Timbre and non-radical didacticism in the Streets' A grand don't come for free: a poetic-ecological model

Slater, Mark

Abstract

This article investigates the status and function of timbre by proposing a poetic-ecological model, which seeks to encapsulate the intersections between and applications of three theoretical territories: poetics, ecological theory and spectromorphology. The patterned sonic material encountered in the Streets' 'Blinded by the Lights', from the 2004 album A Grand Don't Come for Free, is analysed in terms of its capacity to specify a non-radical didactic identity in line with a didactic impulse inherent in hip-hop culture, from which this music draws significant influence. Timbre is understood in terms of its capacity to specify identities, both sonic and 'personic', as propagated by sound via the specification of sources, however stable or ambiguous. In examining how specific sounds function in this track and what they might mean, the terms 'proprietary' and 'efferent' are offered to explain the typological groupings of sounds from a range of possible sources (people, objects, technology, records, labels, styles and genres). The establishment of these categorical terms draws upon the ecological paradigm outlined by specification, attunement and contingency (which accounts for the agency of culturally situated producers and perceivers), and the spectromorphological ensemble (which accounts for the detailed characteristics and operations of sounds). © 2012 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

Citation

Slater, M. (2011). Timbre and non-radical didacticism in the Streets' A grand don't come for free: a poetic-ecological model. Music Analysis, 30(2-3), 360-395. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-2249.2011.00317.x

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Jan 1, 2011
• Online Publication Date: Apr 11, 2012
• Publication Date: 2011-07
• Deposit Date: Nov 13, 2014
• Journal: Music Analysis
• Print ISSN: 0262-5245
• Publisher: Wiley
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 30
• Issue: 2-3
• Pages: 360-395
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-2249.2011.00317.x
• Keywords: Music
• Public URL: https://hull-repository.worktribe.com/output/473078
• Publisher URL: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1468-2249.2011.00317.x
• Contract Date: Nov 23, 2017