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Play –Spleet –Analyze –Read –Analyze –Repeat | © Prof. Dr. Dina De Rentiis | Chair of Romance Literatures S. 1
Rap Song Analysis –PSARAR
Prof. Dr. Dina De Rentiis
Play –Spleet –Analyze –Read –Analyze –Repeat | © Prof. Dr. Dina De Rentiis | Chair of Romance Literatures S. 2
Step 1: P(icture and Store ;P –but seriously)
•When you set out to analyze a rap song, especially if you do not understand (all) the words in it, fight
the urge to read the lyrics and to watch the video to make sense of it quickly. Instead:
•If you do not know the song, but picked it because you heard about it, or because you know the
artist, or for whatever reason, then “Play”: Listen to the track once (not more)
• “Picture and Store” your reaction/s: write something down or draw something in reaction to the
song, take a picture of yourself reacting, or build or arrange something and take a picture, or do
whatever suits you best, but find a way to store something that “pictures” your reaction/s to the song.
•If your response is unclear to you, DO NOT try to clarify it or to analyze it, unless you really need to.
Rather, look for a way to express and store your unclear reaction (word/s, sound/s, image/s coming
to mind, anything goes).
•The Purpose of this step is to “get your first reaction out of your system” and, having done so, to
open up –you can consider this a form of “aesthetic distancing” –from your first reaction to the song.
•If you already know the song (and the official music video), then play the track at least three times in
reverse while you are doing something else; the purpose is to produce an effect of defamiliariziation
•To reverse the track, you can use https://www.mp3-reverser.com/for example.
•I am serious about this: do not “listen” consciously to the reversed song, do not sit at your desk while
you listen, do something else, while you play the song in reverse at least three times. Then
•replay the track once in its regular form and “picture and store” as described
Play –Spleet –Analyze –Read –Analyze –Repeat | © Prof. Dr. Dina De Rentiis | Chair of Romance Literatures S. 3
Step 2: S(plit to conquer)
•S = split (or spleet) instrumental („beat“) and vocals („flow“) as cleanly as you can. A
„real clean split “ is not mandatory, just be aware of any residues
•Do NOT read lyrics, do NOT watch the video, if there is one
•To spleet, you can use https://www.heise.de/newsticker/meldung/Open-Source-Tool-
Spleeter-schneidet-Musikspuren-aus-fertigen-Mixen-4584561.html
•Unfortunately, this only works with Win 10, not with linux
Play –Spleet –Analyze –Read –Analyze –Repeat | © Prof. Dr. Dina De Rentiis | Chair of Romance Literatures S. 4
Step 3: A (and Ω)
•Listen to the “spleeted beat” and “flow” SEPARATELY.
•Do NOT switch back and forth between instrumental part/beat and vocal part/flow at
this stage: take a break between your work on the beat and your work on the flow
•Take note for example of rhythm/s, speed/s, repeated and/or similar sequences, use of
single instruments, accents & highlighted parts, samples…
•Be a Sherlock (“I see everything”) in perception, but NOT in deduction. Try hard to take
note of EVERYTHING that happens, WITHOUT “interpreting signs”
•When you do not perceive anything new, use the “reverse play” tool on the beat and/or
on the flow to ‘wipe’ your perception board, do NOT listen to the ‘unsplit’ reversed track
•Try not to look for things that you already know and/or that you can name.
