Jean Grae on music.metafilter

September 19, 2008 10:46 AM

I'm sure music.metafilter can come up with some great stuff for Jean Grae to record or to collaborate on. $800 is not that hard to amass from metafilter donations.
posted by jouke to MetaFilter-related at 10:46 AM (106 comments total)

I got some favourable reactions on my off hand idea. So here's a metatalk thread to decide whether people want to do this.
posted by jouke at 10:47 AM on September 19, 2008

Diss rap toward Fark or Somethingawful.

I'm being at least half-serious.
posted by Damn That Television at 10:52 AM on September 19, 2008

$800 isn't a lot of money, but 16 bars isn't a lot of music, either.
posted by ThePinkSuperhero at 10:59 AM on September 19, 2008 [1 favorite]

I'd pony up $10.
posted by vito90 at 11:00 AM on September 19, 2008

16 bars isn't a lot of music, either.
"How the hell am I supposed to put lyrics to this? It's marked Grave and it's in 64/4 time."
posted by Wolfdog at 11:07 AM on September 19, 2008 [5 favorites]

I will, personally, sing you and anyone else twice as many bars, that's 32 bars of song, for half the price.

Also, if we make a song in a 400/4 time signature ...
posted by The Great Big Mulp at 11:09 AM on September 19, 2008

400 just seems greedy.
posted by Wolfdog at 11:13 AM on September 19, 2008

I think this is an awesome enough idea that I'll pledge $50. I mean really, best female rapper alive meets best site on the Internet, how could you not be for this?

Unfortunately I doubt there are enough Jean Grae fans around here to realistically get to $800. I hope that I'm wrong though.
posted by burnmp3s at 11:14 AM on September 19, 2008

I was thinking "man, $800 is a lot for 16 bars" too, but if she's signing off all rights, and does a kick-ass recording, that's actually in line with what a (sought-after) professional v/o actor would get paid for a commercial, etc. I'd imagine that rappers "guesting" on other rappers' albums probably get paid somewhere in the neighbourhood.

In for $25, by the way. I have no dog in this fight, as a non-musician, but how would we choose who/what gets to back Jean Grae musically?

p.s. For an interesting earlier application of the same general principle, see Momus' Stars Forever.
posted by Shepherd at 11:26 AM on September 19, 2008

I'm in for $50 too. I'm not a musician so I don't have anything creative to contribute but the cost of one new videogame is not much compared to the opportunity to be involved in something that would make for a sweet memory.
posted by djeo at 11:32 AM on September 19, 2008

Yeah, I think you're right, Wolfdog.

So, if you call within the next twenty minutes, you'll get 32 bars of song from me plus the handmade limited edition great big mulp collectible saucer set for only $379.95.
posted by The Great Big Mulp at 11:32 AM on September 19, 2008 [3 favorites]

how would we choose who/what gets to back Jean Grae musically

Usually the way that collaborations work in the hip hop world is that the main artist does most of the song (vocals and beats), and the guest just does one verse and possibly part of the chorus. I would suggest we do that with one or more of MeFiMusic's finest handling the beats and most of the vocals.
posted by burnmp3s at 11:49 AM on September 19, 2008

cortex/grae
posted by boo_radley at 11:49 AM on September 19, 2008

Yeah, if only this community had people who could write decent lyrics.
posted by Plutor at 11:51 AM on September 19, 2008

I'm in for a few bucks, at least.
posted by box at 11:52 AM on September 19, 2008

Also, if we make a song in a 400/4 time signature ...

