Teknology and Voice in Rap
Part 1
The early 1980s saw the arrival of the vocoder in hip hop music with gusto. The Jonzun Crew’s ‘Pak Man (Look Out For The OVC)’ from 1982 – renamed ‘Pack Jam (Look Out For The OVC)’ for its Tommy Boy release – to West Street Mob’s ‘Break Dance-Electric Boogie’ (1983) and ‘Def Jam’ by Jazzy Jay (1985) all placed penetrating vocoder vocals centrally to the song arrangement. Although sparse in lyrical content, the messages carried force through their recurring and concentrated structure. In the case of ‘Break Dance-Electric Boogie’ and ‘Def Jam’, the vocoder’s presence intensifies towards the close of each song, while in ‘Pack Jam (Look Out For The OVC)’, 10% of the entire original 12” version is dedicated to intense a capella vocoder during its closing phase. This suggests not only a conviction in the vocoder as a tool for delivering a richness of concept, but richness in the concept itself. A sense of impending, of the cataclysmic and the apocalyptic, are carried through the escalation of the vocoder. This sense of urgency relates to qualities within hip hop culture and of a broader socio-political sensibility.
‘Pack Jam (Look Out For The OVC)’ frames Michael Jonzun, assuming the persona of the Pack Man (despite the narrative framing the protagonist in the third person, the televisual performances of The Jonzun Crew suggest this), conveying what appears to be a threat to humankind, stating to listeners: ‘You better look out for the OVC’, which the audience discover (in the next line) stands for ‘The Outer-space Visual Communicator’. Conversely, the two exemplary songs ‘Break Dance-Electric Boogie’ and ‘Def Jam’ also deliver threats, but these are intimidation tactics to protect and promote a sense of liberty and the right to hip hop; the vocals affirm and reaffirm.
The vocoder and other forms of electronic vocal alteration were central to the evolution of electro rap during this period and between 1983 and 1985 alone, Newcleus, 19th Fleet, Maurice Starr, The Pack Man, Key-Matic, Davy DMX, D.E.F. featuring DJ Three D and Freestyle all released significant records with vocoder and similar effects within the main vocal; furthermore, Egyptian Lover, Mantronix, Afrika Bambaataa and Soulsonic Force, M.C. Craig ‘G’, Twilight 22 and D.St. drew heavily on vocoder and electronic voice effects to execute choruses and backing vocals on a number of monumental electro rap jams.
These latter songs are of great interest when considering the evolution of rap styles with teknology, the potential for blurring the boundaries between what is perceived to be human or biomatter and that which is artificial, synthetic, or discursive exchange across and between otherworldly beings, aliens, cyborgs, robots, androids, humankind, artificial and biological intelligence.
Moreover, artists such as Chris ‘The Glove’ Taylor and The Knights Of The Turntables incorporated soundbites of cartoon and children’s characters in songs like ‘Itchiban Scratch’ and ‘Techno Scratch’. This intertextuality of sampled, scratched and cut up vocals add to the sensibility of ethereal characterization in the songs’ storytelling.