•Start with the attitude “I would prefer not to” (draw hasty conclusions)
• Avoid the approach: “I know alliteration, therefore I look for alliterations”
•Allow for “I don’t know what is going on here, but I have the impression that something
is going on”
•Of course, it is not forbidden to notice rhymes, punch lines, quotes, allusions & the like,
but do NOT interpret them at this stage, just take notes
•Repeat this step, until you have noted enough
Play –Spleet –Analyze –Read –Analyze –Repeat | © Prof. Dr. Dina De Rentiis | Chair of Romance Literatures S. 5
Step 4: R (& R)
•Replay the ‘unsplit’ song and pay attention to how, and when, the things you have
noted come together
•Try not to mind only connections and disconnections between “things” that you have
seen clearly in the beat and/or the flow, mind simultaneity and all (dis)connections of
indeterminate “things” –“x happens” in the beat, and at the same time, or immediately
before, or right after, “y happens” in the flow
•Repeat this as many times as you need to
•Take note of the relations between „instrumental part / beat“ and „vocal part / flow“,
that is, for example, dis/harmonies, tensions, conflicts, “on the beat flows”, “beat
breaking”, combinations of quotes and samples from different sources… again: be a
Sherlock in perception, not in deduction
•When you do not perceive anything new, use the “reverse play” tool to ‘wipe’ your
perception board. This time, you may reverse the complete track and/or the beat,
and/or the flow
•When you have enough, (you may finally) read the lyrics. HOWEVER: keep it real ;-)
and resist the urge to “interpret”. Instead…
Play –Spleet –Analyze –Read –Analyze –Repeat | © Prof. Dr. Dina De Rentiis | Chair of Romance Literatures S. 6
Step 5: A & R
• Check – and/or double-check – for the accuracy of written lyrics and for quotes, references,
allusions etc. that you may not have noticed yet.
•Check for language mix and in general for any language phenomena that catch your ear/eye.
•Again: Do NOT check only for phenomena/“things” you already know and/or can name, keep
it real, that is, keep your perception and the analysis flowing
•Of course, it is not forbidden to attribute a meaning to what you hear and read, BUT
• try to create a “full aesthetic experience”, shifting constantly between the attribution of
meaning and the simple perception of forms, rhythms, sounds, strings, connections and
disconnections, “things you can label” and “things you cannot label”
•Engage with the track, but not as if it were composed of predetermined “blocks”. Consider
every determination of (sets or parts of) elements as something that you do (in your
engagement) with the track. Engage with the track as if it were your dance partner, not an
‘object’ of study
•Do NOT look at the track as if it were a (complex) “structure” or a structured ensemble of
elements. Look at the “things” that you have noticed in the beat and/or in the flow as
indeterminates in a dynamic system of relations, not as elements in a prefigured set of
objects or in (prefigured parts of) a prefigured object, which is determined by meaning and/or
order
Play –Spleet –Analyze –Read –Analyze –Repeat | © Prof. Dr. Dina De Rentiis | Chair of Romance Literatures S. 7
And then what?
•And then some ;-)
•When you do PSARAR, in the end what you get is what you see
•What you end up seeing can be meaning, or meanings that you attribute to the
song, because those meanings “come to you” or “at you” irresistibly –now you
may give in ;-), but continue to keep it real: mind your responsibility for the
meanings you issue, attribute, and negotiate
•It can be a new perception of the song and/or the perception of something you
have not perceived yet
•It can be a new (or different) thought about another artefact or about something
related or unrelated to the song,
•It can be a new connection you establish between the song and something else,
or between something else and something else again
•It can be a new reaction to the song
•It can be…
Play –Spleet –Analyze –Read –Analyze –Repeat | © Prof. Dr. Dina De Rentiis | Chair of Romance Literatures S. 8
But what about the video?!
•The music video is off limits, while you do PSARAR
• Fight the urge to watch it while you are going through steps 1-5
•And rest assured, the music video analysis is coming…
Play –Spleet –Analyze –Read –Analyze –Repeat | © Prof. Dr. Dina De Rentiis | Chair of Romance Literatures S. 9
And what about non-rap songs?
•You can also do PSARAR
•One main difference will probably be: when it comes to the relation between „vocals“
and „accompaniment“, antagonism will be the exception, harmony will be the rule (see
the first chapters of the „real virtual lecture“)
Play –Spleet –Analyze –Read –Analyze –Repeat | © Prof. Dr. Dina De Rentiis | Chair of Romance Literatures S. 10
And is this how Chresiology works?
•No, it is not
•However, PSARAR is related to Chresiology. If you want to know how, you can ask
this in class
•And more generally:
Play –Spleet –Analyze –Read –Analyze –Repeat | © Prof. Dr. Dina De Rentiis | Chair of Romance Literatures S. 11
Any questions?
•Rocket.Chat them in the „real virtual lecture“
• Or ask them in the „virtual real lecture“