I'm partial to the 5 bpm approach, myself.
posted by malocchio at 12:04 PM on September 19, 2008 [1 favorite]

What about the Punch 'em in the Dick dude?
posted by desjardins at 12:33 PM on September 19, 2008

the Punch 'em in the Dick dude?
Must be great having that as your New Name For The Rest Of Your Life.
posted by Wolfdog at 12:33 PM on September 19, 2008 [1 favorite]

Could she rap a break of Jingle Rock Bell?
posted by bDiddy at 12:35 PM on September 19, 2008 [2 favorites]

You know, this is exactly what will turn Jean Grae into the Dark Phoenix, and we all know what evil will result from that.
posted by Astro Zombie at 12:35 PM on September 19, 2008 [6 favorites]

I'll write lyrics for you for free. Apparently.
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 12:46 PM on September 19, 2008

I'll put up $50.
posted by cashman at 12:55 PM on September 19, 2008

I have five words:

Punch 'Em In The Dick, extended version.
posted by koeselitz at 1:53 PM on September 19, 2008 [2 favorites]

This is an amazing idea, I love Jean Grae and I'll pledge $20. Whatever we send had better be good, and I would hope the decision would be open to input from the community.
posted by fire&wings at 2:22 PM on September 19, 2008

koeselitz: Those arr seven words.
posted by Pronoiac at 2:25 PM on September 19, 2008

$25 here, possibly more.
posted by naju at 2:28 PM on September 19, 2008

I'll pledge $20 for another MuFi collaboration written and created in response to whatever we waste $800 on. goodnewsfortheinsane or whoever fills his role would be welcome to divide the bounty however he or she sees fit.
posted by Plutor at 3:07 PM on September 19, 2008 [1 favorite]

I assume those ponying up cash have already bought a copy of the Mefi Compilation CD, right? Right?
posted by terrapin at 3:14 PM on September 19, 2008

Everyone who has thus far pledged for the MeFiCollab response has purchased (and loved) one.
posted by Plutor at 3:15 PM on September 19, 2008

Diss rap toward Fark or Somethingawful.

A diss rap against BoingBoing would be better.
posted by PeterMcDermott at 4:56 PM on September 19, 2008 [1 favorite]

I would make up the difference on what's left of the $800. So how do we make this happen?
posted by mathowie at 5:41 PM on September 19, 2008 [2 favorites]

Hey, there's a lotta money pledged so far. This might actually happen, and that could be fun.

In other Music news, do y'all know that one of the themes for this month's MetaFilter Music Challenge is making a MeFiMu Mashup? Yup, suggested by PeterMcDermott and open to everyone, you see, so get out your laptops and your GarageBand or whatever and get to work.
posted by flapjax at midnite at 5:45 PM on September 19, 2008

Oh, shit, shoulda previewed. Mathowie has put us over the top! Yay!
posted by flapjax at midnite at 5:46 PM on September 19, 2008

Mathowie, you are the man!

(dawg)

Seriously, this is really exciting.
posted by fire&wings at 5:57 PM on September 19, 2008

Yay Mathowie!!

The email is in the craigslist ad (you probably saw this by now) and/or she can be messaged through myspace, though she seems to suggest in that post to use the email from the ad. Should the pledgees send their pledges to you via paypal, Matt??

(I'm the shittiest of organizers, but I'm trying here, people)
posted by cashman at 6:49 PM on September 19, 2008

So, how does MetaFilter Music proceed with this, from here on? Some thoughts:

The money: should everyone who's pledged a donation send it to Matt via PayPal? He could wait a coupla weeks or whatever, see how much comes in, and then kick in the rest himself, as he's so graciously offered.

The track: ah, there's the rub! How do we decide what track Jean Grae gets sent? We've got a helluva lotta musicians here at MeFiMu, and I'm sure a fair number of them would like to be the one to make THE TRACK. How to work this out? Any ideas?
posted by flapjax at midnite at 8:14 PM on September 19, 2008

Maybe another collaborative song, like that "It's the End of the World etc." cover is in order for this sort of ordeal.
posted by The Great Big Mulp at 9:08 PM on September 19, 2008

"Ordeal". Heh.
posted by flapjax at midnite at 9:18 PM on September 19, 2008

I have no idea who this person is and will have to take your words for her but I love the idea of a recognized artist promoting themselves this way. two years from now, some major... you know where I am going with this.
posted by krautland at 9:34 PM on September 19, 2008

I like the ukulele idea, and the collaborative thing. I was thinking we could somehow use music.metafilter for song/soundfile submissions, but people can just use zshare.net or something and put it here.

