words: Cody Grammer

swagrporters Guest Commentary

Ever see Kyrie Irving cross someone up? Ever seen the same cross-up in slow mo? Young Rie moves so quickly it's hard to really pick up on the nuances of the move until you go back and play it again in slow mo and then again frame by frame until your girl shakes her head and leaves the room (not my problem she doesn't appreciate art). But what do you do with hip-hop, besides hitting repeat and maybe looking up the lyrics on rapgenius? It's hard to analyze in slow mo the way you would a Kyrie cross-over. Yet just like our dear Uncle Drew, emcees are forever astounding us with lyrical compositions while making it look effortless.

In an effort to bridge this gap, let's slow things down a bit (promethazine optional) and examine just how rappers do it. Let us begin with one of the most crucial elements of a successful single: the hook. Starting in the hearth of imagination, the hotbed of heat rock, the mecca of basketball and hip hop--New York City--I'll travel across America breaking down how local emcees parlay raw skills into stardom via effective hook-making. Because let's face it, there's an eternity of talented artists out there, but until they find their "black and yellow," they'll be piddling on the come-up like Wiz in Pittsburgh circa 2007.

Truth is, hooks can be ladders. Not just for a song. For a career. For a culture.

Now look, when it comes to hooks, don’t let anybody tell you what does and doesn’t work because as this article will explore, hip-hop has a long legacy of creative chorus-crafting that persists in modern rap.

Gotta start with the basics. I’m talkin that gritty grime, that shit that busts you over the head like the concrete on which it was made. That stuff that makes you take back shit you ain’t even stole. Where better to look than the Wu-Tang Clan? We all know these dudes can spit on the verse, but they don't slouch on their hooks either. While they usually keep it simple, don’t think they’re simple-minded. As a renaissance man himself, you can trust RZA is educated on the likes of da Vinci, who said “simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.”

Point is, you don’t have to get crazy with it. Stick to what works. I now introduce Exhibit A—head’s bobbin already (pause)—Wu-Tang’s classic, “C.R.E.A.M.” “Cash rules everything around me, CREAM, get the money, dolla dolla bill y’all.” Nothing mind-blowing about that, yet many a fool have been strapped for cash, down on their luck blasting this shit, thinking damn that’s that shit right there. Same cats turned back to this jam when they won $600 on a scratch-off, screaming every word on the way to cash in at the Stop N Go…”dolla dolla bills yaaaa’lllllllll!” A hook for the best of times and the worst of times.

While I’m ready to get this train moving, let’s stay on the subway in the slums of Shaolin for a moment longer to admire another dirty hook…”Hey, Dirt-ay, baby I got your money don’t ya worry, said hey, baby I got your money.” This hook speaks for itself, but if I may, this is just some straight superpimpgangsta shit: you got a sexy female telling the foulest dude in the game, “don’t worry I’m about to get you those bills” in the same voice your girl uses as she takes off your boxer briefs.

No stranger to big pimpin, Jay-Z has sparked his fair share of heat on the hook. He knows how to make a hook on his own, but like any good businessman, when it comes to talent, he knows how to bring em out, bring em out. John Legend, Frank Ocean, Kanye West and many more have all graced the chorus of S dot hits. Yet it was his unapproved usage of Nas’ line in “The World is Yours” that ignited the most notorious rap rivalry in the post-Biggie/2Pac era. Jay would later claim “you made it a hot line, I made it a hot song,” as that hook enhanced what was already a hot song, in Dead Presidents II: “Presidents to represent me/ I’m out for presidents to represent me / I’m out for dead fuckin’ presidents to represent me.”

Forget rivalries and presidents and all that, if we’re talking strictly the sickest Jay-Z hooks, there’s an easy standout in “Hard Knock Life:” “It’s a hard-knock life for us/it’s a hard-knock life for us/instead of treated, we got tricked/instead of kisses, we got kicked.” For those of you who grew up in the dark, this hook comes from “Annie,” the Broadway musical and popular film of the early ‘80s. It makes sense Jay would gravitate to this particular production because like so many of his fatherless listeners, he grew up an orphan of the streets (with some help from Gloria, of course). And don’t think the irony of sampling from the arena of theater, which is usually reserved for rich (white) aristocrats, is lost upon Hova. No doubting this dude has depth. Don’t believe me? Let him tell it; check out “Decoded.”

Damn, we haven’t even made it out of Queens and look at the ground we’ve covered. Check out the next installment of “Hooks can be Ladders,” where I’ll dip below the Mason Dixon to see how the trappers--I mean rappers--do it in the dirty.

Before we leave NYC, let’s pay homage to the hooks that changed the game: