Let’s Ask Ourselves, Is Mumble Rap Really A Thing?

[5th Letter]

Ironically, mumble rap’s earliest origins can be traced back to hip-hop’s golden age of the 90s. Ask real hip-hop heads about the rhymes of Fu-Schnickens and Das Efx. The boom-bap instrumentals they used are worlds apart from the synthesized and irresistibly catchy trap beats of today, but it cannot be denied that those cats were literally mumbling on their songs. Take the former’s popular breakout single, “True Fushnick.” They actually dedicated whole bars to lines like, “The super the cola the fraja the listic expialadope Chip/When the mic is gripped in ridobidobip bip da be bong de dang, bo!” Still not convinced? Take a closer look at their otherworldly lyrics on Genius. Very few of these lyrics are recognizable in the English lexicon, yet it worked. Make no mistake, rapping at this speed while staying in the pocket is no easy feat. But either way, it points to the old adage that there’s nothing new under the sun. So all these new age mumble rappers are doing, whether they know it or not, is borrowing from their hip-hop forefathers.


And honestly, can we really blame mumble rappers if the previous generation gave them the blueprint? Future has his cousin Rico Wade to thank for the fact that you even know his name. If you’re not familiar with Rico by name, you’ll definitely recognize his crew: The Dungeon Family. The Atlanta-based collective cultivated the young autotune-loving protegee from the same studio that produced Outkast, Goodie Mob and Organized Noize. That’s right, the same man partly responsible for Andre 3000’s success—a rapper who is widely considered a Top Five emcee—also had a hand in Future’s come up. Again, it’s all a ferris wheel.

 

[5th Letter]

The self-proclaimed “old heads” of hip-hop like to point to the complex wordplay and introspective subject matter of Nas, A Tribe Called Quest and Kendrick Lamar as the gold standard of excellence. Respected lyricists Pete Rock and Joe Budden have been vocal opponents of the new lazy style flow that has the clubs going crazy yet leaves much to be desired where “skill” is concerned. But music, like most of everything in life, is fluid which means clever wordplay isn’t required in order for a song to be dope—an opinion supported by VICELAND hosts and podcast sensations Desus & Mero. “Sonically if your sh*t is wack, why am I gonna listen to what you gotta say?” says Mero during an interview with Hot 97. “If I turn it on and the beat is kind of annoying, I’m not gonna sit through that just to hear you say ‘lyrical, metaphysical, giftical…’ I don’t want to do all that.”

His partner Desus agrees that if you can walk and chew gum at the same time, you can find a place in your playlist for both conscious and turnt styles of rap. “There’s a time and place for everything,” he said. “I don’t wanna hear multiple cadence flows if I’m just smacked in the club. I’m not trying to hear the triple entendres. Then I’ll listen to some mumble rap. But then sometimes I’m not in the mood for Lil’ Yachty.”

Even well-respected emcees like Pharoahe Monch were not exempt from this kind of scrutiny, only it was for the exact opposite reason. When chatting with HipHopDX, Monch recalled, “As I was coming up, I remember we had cats yelling at Organized Konfusion, ‘You’re the reason sh*t is f**ked up now! Hip-hop used to be fun with the hippity hop and the ‘Ho! Wave your hands in the sky.’ Why y’all put so many words in the bars?”

Damn, can the new guys do anything right?
http://www.vibe.com/featured/mumble-rap-essay/

 

[CashmoneyDux]

Yes

Future gave these mumble rappers a lane

 

[Stew]

 

[rip.dilla]

Mumble rap is basically cats rapping with a melodic flow than just spitting unilaterally ... with the added effects of Autotune. They do speak English but the lyrics are (deliberately) distorted in most cases...

For example. There's a version of the 'Panda' video by Desiigner with subtitles on them 'cos muhfuckas didn't know WTF he was yapping about

 

[L3NU]

Mumble rap is detrimental to hip hop

Rap isnt like other genres where the voice is carrying a melody, the talent in rap comes from articulating clever or profound thoughts into rhymes. ..if people can't understand what you're saying then how does that qualify as talent? Anyone can mumble over a beat, literally anyone.

 

[sapp08_2001]

Hell yeah. Shit has to be one of the worst trends in hip hop

 

[grYmes]

I'm on the Jadakiss point of view. Trends come & go & eventually it all comes full circle. This mumble rap shit don't bother me like most because I been around long enough to see shit evolve & not get caught up with what's "in". Plus I feel like curtain groups get unfairly grouped into it (I feel Migos will be around for a while).