I'm pretty good at creating beats, though I'm not the greatest at mastering tracks. I don't have any live instruments but with a few elements of sound, I think it would be cool to see what people could put together.

Honestly, the more I think about the suggestions for it, we should really consider doing the punch 'em in the dick remix. Jean would destroy that instrumental. Plus I think she's love the song.

I mailed mediocre to see if he's interested. Maybe a new opening verse from Juicy Karkass or Savior to announce Jean, and then let her do the rest.

We could turn it into a posse track with 2 or 3 members following Jean, and have the song run about 5 minutes long.
posted by cashman at 9:36 PM on September 19, 2008

I can put in $20...

...and then stand back in awe.
posted by batmonkey at 10:32 PM on September 19, 2008

So...where do we send the money?
posted by P.o.B. at 1:42 AM on September 20, 2008

Well, it's jouke's idea, so I say he should be our point of contact; if he doesn't want to do that then I imagine it's mathowie's perogative.

I've assumed that Jean Grae writes her own lyrics, but other comments here seem to indicate that we need to come up with words for her. If it's our choice, I'd rather she create what she deems appropriate as a real "guesting" thing: her own raps will definitely be better for her than anything we can write. She knows her cadence and skills, we don't.

Backing track: October MeFi Music Challenge is to come up with a backing track for a collaborative rap/singalong?
posted by Shepherd at 4:30 AM on September 20, 2008

Well, it's jouke's idea, so I say he should be our point of contact; if he doesn't want to do that then I imagine it's mathowie's perogative.

Jouke let me know he's out of everything - He just thought it was a good idea. So it would be Matt's prerogative. I think Jean should definitely write her lyrics.
posted by cashman at 6:08 AM on September 20, 2008

Rather than being prescriptive about it, I'm guessing you'd bet the best results if you sent her a couple of beats and had her choose the one that she liked best.

I mean you *could* just send her 'Punch her in the Dick', but what's to stop her coming back with a diss against Metafilter, because she felt we tried to humiliate her for $800?

Not that that wouldn't be awesome too.
posted by PeterMcDermott at 6:42 AM on September 20, 2008

I count words differently. This is my right.
posted by koeselitz at 7:30 AM on September 20, 2008

Backing track: October MeFi Music Challenge is to come up with a backing track for a collaborative rap/singalong?

I think this is what we should do. This, or another true collaboration track. I think this is a great opportunity to create something new and distinctive. No knock against Punch 'em in the Dick, but I think it would be more fun to create something collaborative and maybe even try to work in a MetaFilter theme. Otherwise, why even bother to have everyone pitch in?
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 9:15 AM on September 20, 2008

Backing track: October MeFi Music Challenge is to come up with a backing track for a collaborative rap/singalong?

I think this is what we should do. This, or another true collaboration track.

I agree with this as long as we get some kind of confirmation from Jean Grae that she'll actually do this for us if we wait until November. I don't want us to spend a lot of time coming up with the perfect track to find out that we missed out on a limited time offer or that she's back ordered until 2010.
posted by burnmp3s at 9:27 AM on September 20, 2008

Also if we give her a track without any vocals, I would suggest we tell her the theme of the song will be "The Internet". Because clearly both she and the MeFiMusic folks can come up with something within that theme.
posted by burnmp3s at 9:47 AM on September 20, 2008

Yeah let her deal with the lyrics. Themed on something suitable, like the aforementioned internet, and hopefully mentioning MeFi by name.
posted by fire&wings at 10:29 AM on September 20, 2008

I conversely suggest the theme or title be "Plate of Beans." Very rhymeable, pre-loaded with sarcasm and perverse pride, all that kind of thing.
posted by lumensimus at 10:32 AM on September 20, 2008

Thoughts:

