The Art Behind The Music Extended - Featuring K!d Hype

Recently we published the first episode of our new series ‘The Art Behind the Music’ on our instagram, @bootleg.bangers, but we can’t go nearly as in depth on that platform as we would like. Today, we’ll take a deep dive into the techniques that make K!d Hype’s recent single ‘Situations/In The Rain’ an underground masterpiece.

Vocal layering, also known as vocal stacking, is a technique where the artist has multiple vocal tracks with different tones/styles play at once, so the final result is a much better harmony than any individual track could produce. It’s used in many of the most iconic songs of the past decade, from Kanye and Bon Iver’s ‘Lost In The World’ to Travis Scott’s ‘Butterfly Effect’ - it is typically used to create an atmospheric feel. If you listen to the bridge of ‘Situations’ (3:13 into the track), you’ll hear multiple distinct vocals stacked on top of each other. K!d Hype does this in order to transcend the original boundaries of the track and to draw the listener in by surrounding them with the music. It provides an out-of-body experience that’s beyond just listening to a song, which is what all great music does. It is also difficult to executre properly, because running multiple vocal tracks like that can result in a messy final product - K!d Hype and his longtime producer Dceemusik are able to pull it off masterfully, with every note in tune and all of the layers aligning perfectly to create a new sensation that feels like you’re inside the music.

Though vocal layering is one of the most useful techniques in music, it often isn’t applied correctly as we mentioned above. Out of key or unbalanced layers can make harmonies that are off-putting and unnatural sounding. Examples of this are Eminem’s singing on the chorus of ‘Venom’ and ‘Cold Wind Blows’. You won’t find any of those mistakes here - each vocal track blends together in a way that sounds both futuristic and completely natural.

Another method used by K!d Hype is the lyrical repetition also found in legendary tracks like ‘Lost In The World’ by Kanye West and Bon Iver. As mentioned in our post on @bootleg.bangers, emphasis can be used to draw attention and emphasize a certain message or word - this is found throughout all genres of music, not just rap, and it’s used by K!d Hype here on the bridge to focus the listener on the following section. Through the repetition of this bar:

… the listener will be remember this section and the lines immediately following it. The brain is built to recognize patterns, and will single out this moment as one of the most memorable, as well increasing the amount that you’ll pay attention to the following lyrics. These lines are also where K!d Hype implements the vocal layering technique to the fullest extent, helping to make this section even more memorable and high quality. This bridge also marks the transition to the second part of the track, ‘In The Rain’ - this has the rawest and most personal verse of the entire song, where he talks about his worsening relationship with his religion and how he slipped into a depression, as well as how he cut off those around him and burned his bridges while going through his mental struggles. As this is the most important verse of the song, K!d Hype highlights it with the repetition building up to it, resulting in an unforgettable masterpiece.

The final artistic technique we love in ‘Situations/In The Rain’ is how he used stylistic contrast between the verses and chorus. This is commonly used in music when artists will have feature artists on the chorus who sings or delivers a sing-rap hook that provides a melodic contrast to the hard hitting verses, but here K!d Hype is able to do it all himself. He alternates between his high energy autotuned sing-rap delivery on the hook and a stripped down, staccato flow through the verses. This contrast makes the song more interesting and memorable - songs that only use one flow/delivery throughout always feel repetitive, so by switching up the style he keeps it unique and fresh.

The track was recorded over almost a year due to constant mixing and writing revisions, as both K!d Hype and Dceemusik wanted to make this track as good as possible. I first listened to it back in the winter, and since then they’ve managed to improve the production quality dramatically since then - it’s given me a unique insight into their artistic process and allowed me to see what they focus on and the intentional changes they make to help perfect the track. I saw how vocal layering and timing was key for them, and by seeing how it shifted and improved throughout the process I could understand how it was a carefully crafted technique and had a true purpose, rather than just being a stylistic preference. Months of hard work and dedication combined with the careful use of vocal, writing, and production techniques has turned K!d Hype’s ‘Situations/In The Rain’ into a true masterpiece that showcases the best of rap’s artistry.

Tap in with us on instagram at @bootleg.bangers and check out K!d Hype @f0reva_hype100!