 

[LcnsdbyROYALTY]

https://youtu.be/IiNNBc557OQ

Lol I used to bump the shit out of this

 

[bck145]

It's not really a thorn in the side if you don't pay attention to it...staying ignorant is sometimes beneficial...i don't know what's on the radio or can't name one of these mumble rappers songs....so to me they don't really exist or matter

 

[5 Grand]

Ironically, mumble rap’s earliest origins can be traced back to hip-hop’s golden age of the 90s. Ask real hip-hop heads about the rhymes of Fu-Schnickens and Das Efx. The boom-bap instrumentals they used are worlds apart from the synthesized and irresistibly catchy trap beats of today, but it cannot be denied that those cats were literally mumbling on their songs. Take the former’s popular breakout single, “True Fushnick.” They actually dedicated whole bars to lines like, “The super the cola the fraja the listic expialadope Chip/When the mic is gripped in ridobidobip bip da be bong de dang, bo!” Still not convinced? Take a closer look at their otherworldly lyrics on Genius. Very few of these lyrics are recognizable in the English lexicon, yet it worked. Make no mistake, rapping at this speed while staying in the pocket is no easy feat. But either way, it points to the old adage that there’s nothing new under the sun. So all these new age mumble rappers are doing, whether they know it or not, is borrowing from their hip-hop forefathers.


And honestly, can we really blame mumble rappers if the previous generation gave them the blueprint? Future has his cousin Rico Wade to thank for the fact that you even know his name. If you’re not familiar with Rico by name, you’ll definitely recognize his crew: The Dungeon Family. The Atlanta-based collective cultivated the young autotune-loving protegee from the same studio that produced Outkast, Goodie Mob and Organized Noize. That’s right, the same man partly responsible for Andre 3000’s success—a rapper who is widely considered a Top Five emcee—also had a hand in Future’s come up. Again, it’s all a ferris wheel.

Actually, the lead rapper of the Fu-Shnickens wasn't mumbling. He was rapping backwards. That's why the people on Rap Genius can't figure out what he's saying.

I remember when they first came out they were on some show (probably Yo! MTV Raps) and they were interviewed. The leader, Chip Fu, kicked a freestyle that went forwards and backwards. It was a novel idea at the time, but at the end of the day nobody wanted to hear somebody rap backwards. As you said in your post, most people would rather listen to a rapper they can understand.

Having said that, I was thinking about this the other day. Rap went through a dry spell around 1985. It seemed like it peaked in 1984. There were movies and a lot of classic albums and music videos. The New York City Breakers even performed at the Olympics. Then it all died down for a few years until around 1988 when Yo! MTV Raps, The Source and Arsenio Hall came out all around the same time.

I can also remember around 1992/93 when East Coast Hip Hop went through a dry spell while the West Coast took the driver's seat for a couple of years.

I guess cycles move in circles. Hopefully this mumble rap thing will die out and a new style will be born.

Lastly, here's a Rich Homie Quan Freestyle

 

[a_list]

I'm on the Jadakiss point of view. Trends come & go & eventually it all comes full circle. This mumble rap shit don't bother me like most because I been around long enough to see shit evolve & not get caught up with what's "in". Plus I feel like curtain groups get unfairly grouped into it (I feel Migos will be around for a while).

Shyt doesnt bother me either...As a matter of fact, I happen to like a couple tracks here and there....

 

[trendsetta1030]

When a few friends and I got together for a few beers, idle conversation soon drifted over to mumble rap, the latest punching bag of hip-hop. The air in the room quickly got tense. I found myself alone in a hot take: most folks don’t really mean what they say when they unfairly slap that label on the likes of Migos and Lil Yachty (who some folks claim to not understand yet still seem capable of rapping along to in the club). I questioned if Future, Desiigner and Lil Uzi Vert are really “mumbling” as it’s claimed, or do they just lack the lyrical prowess that would ordinarily make them “Top Five” contenders? As I continued to challenge my peers, the voices in the room softened. To me, it became evident that not everyone was so clear about who actually qualifies as a mumble rapper. Up until then, it just seemed like the convenient (and popular) way for them to express, “these new rappers suck.”

Mumble rap is undoubtedly the proverbial thorn in the side of hip-hop purists. On one end, you have young cats like Lil Uzi Vert and Playboi Carti who happily embrace being part of this oft hated category (was their VFILEs interview sarcasm or self-awareness? Gotta love it either way). On the other, you have advocates like Ugly God who believe these rappers are being exploited as clickable interview fodder by those who trash them on camera but secretly turn up to their tunes. Then you have folks like The Lox, who have been around long enough to recognize this trend as part of the natural ebb and flow of the culture. “Hip-hop is a big ferris wheel. It’s about being able to stay on the wheel,” Jadakiss explained on stage during a discussion with Rap Radar Live. “It’s gonna go through whining rap, it’s gonna go through crazy clothes, crazy haircuts, crazy sounds. But it’s always gonna come back to the foundation.”