- Let her do her own lyrics, definitely. That's half the product. (We can take up a collection to have Christopher Walken read mefi's greatest hits some other time.)
- Throwing themes or keywords her way seems like a good compromise. Letting her do whatever the hell she wants within a thematic constraint seems like the best possible approach—we can still have a sort of topicality, but enjoy the surprise that comes with the execution.
- Assuming (reasonably, yes?) we'd be getting back from Jean a raw vocal track of her work, we don't need to look at this in terms of The One True Backing Track. Better I'd think to have folks put a couple things together, pick one we collectively like, give that to Jean, and then let people remix the shit out of her vox after.
posted by cortex at 11:31 AM on September 20, 2008

As far as theme suggestions, we could knock together a short list of soundbytable mefi injokes or references—ideally stuff with a little more longevity (more Oolong/Beanplate than ephemeral-but-funny-lately stuff) and local flavor (not so much "tl;dr" or "FAIL" or other global imports), maybe not so much with user-specific stuff either—and provide a sort of glossary for those so she can have some idea what the hell we're talking about and use that as context instead of being faced with throwing this stuff out at random.
posted by cortex at 11:36 AM on September 20, 2008

So, is this now something we should take to MeMuTa (... or is it MuTa)?

(btw - I vote for another collaborative piece for this whole thing.)
posted by The Great Big Mulp at 11:55 AM on September 20, 2008

I think cortex has the right of it.

Leaving the part that's likely to come to the most debate/effort until after JG has done her part while establishing a theme as foundation to allow the whole thing to spiral off of her contribution makes a lot of sense and seems artistically compelling.
posted by batmonkey at 12:28 PM on September 20, 2008

While I'm certainly down with the idea of a Punch 'Em remix.. I think we'd be a bit remiss to use the phenomenal talents of Jean Grae on such a light-minded song. Now that Juicy Karkass is a member, he could fully participate in a collaborative track without worrying about the "non member" issue.. While I will contribute if people choose to do a Punch 'Em remix, I'd prefer something entirely new. Not something MeFi based either, at least not centrally or too obviously. Tribute/shout out tracks tend to be boring for everyone not shouted at. The trick to great lyric writing is how to write about intensely inside and personal things while making them still appeal to strangers. Also, remember when writing lyrics that you actually have to RAP these. In the Punch 'Em thread Cortex posted some lyrics about an Aztec god that looked good enough on paper to get a few favorites, but trying to rap that would prove a nightmare.
posted by mediocre at 4:00 PM on September 20, 2008

I just spoke with Juicy Karkass, he is totally down and very excited about doing a song with Jean Grae, though he agrees with me that it is best left as a new song. Punch 'Em In The Dick doesn't really lend itself to her style I don't think, we'll see though. If we get voted down the other way, could probably be talked into it.
posted by mediocre at 4:20 PM on September 20, 2008

cortex writes: we don't need to look at this in terms of The One True Backing Track. Better I'd think to have folks put a couple things together, pick one we collectively like, give that to Jean, and then let people remix the shit out of her vox after.

Agreed, but I'd go further, and say remixers don't necessarily have to work with the original backing track at all, if they don't want to. I envision JG rapping over a basic track that we send, just something locked at a certain BPM. Her vocal track (soloed, and as an AIFF, not an mp3) is then uploaded to a page we can download it from and work with, individually. Build a track around JGs vocal take, and do it your way. Let ten thousand flowers bloom! (or whatever it was that Mao said...)

mediocre writes: Not something MeFi based either, at least not centrally or too obviously.

Agreed agreed agreed. I'm all for "seeding" it (if that's something JG is cool with) with some MeFicentric terms like "overthinking a plate of beans" (agreeing with the commenter above that that's a very usable/rappable one) cause I think it'd be fun, but too much focus on MeFi for something like this strikes me as... too much focus on MeFi.
posted by flapjax at midnite at 4:29 PM on September 20, 2008

Agreed, but I'd go further, and say remixers don't necessarily have to work with the original backing track at all, if they don't want to.

