The song I have chosen is Hell and Back by Kid Ink. Yes, it’s not a pop song you hear on the radio, it’s an R&B song. Have chosen this song not only because of its meaning but because of its musical components. Throughout my researching of this song I found that most songs of this style are written in a four, four time signature. If you pay close attention you can almost visualize the four, four pattern that this song displays. Besides its time signature, if we kook deeper we will find other musical components of this song.
In this song it seemed clear to me that there was a good harmony, one that was composed of a synthesizer and a bass line. The melody of course would be the words Kid Ink is singing and rapping in this song. By listening to the harmony gathered that it wasn’t a dissonant sound but a more consonant sound. Was also able to tell that the song texture is monophonic, which means to have the same rhythm. Besides the rhythm, I also found that the ext of this song follows a rhyme scheme, as do most other rap songs.
In order to fully grasp the concept of this style of music, I researched more and began to study its history. I learned that the original composer of this song was Kid Ink himself. As we see nowadays, most rappers are singing and rapping words that aren’t theirs, so I was quite surprised to learn that Kid Ink composed his own lyrics and song. He wrote this song because he wanted to share about how he had felt like he had traveled through hell and back.
It was song of reasoning as we all have those days where it feels like you’re at your lowest and you go through a constant struggle of feeling like no one is around to understand what you’re going through. Kid Ink wrote this song for people that felt the same he did. As long as you can pinpoint key elements within a song, it doesn’t matter which genre you choose, whether its rap or country or even classical music. Being able to define key elements and understanding the context of a song is the greatest way to develop a good ear for music.