There are several theories floating around about who actually created mumble rap. Some think the era’s Godfather is Gucci Mane, while others have even thrown Chief Keef’s name into the mix. But the mumble rap conversation seems to always come back to Future and one song in particular: his 2011 trap banger “Tony Montana,” produced by Will-A-Fool. In a conversation with Hot 97’s Peter Rosenberg for Complex, the Atlanta rapper recalls the night he made the track… sort of. “I remember being so f**kin’ high on this song, I couldn’t even open my mouth. When I listened back to it the next day, I was like man, what the f**k is this? But I loved it. Like, that sh*t sound raw, though.”

When you piece it all together, it seems everyone has drawn a hard line on what qualifies as mumble rap. But here’s an unpopular opinion: Just because a rapper isn’t as lyrical as you’d want them to be doesn’t mean they’re mumbling. And just because a rapper is a lyrical beast or super conscious doesn’t mean they don’t, at times, mumble (Busta Rhymes and Eminem, anyone?). Let’s really delve into this mumble rap phenomenon and consider what’s at the core of rap’s most hated, yet undeniable, subgenre.

Gbe Capo originated the style

 

[L3NU]

Future, Young Thug, Desiigner and Max B are the only​ rappers I've ever heard "mumble rap" the rest is just people lumping them all in to diss them imo. I hate how these things get turned into a group of rappers to bring down regions. I'm open to all forms of music and the songs I don't like I just skip and/or turn off.

Every decade people complain about something, at one point it was rappers doing too many r&b songs, then autotune, gangsta rap, weed rap and now "mumble rap". Low-key I hate rap purists because they want music to be rigid as opposed to letting it expand to other areas. There will never be a go between SMMFH cuz the purists won't allow it.

If people don't like it turn off the radio or change the song. In this day and age with the advent of the internet there's literally so much music at your fingertips but yet people pigeon hole specific sections and focus their energy on it hating. Nah man I can't get with that.

I mean hating mumble rap doesn't automatically equate to "rap purist"...im happy to see hip hop expand and experiment with new styles but that doesn't mean ill like every new trend.

 

[power_wisdom]

Mumble rap is just wack rappers who can't rap good. Thats it. Anyone can be a mumble rapper. It's not hard and it takes no skill. Just be albe to memorize and perform your songs. Das efx and fu schnickens had skills. Not anyone could just do what they did. A non rapper couldn't just go and sound and be as good as Das efx. Anybody can rap as good as Play boy Cardi. You don't even have to be a rapper to do it. A 4 year old child can do what these mumble rapper do. I don't feel The Migos are mumble rap. They have skills. There are still alots of rappers who rap. Future may mumble at times, but he does rap. The whole point is if a 4 yeat old can do what you are doing, then your shit is trash. Whether it's mumble, crunck or whatever. Rap should require skills.

 

[MeekMonizzLLLLLLe14]

Mumble rap is detrimental to hip hop

Rap isnt like other genres where the voice is carrying a melody, the talent in rap comes from articulating clever or profound thoughts into rhymes. ..if people can't understand what you're saying then how does that qualify as talent? Anyone can mumble over a beat, literally anyone.

No it is not because the mumble rappers are swapped in and out every 6 months and quality rappers like Kendrick and Cole and even Krit (despite being smaller) keep loyal fanbases that let them eat for years and years because their messages impacts the kids.

The moral of the story is these mumble rappers provide some moments of fuckery laughter and troll a little bit and they are replaced while the better talents with a message get the sales sell out major venues coast to coast and become legends.

 

[Ear2DaSt]

the thing is brothas make up their own lingo everyday

you mix in some of those word and cut them down it's hard to follow sounds like mumble

but it could also be new lingo you aint know

example:

Hydroponic=original word

Dro=original slang word

Do-Do=version of slang word

New slang comes out all the time, if you not keeping up you gonna think rappers are mumbling shit

..No they making they own shit up as they go ..........

I beleve it's just shit is moving to fast being that in the past acts came out alot slower then today

where a new act comes out everyday and everyone trying to put they spin on the lingo

so you got a hundred rappers bringing new slang words into Hip Hop

Old hip hop heads can't keep up with this shit

it is what it is but at the same time there really is undeniable mumbling in raps these days