Absolutely. I'm using remix in the loosest, broadest possible sense. I fully intend to do a from-scratch banjo-based take on whatever the hell we end up with, for example.
posted by cortex at 4:33 PM on September 20, 2008

Hey, wait a minute! I was gonna do the from-scratch banjo-based take!

Matter of fact, I was gonna ask... could I, um, borrow yer banjo?
posted by flapjax at midnite at 4:39 PM on September 20, 2008

Grumble..

I've been looking for an excuse to do a banjo rap song, and I was going to do a cover..

Oh well, I'll just try to polish my cover of Bone Thugs-n-Harmony's classic hit "The Crossroads (DJ Uneek remix)

Perhaps a collaborative banjo cover? I'm only 1/8 serious..
posted by mediocre at 5:06 PM on September 20, 2008

Also, because this is going to be a collab track.. I propse someone set up a Wiki or a sub sub section of music where we can post musical ideas.. I have a number of beats currentl unclaimed I'd love to post and see where we can take things musically.. Or we can just post them to Music I suppose.. Ideas from those in charge?
posted by mediocre at 5:16 PM on September 20, 2008

I'd love to hear a banjo-based cover of Kool Moe Dee's 'Wild Wild West.' Or, more recently, The Mighty Underdogs' 'The Gunfight.' Just sayin'.
posted by box at 5:35 PM on September 20, 2008

Also, I would suggest that we get on the ball and get Jean Grae money and a beat as quickly as possible so she doesn't regard ours like a job as much as she will her 50th request.. Her blog seems to indicate she's been inundated with queries. Not trying to rush anyone, let's just see if maybe we can have some rough musical draft within 10 days to send her? Since we'll have a WAV of her verse, or more if she layers, the music can always change..
posted by mediocre at 6:56 PM on September 20, 2008

I would suggest that we get on the ball and get Jean Grae money and a beat as quickly as possible

Yes, I agree. We might also consider asking her if we can pay her now and then get the beat to her in a week or so. My $50 is ready and waiting to be sent.
posted by burnmp3s at 7:33 PM on September 20, 2008

I'm ready to plunk down my money too. Who is going to act as treasurer for this adventure?
posted by djeo at 8:19 PM on September 20, 2008

I think first we need to determine who will take part and what part they will play. People aren't very on the ball tonight as far as utter speed but I can't make Wiki's or anything like that..

I can make music (beats) obviously, I would love to rap some, but would probably be best off actually recording them with Cortex or someone with better mics. Since this will be collab it's important to get everything sounding as close as possible, we don't want 6 verses each sounding totally different (mics, background noise, etc)
posted by mediocre at 9:08 PM on September 20, 2008

Who is going to act as treasurer for this adventure?

Matt, can you handle that? Everyone could send their donation toward this effort to your PayPal. Would that work?
posted by flapjax at midnite at 9:38 PM on September 20, 2008

...we don't want 6 verses each sounding totally different...

We don't? Oh, OK.
posted by flapjax at midnite at 9:46 PM on September 20, 2008

Regarding the issue of MeFi-related words and phrases being sent to JG, I just made a post at Music Talk. Y'all check it out.
posted by flapjax at midnite at 10:58 PM on September 20, 2008

I wanna leave "Punch Em" just the way it is. Not that Jean Grae couldn't come up with some more ill shit to improve it, but it's already a long, repetitive song. Besides, I have other ideas. I don't wanna be a one trick pony.

I'm not gonna jump the gun and pee my pants over this opportunity. But I would love to get on a song with Jean Grae. I'm new to metafilter and am not so keen on the idea of writing a MeFi centric rap song. If I got the chance to collaborate on this, I'd like it to be something that many different people could enjoy, instead of an inside joke.

I do have some raps about cyber- and internet culture. But they take a more Orwellian slant, skeptical of technology and it's encroachment on humanity...

