also added that although 50 Cent tried to scrutinize Ja for going so “Broadway”, the rapper from Queens does the exact same thing in his own distinct way when it comes to “singing”.
“50 used to say he was singing, it was different than Ja because of what he was singing about, but it’s still him singing his own hooks. Just because it’s not an R&B guy singing, it’s still singing. It’s the same thing.”
It’s clear that the mixture of the two doesn’t work for all rappers, but some will do what they do and just catch the L later. Whatever the case may be, change is only a period of learning.
Be on the lookout for There Is No Competition Pt. 2: Funeral Service dropping tomorrow.