ouch! smacked down hard -- in a wordless critique!

[wickedsmaht]

Granted, this was my first attempt at hip-hop, but I think this is my most scathing critique yet -- and all accomplished with nothing but checkmarks! I think this is the first time I've been *glad* that there were no numerical scores or comments in a Y/N listing. Good thing it was an instrumental or the screener may have run out of boxes to check! Fortunately, I've had a couple of forwards lately to soften the blow.

[stevecollom]

that's funny. I really admire your humor about it.

i usually quit (for about a day) after one of those.

steve

[davewalton]

On the bright side, apparently your "other" was right on target.

I'm writing a "comedy Hip Hop" instrumental track right now. That's about as close to Hip Hop as I'm going to get for the near future.

[Casey H]

Don't take it too hard. In fact if it was a full review you might be surpised and find it's not scathing at all. I've gotten a few "all of the above" checkbox returns... they sting a little.

But remember, they are indicating the reason for return, not the severity of the reason, and it's all relative to the listing. For example, the vocal performance required for one listing may be different than for another. And screener #95 is a tough cookie, but very knowledgeable, especially in film/TV. If I get a forward from #95 I usually feel I've got a pretty good one.

Best
Casey

[bigbluebarry]

And screener #95 is a tough cookie, but very knowledgeable, especially in film/TV. If I get a forward from #95 I usually feel I've got a pretty good one.

Best
Casey

AMEN to that Casey!

- Big Blue

[Len911]

Jonathan, I think Dave better listen to "Hip-hoppinjohn",lol! Apparently the screeners are in no mood for comedy hip-hop.
I probably know less than anyone here about hip-hop, but it didn't resemble any hip hop or what I think might be hip hop that I've ever heard. The bass was deep enough, the rhythm seemed off in the intro, and then this flute sound, it seemed closer to the theme song from shaft, than it did hip hop.

[wickedsmaht]

Thanks, guys, I'm definitely trying to maintain a sense of humor about it. And Dave, I had the identical thought with the "other" box not being checked -- that means I did absolutely everything right except for my composition, playing, engineering, and targeting the listing!

and Len, point taken. If it wasn't apparent from the title, this was an attempt at a late-period Black Eyed Peas style track. Most of the hip-hop that I've listened to is from the late 80's through the early 90's, and my lead patch was typical of an early Snoop Dogg style track. With a lot of today's hip hop, I'm somewhat at a loss as to how you make an instrumental track, because it often seems that there's just not a lot there without the vocals.

This all started when I saw ML say on one of the Taxi Live episodes that what he hears over and over is that people who need music just can't find enough hip hop "that doesn't sound like it was written by a 50 year old white guy." And I thought, "hey, I'm only 40..."