I am a broke-ass college kid, so I can't chip in on this endeavour.

j
posted by juicykarkass at 12:55 AM on September 21, 2008

I really think Jean should be writing the lyrics. While it would be nice to have it mention Metafilter, the internet or whatever, I don't think we should be delivering a list of 50 in-jokes that have to be crowbarred in.

My $20 is ready to go whenever the receipient is decided.
posted by fire&wings at 4:03 AM on September 21, 2008

As far as more info in terms of how it should properly be done-

"Let the people know its cool, quickfast and REAL.
I appreciate working with you. Totally fun.

Thank you also to everyone who is responding..
I worked with him first because everything was on point.
Idea, instructions, requests, money and some humor as a bonus. "
posted by cashman at 2:45 PM on September 21, 2008

Backing track: October MeFi Music Challenge is to come up with a backing track for a collaborative rap/singalong?

We should get Jean Grae to rap the lyrics over some simple beat, and then take the accapella from that and make it available to everyone for the next music challenge. That way, everyone can get involved. If you rap, you can add an extra verse in your version. If you sing, you can put in a chorus. If you only do instrumentals, you can make a sweet backing track.
posted by sputgop at 12:30 AM on September 22, 2008 [3 favorites]

sputgop, you're my new hero. That's exactly what I thought, and why I somehow couldn't say it so succinctly is a mystery even to me. But, that is 100% right on.
posted by flapjax at midnite at 3:53 AM on September 22, 2008

And, by the way, if no one knows where to send their donations toward this effort, ain't none of it gonna happen never. Where are people to send their donations?

I'm thinking maybe Matt's on vacation at the moment?
posted by flapjax at midnite at 4:12 AM on September 22, 2008

We should get Jean Grae to rap the lyrics over some simple beat, and then take the accapella from that and make it available to everyone for the next music challenge.

I agree, and since the only other major suggestion (Punch 'Em In The Dick) was shot down I'm declaring that we do this unless someone else has another suggestion.

So, assuming that's decided, there are three things we need to do:

1. Choose a simple beat to send to Jean Grae.

2. Get the money together and ready to send to her.

3. Choose what (if anything) to tell her in terms of a theme for the song.
posted by burnmp3s at 7:40 AM on September 22, 2008 [1 favorite]

If the simple beat is in an odd time (5/4 or 7/4 would be great) then I will contribute kindly to this.
posted by Wolfdog at 8:41 AM on September 22, 2008 [1 favorite]

We could well just send her a click track if that's what we REALLY wanted. Though I might suggest someone (Treasurer?) contact her to see if this would be acceptable. Just say that we want a verse from her as a sort of collaborative remix project, and the outcome will have many songs available.

So I suppose someone should write her with the specifics (need verse, will pay, is theme okay?, is the whole collaborative remix idea okay?) and then if she's down.. we'll send her a simple beat, could just be a drum loop. Or a more complex one if she needs. Then make WAV files available to everyone in a torrent perhaps for remixing?

As for time signature, it may be out of the question. Again, probably a question for Jean Grae, but flows just don't sound right in anything but 4/4. Feel free to prove me wrong, but the most deviation I ever see from that is the RARE 3/4 track.. I'll try to work something out in 6/8, since it would still allow for a regular 4/4 sounding snare pattern.
posted by mediocre at 9:12 PM on September 22, 2008

Here's a download link for an MP3 of a simple 6/8 beat I just threw together as an example to see if people are into the idea of a 6/8 beat.. This is not intended as a final product by any means, just a mere example..

http://www.yousendit.com/download/bVlEK0dqTStkMnRMWEE9PQ
posted by mediocre at 10:31 PM on September 22, 2008

Um, mediocre, that's a perfectly good beat there, but that ain't no 6/8. That there's a 4/4, brother!

You do mean the one there at the YouSendIt URL posted in your comment directly above, called "Six slash eight test.mp3 (1929 KB)", right?

