Instrumental hip hop is therefore hip hop music without emcee accompaniment. This format affords the producer the flexibility to create more complex, richly detailed and varied instrumentals, with less emphasis on vocals. Songs of this genre may wander off in different musical directions without the vocal constraints of the MC.
Although producers have made and released hip hop beats without MCs since hip hop's inception, those records rarely became well-known. Jazz keyboard legend Herbie Hancock and bassist/producer Bill Laswell's electro-inspired collaborations are notable exceptions. 1983's Future Shock album and hit single "Rockit" featured turntablist Grand Mixer D.ST, the first instance of turntables in jazz fusion and gave the instrument widespread exposure.
The release of DJ Shadow's debut album Endtroducing..... in 1996 saw the beginnings of a movement in instrumental hip hop. Relying mainly on a combination of sampled funk, hip hop and film score, DJ Shadow's innovative sample arrangements influenced countless producers and musicians. In recent years, artists such as RJD2, J Dilla, Pete Rock, MF Doom, Danny!, Madlib, and Blockhead have garnered critical acclaim with a number of instrumental hip hop albums.
Instrumental hip hop has yet to be fully recognized as a genre unto itself, and is often clumped in with trip hop, downtempo, electronica, or industrial music. This may in part be because it is so hard to classify, as when a hip hop beat is separated from rapping and varied enough to hold a listener's attention by itself, it can go off in many musical directions.
Instrumental hip hop is sometimes confused with instrumental funk songs as hip hop originated from funk in the first place.
Midnight in a Perfect World
DJ Shadow Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
The clock on the wall is a quarter past midnight
I don't love you
Heading to garden of love, ah
Life come seeking of love, of love
Midnight, midnight, midnight, midnight
Now, now, now, now, now, now
Ah ooh
12 o'clock
Ah ooh
Rock rock rock rock the midnight rush
Ah ooh
Ah ooh
Now, now, now, now, now, now
Midnight, midnight, midnight, midnight
I don't love you
The midnight rush
Heading to garden of love, ah
Life come seeking of love , of love
Oh oh oh oh oh oh
Now now now now now approach now approaching now approach now approaching
Now now now now now now now now approaching midni-
Now now now now now now approaching mid
Now now now now approaching midni-
Now now approaching now now now now approaching midnight
The lyrics to DJ Shadow's "Midnight in a Perfect World" are repetitive and enigmatic, but they create an atmosphere of introspection and mystery. The opening line of "Insight, foresight, more sight" suggests that the singer possesses an exceptional vision or grasp of things that others do not. This is reinforced by the next line, "The clock on the wall is a quarter past midnight," which evokes a sense of timelessness and the discovery of hidden truths that only become apparent during the late night hours.
The chorus is almost mystical, with the repetition of the word "midnight" and the eerie background music that accompanies it. The sparse lyrics that follow, "I don't love you, heading to garden of love," create a sense of yearning and longing, but also of detachment and disconnect. The line "life come seeking of love, of love" could be interpreted in different ways, as if it refers to the eternal search for love, the elusiveness of happiness, the cycle of life and death, or simply the wandering and searching for meaning in a vast and complex world.
The second half of the song incorporates more vocalizations that create a sense of urgency and excitement, with the repeated "now now now" and the crescendo of "rock rock rock rock the midnight rush." The song ends with a sense of anticipation and excitement, with the singer approaching the elusive "midnight" that holds the promise of revelation and transcendence.
