Whose Line Is It Anyway?

The culture of hip-hop has grown to include so many things. Chains have always been a part of the culture, a symbol of affluence and money. Money has had the same sort of grasp on the genre.

Diamonds, fancy cars, snappy punch lines, and good clothes.

Another part that I have been really been digging as of late are the ad libs. You know, the sounds rappers do before they start rapping. It’s sort of like a signature or a fingerprint that is unique to them. These are fun so I wanted to point out a few if that’s OK. Here we go, readers.

The ad lib I think I dig the most would have to be a three way tie. First one I’d like to mention would be that guttural grunt that Rick Ross does. That in and of itself is fun to do. Try it. I think that would be the reason it has such a grip on me. Another favorite would be Cyhi The Prynce’s statement of his name.

“Cy-Hi…”

It loses something in translation but it’s a definitely cool thing. The last would be when Tity Boi exclaims “TWO CHAINZ!!” He’s one of my favorite rappers right now so that’s why I love that so much. Plus it hits well sonically.

It was a recent thing, me actually paying real attention to these ad libs but subconsciously I guess we all pay attention.

That little ugly laugh Jadakiss does at the beginning of a rap is ingrained in your memory whether you know it or not. You come to expect it every time he raps. On the same token when fellow D Block member Styles P is about to rap he says some variation of the statement “SP the Ghost…”

Ludacris tends to keep it simple by just screaming “Luda!”. The simplicity has been working for him this long so why should he change it. I don’t like the bird call thing that Birdman tends to do but it’s him so I cannot knock it too much. Lil’ Wayne’s ad libs are a bit more dubious to tie down. It varies from that weird little gremlin laugh he does to “Young Moolah, baby…”, “Young Weezy, baby…”, “Weezy F.”, or “Tunechi”. You just have to take as it lies there. Usher Raymond does it simple too. “Yeah, man…”

The annoying end of the ad lib spectrum has Big Sean saying “Boy…” which for a while I thought was a grown man saying “Boing…”. My mistake for misunderstanding the mumbling. To date the most annoying ad lib belongs to Trey Songz. He annoys me with “Yupp!!” and the almost stalker like “C‘mere…”.

Ad libs are hip-hop culture and yet another way an artist distinguishes themselves. Maybe I should get myself an ad lib. I just hope it’s well received.