6/8 means it's counted in measures of 6. ONE-2-3-4-5-6, ONE-2-3-4-5-6... The 8th note gets the beat. I'm a big 6/8 fan myself (you know, African music and all), so I was looking forward to hearing yours, and also thinking that'd be a challenge for Jean Grae for sure, since there's almost no rap (that I can think of offhand) in 6/8.
posted by flapjax at midnite at 4:59 AM on September 23, 2008

It is 6/8, it's just hammered into a 4/4-like pattern because of the necessity of a strong steady rhythm.. I don't really know if odd time signature hip hop is possible..
posted by mediocre at 6:20 AM on September 23, 2008

I don't know.. I'll try again.. It's really difficult to come up with anything rappable, even this isn't really and it's damn near 4/4.. You just NEED a steady snare hit to keep the flow, without that it falls apart..
posted by mediocre at 6:22 AM on September 23, 2008

Here's the same beat, with a few more bells and whistles.. It's technically programmed in 6/8, but every time I deviated from something resembling 4/4 it became really difficult to rhyme over it..
posted by mediocre at 6:24 AM on September 23, 2008

Ah dammit, meant to include the download link.. sorry..
posted by mediocre at 6:26 AM on September 23, 2008

While we're YouSending, here's a 6/8 beat I threw together this morning. I think it's pretty rappable (except that there's way too much going on in this track.)
posted by naju at 8:17 AM on September 23, 2008

Consider using zshare.net or something similar where tracks can be listened to immediately.
posted by cashman at 8:24 AM on September 23, 2008

drop.io allows playing of mp3s too.

Doesn't the wiki allow uploading? Er, I guess not.

How did the previous collab work? USendIt?

Hm. How much space would this take up? Are you passing around wav & flac, or mp3 & aac?
posted by Pronoiac at 9:17 AM on September 23, 2008

How did the previous collab work?

I think someone hosted it on their on server. Also, the general rule of thumb is share as mp3/aac and save a lossless version to post later when all of the final material is released for remixes.
posted by burnmp3s at 10:39 AM on September 23, 2008

There's a little bit of weird hip hop time signatures out there.

"Hey Ya!" by OutKast emulates 11/4 by using a cadential six-measure phrase consisting of three 4/4 measures, a 2/4 measure, and two 4/4 measures.

"Heaven" by Nas and "Spaceship" by Kanye West are both in 6/8, which I admit isn't so odd, but for hip hop it is rather deviant.

A 5/4 beat would really easy to rap over. Here is a link to download a really simple 5/4 beat that I just made:
http://www.yousendit.com/transfer.php?action=batch_download&send_id=608799262&email=d7344a20ee6bf30193e368724fbb92b4

And some simple improv dummy rhymes to show you what I mean:

I kick it hip hop and I'm never gonna stop
til I drop
Cuz I rock like a cradle, if you wanna hate I'll
make it fatal
I be gettin down, fans dig it like a hole
in the ground
Always in my prime, bumpin five/four time
when I rhyme

This structure is a lot of fun to work with. If it gets shot down here, I'm gonna use it in a new song really soon, cuz I'm quite tickled with it.
posted by juicykarkass at 12:05 PM on September 23, 2008

I might be able to set up a wiki for this. I've got to check the maximum upload size on my server first - not disk space, but PHP memory limitations. I think.
posted by Pronoiac at 12:19 PM on September 24, 2008

Things are getting quiet over here at the Jean Grae thread. Any more ideas? Anyone closer to coming to an agreement over how the project should turn out? Any word about the money? What's the status on the whole deal?
posted by juicykarkass at 8:56 PM on September 26, 2008

These are all pertinent questions, jk. I wonder if it'll happen at all... It would appear that the initial enthusiasm that we saw from some folks has all but disintegrated.

I have a feeling some of those people had second thoughts about it and decided it maybe wasn't such a great idea after all.
posted by flapjax at midnite at 9:40 PM on September 26, 2008

It would appear that the initial enthusiasm that we saw from some folks has all but disintegrated.

Yeah, this happens a lot with MeFi projects. I contributed stuff to the Metafilter Music Collaboration #2 and the Metafilter Short Fiction Anthology, and both of those fizzled out pretty badly. That's why I was pushing to get as much done in the first few days as possible.