Line by Line Meaning
Insight, foresight, more sight
Deep understanding, perception of the future, and heightened awareness
The clock on the wall is a quarter past midnight
Time is passing, and it's late at night
I don't love you
A lack of affection or connection
Heading to garden of love, ah
Looking or searching for love
Life come seeking of love, of love
Life is always searching for love
Midnight, midnight, midnight, midnight
Reinforcing the late-night setting
Now, now, now, now, now, now
Emphasizing the immediacy of the present moment
Ah ooh
An expression of emotion or feeling
12 o'clock
The time is late at night
Rock rock rock rock the midnight rush
Creating excitement through music and energy
Now, now, now, now, now, now
Emphasizing the immediacy of the present moment
Midnight, midnight, midnight, midnight
Reinforcing the late-night setting
Oh oh oh oh oh oh
An expression of emotion or feeling
Now now now now now approach now approaching now approach now approaching
Building tension and anticipation
Now now now now now now now now approaching midni-
Getting closer to midnight
Now now now now now now approaching mid
Almost reaching the stroke of midnight
Now now now now approaching midni-
Still getting closer to midnight
Now now approaching now now now now approaching midnight
Finally reaching the late-night hour
Lyrics © BMG Rights Management, Universal Music Publishing Group
Written by: Josh Davis, Pekka Pohjola
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@koenmetekohy1296
All samples:
David Axelrod - The Human Abstract (1969) (the piano at 1:17)
Pekka Pohjola - The Madness Subsides (1975) (the synths at 0:08)
Baraka - Sower of Seeds (1976) (the vocals at 0:40)
Meredith Monk - Biography (1981) (that bass noise in the background at 1:10)
Akinyele - Outta State (1993) (the guitar at 3:40)
Organized Konfusion - Releasing Hypnotical Gas (1991) (the rapping that you hear at 0:00)
Meredith Monk - Dolmen Music (1981) (sampled three times in this song, the vocals at 0:13, 1:17, and 2:11)
Rotary Connection - Life Could (1968) (the drums at 0:26)
Sorry if I missed a few samples, as there are probably a lot of other samples in this song that I missed. This is only according to WhoSampled.
@colostomyJones
Stan 59 I like it!
Keep up the free associative interpretations, (them’s my favorites) cuz they’re bold attempts to paint with words— that which falls short of honesty when we build prisons out of rational, expository logic...
Even when we earnestly seek to translate our experience of listening to music into some sort of widely accessible coherence, the power of poetic imagery, surrealism, irrational incoherence, etc. can paradoxically have the effect of producing a more honest, coherent, grounded picture of that otherwise deeply personal, and impossible to truly fully transmit, experience!
Whew! What a mouthful, heh...
(Ever sonde I recently began responding to people’s comments on music on YouTube, I end up waxing grandiose and sprawling with prosaic, possibly pedantic, always obnoxiously alliterative assertions about my own feelings which I share with those to whom I respond.
Your comments validate my own listening experiences 👍🏽
Hope you feel subsequently validated; connected to your fellow human audiophiles 😉
Stay human!
@AlexTraitor
I agree!! Another great songs for me are:
Pretty soon i don't know what but something is going to happen - norma jean
slow gold becoming - thomas gilles
immersion highway - thomas gilles
twist - tones on tail
biscuit - portishead
pedestal - portishead
clams casino - culture shock (the version without rap "im god" is awesome too)
Maxine ashley - six underdround (original by sneaker pimps)
@mitchellhess
This . Its a found art explosion compressed into a diamond.
Remembrances brought to fruition.
This goes well with other midnight things. Great title. It brings into focus something more precious than crickets and moonlight. And an ambulance wail and a coyote chorus just adds to it ,
Thanks brother for having the album when it came out.
RIP mom
@MadMaxBible
This song made me realize and fully understand the power of sampling. A lot of people look down on sampling like it's 'stealing'. Nah, it's using building blocks to create something unique. It's always been. And this track is a perfect example. Giving the opportunity to people to make music that they would've never made otherwise.
@felins2294
i'd never understand the distaste for amazing sampling in music. it's a wonderful form of art in hip hop. albums like donuts by j dilla or endtroducing like this example are some of the most critically acclaimed hip hop albums of all time.
@rottingsloth6562
Word Up!❤
@MadMaxBible
@@felins2294 This distaste comes from people who listened to producers that were lazy. You know the ones that took a 16 bar chunk of a song and laid a beat on that and called it 'their own new song'. I get the frustration. Because sampling is not about that. The goal of sampling - to me - is taking already existing bits and pieces and going as far away as possible from their original context. Combine them, play with them, make them almost unrecognizable to make something completely new. There's nothing wrong with that. And to the listener - it's also a challenge to find where all those bits and pieces came from.
@shruggzdastr8-facedclown
My analogy was to describe sampling in terms of visual art terminology as: sonic collage
@hamdelsun68
@@shruggzdastr8-facedclownsonic collage...I like that idea.
@TheWinterShadow
This song doesn't take me back....it takes me forward.
@rusboify
UMMFF
@lovehand9531
Niiice!
@archphaeton2632
with your best foot?