sometimes i listen to r'n'b radio shows and wonder how that weird swing sound got so prevelant, the jerky spazz bass headnod type sound. in v general terms, the drums are usually clompy super square kick-hat-snare-hat patterns but all the other sounds (like some guitar type noises and keyboards and bass) are gasping fractionally off the beat. i think this whole sound could have been developed from how people nod their heads! if, as in this kind of swing, there is a wider space where your melodic or bass element could hit on the snare and kick hits then it makes it easier for your hypothetical head to snap back satisfyingly. (your head movement does not match the decay of a kick or snare sound ie. the sound will already be gone by the time your head is back to it's regular position, unless you do that painful neck snapping, in which case you are a twat.)
you can hear different variations of it in jay dee-ish rap and probably other places but the soul version is weird because i don't think i ever heard it help a song out - sometimes it sounds like an unwilling concession to sequencing and electronics from dudes who want to play slap bass live for several hours and find on-beatness too inorganic, sometimes it is perfectly bearable, but has it ever made anything more danceable and/or fun? fucking no!
oh but listen, this kinda old mario song makes a valiant go of being fun, it's like he and his beatman actually believe in the spazzness and build the whole song around it! especially the extremely tight usher-baiting chorus: next time y'all underestimate me / recognize i just turned eighteen / that means i got seven years to catch up so what's up? huuh haah! the best get-out clause ever, split up jamesdeanbradfield-style with emphasis on wrong/unexpected sylables!
oh yeah remember if this post is rubbish i might be younger than you so
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