Anyway, my $50 is still available if this ever does happen.
posted by burnmp3s at 9:31 AM on September 27, 2008

I don't think this is off the boards or anything, just hit some speedbumps and from the administrative/organizational side we've been crazy busy this last week for a variety of reasons.

We may just want to try rekickstarting this thing in a few days; I know Matt's game for the money thing, and having folks paypal him would probably work fine as money collection goes; I think still that getting a few simple beats as candidates and letting Jean go crazy on that makes good sense; and beyond that, we mostly need to just not overthink it too much. Details of the post-Grae collab mechanics can be worked out in good time.
posted by cortex at 12:06 PM on September 27, 2008 [1 favorite]

Wonderful. I hope the enthusiasm hasn't fizzled out completely. But people have ceased to throw their ideas in the hat, I'll whip up some beats and lyrics with mediocre in the next couple days and see if any of you guys feel that the music and subject matter would be appropriate for this endeavour. I don't wanna hog the mic, but if the hype is dying down, I'll be glad to step on the stage.
posted by juicykarkass at 8:24 PM on September 27, 2008

I'm still in for my $50 pledge if someone will tell me where to send it for definite.
posted by djeo at 1:01 PM on September 29, 2008

Congress?
posted by cashman at 1:49 PM on September 29, 2008 [1 favorite]

Yep, I'm still in for $20, and still leaving all of the musical genius stuff to the musical geniuses.
posted by batmonkey at 3:50 PM on October 1, 2008

I think there is a general lack of direction in the musical department. I'm certainly in, and I know Juicy Karkass is, but aside from us, flapjax, and cortex (who have committed unspecific musical contributions).. it needs a kick start, that's for sure.. I think a Wiki with some sort of upload capacity (or we could just use MegaUpload, etc..) would be a great collaboration tool, but I have no means of doing that myself..

I think one problem is that everyone has their own vision of a possible song, since by the nature of the project it's a very open ended collaboration. Aside from myself and Juicy Karkass, I don't even know if anyone else plans on writing and sharing verses with everyone else.

Are there any other people who are going to rap? Who has a good vocal setup (Cortex?), because mine is ghetto at best and could use something recorded with a decent mic. Remember that Ms. Grae's part is going to be only 8 bars, that's very short. We're talking 15-30 seconds, tops. Unless it's some weird BPM shit or a REALLY bizarre time signature.. So there's a foundation, but it's small at best. How are you going to fill that? How will it work with other peoples ideas, etc.. Talk, people! :)
posted by mediocre at 3:17 AM on October 3, 2008

Eh, what the hell..

http://metafiltercollaboration2008.wikidot.com/

There's your Wiki. It's quick, dirty, and free. We'll have to use public hosting sites for files, but it's a minor inconvenience at worst. Let's see if we can't move some of the conversation there..
posted by mediocre at 3:33 AM on October 3, 2008

Oh and 16 bars, I correct myself.. But still, 16 bars is 45 seconds maybe.. It's a lot more to work with then 8 bars, but it's still just a base.
posted by mediocre at 3:36 AM on October 3, 2008

Bah! Nevermind.. it seems you can't use this without registration.. I doubt everyone wants to register to Wikidot..

Is anyone aware of any free Wikihosts that have turnkey template Wiki's with no-register access?
posted by mediocre at 3:51 AM on October 3, 2008

I can offer a MediaWiki installation, with ten meg limit on file uploads, though I'm not sure if uploading without registering is an available option.
posted by Pronoiac at 10:22 AM on October 3, 2008

Wiki established. I took the Non-Commercial Share-Alike license at a guess for the least offensive one. Registered uploads work.
posted by Pronoiac at 11:52 PM on October 5, 2008

YAY! Thank you a million times! I tried for a while to find a free Wiki host that didn't require registration to edit.

So let's start work on the Wiki..
posted by mediocre at 6:43 PM on October 8, 2008