@docpop I would characterize it as 6/8. Rather than 1-2-3, 1-2-3, it's 1-2-3-4-5-6, 1-2-3-4-5-6. Speed it up a bit and it's an Irish jig meter. But in places, especially the chorus, he starts acting like it's 2/4 and the groups of 3 within the 6-beat measure are triplets within the 2/4. Like this:
1-2-3 | 4-5-6
1 | 2
If that makes sense?
It's called a hemiola when people superimpose rhythms like that (not to be confused with a hematoma which is when you have a blood bruise). African polyrhythms are famous for this
@SallyStrange counting to 6 helps me understand it a little more, thanks!
Counting to 4 felt too slow, counting to 3 felt too fast, counting to 6 feels more right. I saw another comment online that said “It's in 6/8 which can be felt as 2/4 and two measures would make 4.”, which is maybe why I sometimes feel a 4?
@docpop@SallyStrange I’m admittedly not as well-listened to rap as other genres, but does 6/8 feel “odd” in rap contexts? Because 6/8 is an extremely common time signature, in general.
@aidan@docpop rap is pretty solidly 4/4 most of the time. Makes it easier to rhyme over the beat I'm sure. Someone has probably done a rap song in 5/4 or 7/8 but I can't think of any off the top of my head
@aidan I haven't found a way to annotate which of this songs are in which time signatures yet, but there are a few 5/4s on this playlist and even one 15/8. https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL1g-GXFBtDQff-l_sdmSX44NHPB7r4HoO
Like @SallyStrange said, 99.9% of hip hop is in 4/4. When folks deviate from that, it's often by just dropping in an extra beat. Or in the case of Outcast's "Hey Ya", adding a 2/4 every now and then.
@docpop On a quick listen the bass is on a slower 4/4 - with the main bass notes on the 1 and 3 of the bar. And the bass pattern is over 2 bars of 4/4. Then the synth is playing triplets over each note in the 4/4 - that wouldn't be notated as 3/4, but as a bar with a '3' over it. Not sure how to write that in text, but there's a diagram here: https://www.hoffmanacademy.com/blog/what-is-a-triplet-in-music/ Is that what you meant?
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