Unfortunately, the development of music in Russia arises from the impulse of the development of the Western and European music industry. Therefore, many terms, slang expressions and concepts in modern Russian hip-hop or rock culture come from English or French. So, the word "flow" is translated from English as "flow", but what sense does it have for the Russian representative of the hip-hop movement?
Definition and origin of the concept of "flow"
English "flow", which translates as "flow" or "flow" as a verb, became the progenitor of the slang "flow" in Russian, while retaining its semantics.
In the process of reading, the rapper (the one who reads the lyrics of the song) can get into the rhythm of the music in different ways, regulate his voice in different ways, give different pronunciation speed of consonants and vowels. All these concepts are united by the word "flow" - something that is often defined by rappers as the ability to teach lyrics; the ability to unleash the potential of poetry.
Of course, there is no good or bad flow - there is a right and wrong flow: correct - when the performer is successfully associated with the music, rhythm, the whole composition as a whole, and wrong - when the whole work simply cuts the ear due to the mismatch of the lyrics and the rhythm of the music.
In order for a successful reading to also successfully combine with instruments and a beat (from the English slang. Beat - rhythm, melody), the reader needs to have excellent diction and breathing apparatus: shortness of breath during a quick reading of poetry is not something that will be pleasant to the buyer of records.
It is worth noting that many rappers and hip-hop artists have some kind of speech impairment and often not quite perfect diction, however, their ability to get in time and the fluidity of their lyrics make their music enjoyable and popular.
Modern flow styles
Since hip-hop culture developed mainly in the United States, the entire burden of classifying reading styles fell on American musicians. So, stic.man (Russian stickman), one of the members of the Dead Prez duo, distinguishes the following types of flow:
Chant (The Chant), that is, monotonous reading in the manner of reading the psalms. Some call it a melody or a chant. According to the musician, this kind of flow is used mainly by such hip-hop artists as Lil Jon and Project Pat.
Syncopated Bounce. By this style, based on its translation from English, they mean the average rate of reading with the omission of some vowels or the truncation of words in verses. In jazz, this kind of singing implies an emphasis on the third quarter.
Of course, none of the rappers has some style inherent only to him: often a change in the type of flow in the musicians' works can be noticed with periodicity in each album, and sometimes the type of reading can change two or more times per track.
In the forehead (Straight Forward) - an aggressive style in which certain semantic units are accentuated, but the reading pace does not decrease. Most common: according to stic.man, it is owned by such artists as Scarface, 2Pac, Melle Mel, Down Productions era, Jay-Z, Ice Cube, Dr. Dre, and Snoop Dogg.