The Juke/Footwork/Trap Music Thread

I'm new too the forum and was wondering if any of you are into Juke, Footwork, or Trap music. I did a search on the forum & did not find much on the genre. I'm still a bit new to the genre's myself so please correct me if I'm wrong. I'm sure your wondering what the hell Juke & Footwork music is so I'll give a little background, I'm sure some of you know what Trap is already but I'll still give a few examples.

Ghetto house, or booty house is a type of Chicago House which started being recognized as a distinct style from around 1992 onwards. It features minimal 808 and 909 drum machine-driven tracks, and sometimes sexually explicit lyrics.

Using the template of classic Chicago House music (primarily, Its Time For The Percolator by Cajmere), and adding the sexual lyrics. It has usually been made on minimal equipment with little or no effects. It usually features a "4-to-the-floor" kick drum (full sounding, but not too long or distorted) along with Roland 808 and 909 synthesised tom-tom sounds, minimal use of analogue synths, and short, slightly dirty sounding (both sonically and lyrically) vocals samples, often repeated in various ways. Also common are 808 and 909 clap sounds, and full "rapped" verses and choruses.

Chicago Juke

The 2000's have also seen a rise in Chicago Juke, a faster variant of Ghetto House which began forming in the late 1980s. Chicago Juke songs are generally around 150-160 BPM with kick drums, usually in a One-And-Two A-And-Four style pattern, pounding rapidly (and at times very sparsely) in syncopation with crackling snares, claps, and other sounds reminiscent of old drum machines. The production style is often markedly low-fi, much like Baile Funk. Chicago Juke evolved to match the energy of footwork,a dance style born in the disparate ghettos, house parties and underground dance competitions of Chicago. RP Boo, a former footwork dancer, is generally credited with making the first songs that fall within the canon [1] Living hand in hand with juke music, footwork is one of the last untapped (and resultantly, unfiltered) hood dance music styles in the world.[2] Footwork is a controlled and complex moving of the feet at high speeds, a modern form of house dance footwork and Breakdancing footwork. A couple prominent producers in the Chicago Juke and booty house canon are artists like Dude 'n Nem, DJ Slugo, and DJ Tha Pope. Tha Pope's song "Bob That Back Down" has over 1 million views on one YouTube post,[3] and well over 2 million views across all YouTube postings of the song. However, Tha Pope remains a relatively obscure producer. This is a salient example of the way Chicago Juke has flirted with wider acceptance in the past decade (though regional popularity certainly accounts for some of those views). Nevertheless, Juke has yet to form any solid mainstream presence, and is probably more visible in the mainstream through its influence on the current generation of producers.

Juke and Europe

Juke/Footwork has been popular in the clubs of Europe particularly in Paris and Brussels for a number of years with the Booty Call club nights and artists such as Kill Frenzy and DJ Hilti putting out releases via the Juke Trax label. It has however only recently begun to flourish in UK clubs, due to the "Bangs and Works Volume 1" compilation on the Planet Mu label. Though earlier releases by DJ Slugo can be found on UK label WIDE, Planet Mu were the first to grab any media attention.

Various artists evolving around what is often labeled by various subcultural media as the deeper or rather avant-garde sub-sonorities of dubstep music, have started to integrate juke elements to their works in the last few years, perhaps subsequently to the recent bloom of juke music in Europe. Labels such as Swamp81 and artists such as Addison Groove and Ramadanman have started to incorporate elements of juke and ghetto house to their recent productions.

taken from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juke_music

It came to my surprise that Juke & Footwork aren't exactly the same genre if even a genre. I came across this site that gives a better idea of what Juke & Footwork really are, a Chicago teacher / Footwork producer explains:

WHILE FOOTWORK CONTINUES to find its place within the electronic music consciousness, many listeners and critics are still unclear on how to accurately absorb it for interpretation and translate it to discussion. One of the most common mistakes, and one jazner has been guilty of on occasion, is using the terms ‘footwork’ and ‘juke’ interchangeably, as if the two were inseparable as a kick and a snare.

