When did rap lose its bass?

I am possibly the whitest man you'll ever meet.

Well, except one.

And being a white, suburban-bred male that means I'm obviously into rap music.

As ridiculous and stereotypical as that is, I have a genuine appreciation for the poetry of rap and genius of its sampling.

So let me ask you; when did rap lose its bass frequencies?

The hip-hop I love is predominantly late eighties, early nineties kind of stuff.


I'm talking NWA.

I'm talking The Notorious B.I.G.

And most of all, I am talking about André Young, known to me as, your friend and mine, Dr. Dre.

Actually I'm much more of a fan of Biggie. But as far as bass frequencies go, Dr. Dre is what you're after.

Hip-hop was all about the bassline and the beat. Something that'll pound your chest in the clubs and make you want to dance.

Possibly the greatest rap beat I've ever heard is from Dre's first solo album, The Chronic, which has a drumbeat so heavy that it's actually sampled from Led Zeppelin.

If you have the ability, crank the bass up on your speakers a bit and feel how hard that beat hits.

Now let's take a look at some modern hip-hop, shall we? Even Dizzee Rascal has managed a bit of big beat in his time on 'Fix Up, Look Sharp,' but how about the more acclaimed modern hip-hop acts.

Let's say, oh I don't know, Chipmunk.



That is TERRIBLE. And in fact, that's not the worst that's out there. Most snare drums in modern hip-hop sound more like someone cracking their knuckles than they do a beat.

I place most of the blame for this squarely at the door of Timbaland, who has made everything he's involved with sound exactly the same.

Come on people. Bring back the bass frequency in hip-hop.