Amplified Observations takes a look into which hip-hop songs have amazing guitar solos that rival rock bands and implores more hip-hop acts to use more guitar.
It isn’t a secret that hip-hop is not the most musically progressive genre. Although its lyrics resonate with listeners, paint a social picture and push pop culture forward (remember “The Motto” by Drake?), the backing beats and instrumentals usually follow a similar, formulaic pattern. Synthesized keyboards, strings, bass and sub-bass, 808 drums and samples help to create the common perception of how hip-hop sounds.
However, once in a blue moon, hip-hop sneaks in musically impressive moments, some of them being guitar solos. Although guitar is a seldom-heard instrument in popular hip-hop music, some artists and producers incorporate it to give their album a different feel.
Kid Cudi’s albums would not sound even remotely similar if they were not soaked in reverberated guitar riffs with notable solos, like on “Pursuit of Happines (nightmare)” and “Marijuana.” Despite being more on the R&B side, Frank Ocean’s “Channel Orange” contains a substantial amount of guitar with bluesy pop aficionado John Mayer playing on “Pyramids” and “White.”
Furthermore, you can hardly argue that the guitar solo in Childish Gambino’s “The Worst Guys” elevates the song to a whole other level of easygoing bliss.
But this six-stringed practice is not exclusive to recent times. Seminal hip-hop duo, Outkast, employed a killer guitar solo at the end of their incredibly fast-paced 2000 track “B.O.B. (Bombs Over Baghdad).” And even further back, The Beastie Boys recruited Slayer guitarist Kerry King for their 1986 rap-rock standard “No Sleep ‘Til Brooklyn” (and if you bring into question if The Beastie Boys are a real hip-hop group, listen to sample and bar-laden Paul’s Boutique and you’ll have an answer).
In general, it’s always a nice surprise to hear un-synthesized instruments show up during a hip-hop album. This is not to say that I want every artist to sound like The Roots, but I don’t think anyone would disagree that Kendrick Lamar’s “To Pimp A Butterfly” would be less funky and enjoyable if it wasn’t for the live instrumentation.
When I watched Ty Dolla $ign open for Wiz last summer, his guitarist dominated the overall sound of the performance, something I had not expected to hear and found exceedingly pleasant.
As a music fan, I consider well-done guitar solo to be one of the rawest emotive energies an artist can pull from their creative repertoire.
Luke Furman is a freshman studying journalism. Email him at lf491413@ohio.edu or find him on Twitter at @LukeFurmanOU.