Here to set the record straight is Chicago’s very own Nate Boylan, a high school science teacher by day, footwork producer by night, and Ghettoteknitian for life. You may remember Boylan from his contribution to Planet Mu’s Bangs & Works Vol. 2, the impeccable, sped up Sade sampled “Bullet Proof Soul” sticking out as one of the comps many highlights, a track that was also used in an Addison Groove mix earlier this year

Boylan was kind enough to break down the basic elements of footwork, how it differs from juke, and what the ghettotekz life is all about, clearing the air for all of us outside of Chicago.

Take your seats, students, Footwork 101 is about to begin.

What are the differences between juke and footwork?
Both ‘types’ of music can be considered ‘tracks’. That’s what we call them.

Juke really isn’t a type of music, but a style of dancing to ghetto house. Juke is commonly used as a verb, as in “that girl was jukin me on the floor” (basically like having sex with clothes on) or “damn that party was jukin.” Juke tracks bear a much closer (to the ear of most people outside of the south and west sides) resemblance to ghetto house (DJ Deeon, DJ Milton, DJ PJ, DJ Funk, etc).

Footwork is another form of tracks (the general word that means house music) specifically used in footwork battles by various dance crews around the city (Wolf Pack, T.S., LOTNS, Taliban, etc). Many footwork tracks are specifically made for different crews (TS Hoe by DJ Rashad). Footwork is much less commercial than most juke tracks and really is best understood in the context of events such as Battlegrounds (on 87th and stony island), T.U.F.F. (on 87th and hermitage), war zone (Wala’s event), the Bud Billiken parade and after-parties. In Chicago currently tracks mainly come in the footwork flavor, also known as juketronik, gutta etc.

Break it down in the following contexts: Musically (beats, rhythms, pulse, samples, techniques, technology, etc)
There is a distinct four pattern embedded in tracks, which seems to be mostly not understood by producers outside of Chicago. It sounds random, but the drums match the sample/synth. Theres almost always a clap or snare holding down the four count. In my production crew (Ghetto teknitianz aka ghettotekz) we mostly produce using MPC’s of some variety (2000 XLs, 2500s, 1000s) and emu, Roland and Akai synths. Some people use software to produce, but the real juice seems to flow best from the MPC.

Socially
Juke really came from DJ Puncho and Gantman and Jammin Gerald and Traxman in the late 90s early 2000s.

DJ Rashad and Spinn and RP boo basically took it to the footwork level in the late late ninties and have been making hot tracks for over 12 years. Interesting side note: I teach high school science at the same school that Rashad and Spinn met at in homeroom as students. Its part of the Southside/South Central suburbs/Westside tradition that we hold down the footwork at Thornwood. Many many many Thornwood students are also dancers and/or producers.

Culturally (gatherings, battles, crews, swagger, etc)
Footwork battles: the real shit. Kids get together and battle, winner by audience reaction. Sometimes there’s money involved. In many ways the battles provide a constructive method of helping teenage kids stay out of trouble, because in Chicago there’s plenty of trouble that kids can get into.

As far as who runs it, I’d have to say that the Tekz run the South. If you go to any battles you are almost 100% sure to hear at least one track by one of the guys.

We also do Northside events like JukeFest every summer where we get to bring tracks to groups of people who otherwise wouldn’t come down to the Southside/Westside events.

Can you describe what a juke / footwork battle is like for people that have never been to one? What are the vibes, the energy, the sounds, smells and feelings overall?
It starts out quiet and sparse and as people fill in the warm-ups begin. Often a side room will have mirrors for practicing. By 10, the dj will start dropping tracks that are ice cold and usually will drop a few new tracks that he produced maybe specifically for the event in progress. The vibe is usually competitive but positive. The feelings depend on your mood, lol that’s an interesting question. The vibes are bass out of subs and hot new tracks.

taken from http://jazner.wordpress.com/2012/02/21/the-science-of-footwork/
Thanks Boylan for clearing things up! For more info follow the link above.

Some of my favorite Footwork artist: Murderbot, Slick Shoota, Lenkemz







More of a Junglist Juke sound



For more of Phillip D Kicks jungle juke go here:
Footwork Jungle Vol. 1
http://www.mediafire.com/?fmmx5h6588wxppo
Footwork Jungle Vol. 2
http://www.mediafire.com/?i0r97g527jmzb00

note: There is also a Footwork Jungle Vol. 3 out there, google it.

Trap music is based on use of the 808 Roland drum machine, pitched and re-sampled hiphop/rap vocals, pipe flutes, gangsta synth leads, and various FX. Similar to rap without the main vocal, Trap music has been gaining lots of attention from major DJ’s and labels. Although, the style originated many years ago, Trap music has recently been making a new school comeback in many new forms such as “Trap”, “Chirp”, “SeaPunk”, “PsyTrap”, and “TrapStep”. Earliest known examples can be found by artists such as Triple Six Mafia, UGK, Swisha House, and Gucci Mane. Tempos range widely from 135-175bpm which is uncommon for most major genres of electronic dance music (EDM).

In laymen’s terms, Trap music would be best described as a recipe;

1/3 hip hop (tempo and song structure similar) – however vocals are usually pitched lower or higher
1/3 dubstep (similar drum arrangements, different builds and drops)
1/3 dub (Low frequency focus and strong emphasis on repetitiveness throughout a song)

Some of my favorite Trap artist are: Flosstradamus, Bro Safari, Baauer
Here are a few examples of Trap:

Baauer:


Flosstradamus:



Bro Safari:

I f8cks with

DataBass wrote: Triple Six Mafia

some of that other sh*t was alright

I've been a long time fan of the three six mafia, in my opinion they are the orignal trap group! I was talking about trap with a more electronic background, not rap/trap. Looking for tips on producing Footwork & Trap on the MPC, I'm new to producing music.

Just read a interesting interview article with DJ Rashad from Teklife talking about Juke/Footwork. Rashad uses an MPC2500 & Ableton Live to create his footwork beats manually.

Here is the link too the article if anyone's interested:
http://blog.dubspot.com/dj-rashad-interview


I also came across a youtube channel called "Beat This" hosted on the site "Don't Watch That TV", producers are timed 10 minutes to see what beats they can come up with within that time. Here's a link too all the episodes: http://dontwatchthat.tv/channels/beat-this/

Here is episode 12 with DJ Manny from Teklife

^^^^ **** Genius.
Just loving that DJ Manny stuff - Can't really say why.. It's just sending me.

I tried Djing a bit of Rashad Deeon & Godfather recently. I luv it, but it just fell flat outfront. I'm thinking the whole FW & Juke thing is built for subterranean carparks and really small basement venues. A real intimate thing, any venue with a bit of air, it just looses its vibe.

Saying that, its xcellent ipod shit.

Great thread DataBass hopefully it'll get added to loads.

LZ Roberts wrote:I tried Djing a bit of Rashad Deeon & Godfather recently. I luv it, but it just fell flat outfront. I'm thinking the whole FW & Juke thing is built for subterranean carparks and really small basement venues. A real intimate thing, any venue with a bit of air, it just looses its vibe.

Saying that, its xcellent ipod ****.

I can agree with that somewhat, Chicago style footwork at least. Small basement parties are the best anyway, I'm not really into mainstream stuff with big venues. Definitely great for bumpin' on the iPod!

Thanks for stopping by LZ Roberts

As I stated above I'm a bit new too producing & I've been looking for tips & tricks, I came across a few REALLY good tutorials that I want to share with you guys. I can't really find much on producing trap music though so if anyone finds anything worth posting please feel free too share with us.

Point Blank Online is a music school based out in London, they have a lot of really good free content, they also have paid courses online. They also give out free sample coures, go here for more details: http://www.pointblankonline.net/sample-a-course/
Below are a few tutorial videos I found on youtube focused on the Juke genre using Ableton Live.





For more PointBlank videos visit there YouTube Channel:
http://www.youtube.com/user/pointblankonline
http://www.pointblankonline.net/
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There are certain aspects that make Trap Music unique in the rap scene:

The tempo is negotiable. The large pulses tend to be pretty slow – 75bpm. But there’s a double-time feel that exists in the sub-rhythms. Sometimes even a quadruple-time feel – with super fast hi-hats and snare rolls.

The rhythm is negotiable. A lot of times the rhythm is straight, but sometimes there will be poly-rhythmic elements that will overlay a triplet feel over the eighth notes.

Orchestral synths. In other forms of rap, the drums often get a great deal of layering to make them powerful and unique. In Trap Music, the synth elements are layered up – for the same reason – but also to make the sound very dramatic and heavy.

Focused pitched drums. Generally 808s and 909s, the drums tend to be very focused sounds. The kicks are note specific, the snares are super cutting, and the hats are very bright and tingy. In other words, the lows are low, the mids are mid-rangy, and the highs are high.

The kick is the bass. One of the most interesting aspects of Trap Music is that the kick drum often acts as the bass instrument as well.

Contrast – Trap Music is rarely a repeating loop – there’s often some form of either chord progression, or a major change in arrangement. It’s not uncommon for a song to go from an element with nothing but a couple of drums and maybe one melodic element to a full orchestra of synthesizers and samples.

In The Mix

Because of the things listed above, mixing Trap Music is a little different than mixing other forms of Rap.

For example, a common aspect of mixing is coordinating the low end – getting the bass and kick to really complement each other. In the case of Trap Music, the bass is usually the kick!

Another example – when setting up the ambiance (reverbs, delays) in a mix, the settings and style choices are relevant to the tempo of the song. But Trap Music has a negotiable tempo!

Third example, just for emphasis – when mixing, the idea is to balance the arrangement of the instruments. In Trap Music the arrangement often changes dramatically. Keeping a static mix rarely works in this case.

Low End

Basically you can’t get a good trap mix without a massive low end. Volume becomes a tricky negotiation. The kick needs to be loud – but after a certain point, it will mask everything else. After the right level is found, the trick becomes finding ways to make the kick appear louder than it is. There are a multitude of ways to do this – subtlety and taste really come into play because each of these techniques can easily make the kick feel smaller just as fast as they can make it feel bigger.

The 200hz range: There’s a good amount of punch in your average kick drum around 200 Hz. That range won’t do much for standard 808 which is hanging out below 100hz – but if you are working with a layered kick for punch (something I would consider dubbing into the mix if it isn’t already present) – pushing that range can be very helpful. If you can blend the layered kick under the 808 and extend the 200hz range – you end up getting what basically sounds like a super punchy 808.

Saturation and overdrive: The harmonic tone of the kick is important. It creates a character and texture, and also emphasizes the pitch of the kick. This will give the kick more presence in the mix.

Bass enhancers: These are kind of like steroids for the low end. Software like RBass, Lo-Air, BXBoom are designed to create sub-harmonic content based off the source sound. Because the generated harmonics are not entirely similar to the source you can get a little more bass out of these without adding level as quickly.

Rhythm

Break elements down into their sub rhythms, and address them accordingly. Put shorter reverbs on elements that move faster, longer reverbs and delays on slower elements. Then take those reverbs and make sure they blend together and sound cohesive. The end results is a unified reverb that never seems to step on any of the elements.

Keep the faster elements more attack driven – like hi-hats – but play up the sustain of the slower elements – like synths and snares. Usually the kick already has a huge built in sustain.

Arrangement

Arrangement changes mean compensating in the mix. If the arrangement changes, it is the responsibility of the mixer to adjust accordingly. Unfortunately the set it and forget it mentality won’t fly. Luckily most of the work resides simply in careful level adjustments. But, certain elements may requires EQ or compression adjustments at different segments as well. Don’t be afraid to copy an instrument onto a new track and treat it differently in different places.

taken from http://theproaudiofiles.com/trap-music/

i thought trap music was waka flaka flames/jeezy/southern type hip hop with a faster 808 sound?

Another Good'n to keep the thread going

Through all that I just read... I didn't see any mention of Detroit or Jittin. Detroiters been doin it since maybe '84. Anyway, if you're feelin that kind of music you might find other stuff you like if you search "Detroit Jit".

damien907 wrote:i thought trap music was waka flaka flames/jeezy/southern type hip hop with a faster 808 sound?

Read my third post on this thread, trap comes in many different forms nowadays. All the artist you listed are indeed trap music, I'm referring too trap music cut up in an electronic way.

Here is a way different example of trap music by an artist named "Bleep Bloop" from Cali, head of 710 Records.

Gangsta's On Acid



Thanks Em.p.cee.j for the comment, never heard of Jittin. I knew Detroit had something similar, just didn't look into it yet. Care to share a good example of Jit music?

havent heard alot of the newer "juke music"

but always loved that chicago ghetto house

dance mania was a greeeat label

http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL2FDF49F8FBACFF85

DJ Deeon
Jammin Gerald
Traxman
DJ Slugo

cool thread, i was wondering about those terms

another genre: bubblebath
http://soundcloud.com/boatsmusic