7ième Ciel Records

Alternative hip hop is a broad, eclectic wing of hip hop that prioritizes experimentation, left‑field aesthetics, and nonconformist subject matter over commercial formulas. It blends classic rap techniques with unconventional production, live instrumentation, genre cross‑pollination (jazz, funk, rock, electronic, reggae), and inventive songwriting. As a cultural stance, it often rejects narrow mainstream archetypes—embracing thoughtful lyricism, humor, Afrocentricity, social critique, and artistic playfulness—while keeping core elements of MCing, DJing, and sampling at the center.

Dancehall is a Jamaican popular music style built around bass‑heavy, groove‑centric riddims and the vocal art of chatting or singjaying in Jamaican Patois. It emphasizes direct, energetic delivery, call‑and‑response hooks, and a party‑forward attitude, while also leaving space for sharp social commentary and witty wordplay. The genre is fundamentally riddim‑based: producers release instrumental tracks (riddims) that many different vocalists "voice" with their own songs. This culture encourages competitive creativity, rapid evolution of styles, and a constant stream of new versions. Tempos typically sit in the midtempo range, with syncopated kicks and snares and prominent sub‑bass. Since the mid‑1980s, digital drum machines and synths have defined much of dancehall’s sound, though live instrumentation and hybrid production are common too.

Folk is a song-centered acoustic tradition rooted in community storytelling, everyday life, and social history. It emphasizes clear melodies, simple harmonies, and lyrics that foreground narrative, protest, and personal testimony. As a modern recorded genre, folk coalesced in the early-to-mid 20th century in the United States out of older ballad, work song, and rural dance traditions. It typically features acoustic instruments (guitar, banjo, fiddle, mandolin, harmonica), strophic song forms, and participatory singing (choruses, call-and-response).

Folk pop is a commercially friendly blend of traditional folk sensibilities and modern pop songwriting. It preserves the acoustic instrumentation, close harmonies, and storytelling of folk while adopting pop structures, memorable hooks, and radio-ready production. The genre is marked by clear vocals, singalong choruses, and warm, organic textures built around acoustic guitar, light percussion, and sometimes banjo, mandolin, or strings. Lyrically it is personal and narrative-driven, often touching on love, memory, place, and everyday life in a direct and relatable way.

Funk is a rhythm-forward African American popular music style that centers on groove, syncopation, and interlocking parts. Rather than emphasizing complex chord progressions, funk builds tight, repetitive vamps that highlight the rhythm section and create an irresistible dance feel. The genre is marked by syncopated drum patterns, melodic yet percussive bass lines, choppy guitar "chanks," punchy horn stabs, call‑and‑response vocals, and a strong backbeat. Funk’s stripped-down harmony, prominent use of the one (accenting the downbeat), and polyrhythmic layering draw deeply from soul, rhythm and blues, jazz, gospel, and African rhythmic traditions. From James Brown’s late-1960s innovations through the expansive P-Funk universe and the slicker sounds of the 1970s and 1980s, funk has continually evolved while seeding countless other genres, from disco and hip hop to house and modern R&B.

G-funk (short for "gangsta-funk") is a West Coast hip hop style that blends gangsta rap lyricism with the smooth, melodic grooves of 1970s funk, especially the Parliament-Funkadelic (P-Funk) tradition. It is characterized by slow-to-mid tempos, warm and heavy basslines, lush chords, prominent high-pitched synth leads (often Moog-style whistles), talkbox/vocoder hooks, and relaxed, behind-the-beat drum programming. The sound feels laid-back and summery even when the subject matter is gritty, pairing street narratives with feel-good, bass-driven bounce. G-funk defined the early-to-mid 1990s Los Angeles sound—popularized by Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, Warren G, and Nate Dogg—and became one of the most commercially successful and widely recognizable flavors of hip hop.

Hip hop is a cultural and musical movement that emerged from Black, Latino, and Caribbean communities, centering around rapping (MCing), DJing/turntablism, sampling-based production, and rhythmic speech over beats. It prioritizes groove, wordplay, and storytelling, often reflecting the social realities of urban life. Musically, hip hop is built on drum-centric rhythms (from breakbeats to 808 patterns), looped samples, and bass-forward mixes. Lyrically, it ranges from party anthems and braggadocio to political commentary and intricate poetic forms, with flow, cadence, and rhyme density as core expressive tools. Beyond music, hip hop encompasses a broader culture, historically intertwined with graffiti, b-boying/b-girling (breakdance), fashion, and street entrepreneurship, making it both an art form and a global social language.

Jazz is an improvisation-centered music tradition that emerged from African American communities in the early 20th century. It blends blues feeling, ragtime syncopation, European harmonic practice, and brass band instrumentation into a flexible, conversational art. Defining features include swing rhythm (a triplet-based pulse), call-and-response phrasing, blue notes, and extended harmonies built on 7ths, 9ths, 11ths, and 13ths. Jazz is as much a way of making music—spontaneous interaction, variation, and personal sound—as it is a set of forms and tunes. Across its history, jazz has continually hybridized, from New Orleans ensembles and big-band swing to bebop, cool and hard bop, modal and free jazz, fusion, and contemporary cross-genre experiments. Its influence permeates global popular and art music.

Pop is a broad, hook-driven style of popular music designed for wide appeal. It emphasizes memorable melodies, concise song structures, polished vocals, and production intended for radio, charts, and mass media. While pop continually absorbs elements from other styles, its core remains singable choruses, accessible harmonies, and rhythmic clarity. Typical forms include verse–pre-chorus–chorus, frequent use of bridges and middle-eights, and ear-catching intros and outros. Pop is not defined by a single instrumentation. It flexibly incorporates acoustic and electric instruments, drum machines, synthesizers, and increasingly digital production techniques, always in service of the song and the hook.

R&B (Rhythm and Blues) is a vocal- and groove-centered popular music tradition that blends blues tonality, jazz harmony, and gospel-inflected singing with a steady backbeat. It emphasizes expressive lead vocals, call-and-response, lush harmonies, and danceable rhythms. From its 1940s roots in African American communities to its later evolutions, R&B has continually absorbed and reshaped surrounding sounds—from jump blues and swing in the early days to soul, funk, hip hop, and electronic production in the contemporary era. Today, R&B ranges from intimate, slow-burning ballads to club-ready tracks, all tied together by a focus on feel, melody, and vocal performance.

Reggae is a popular music genre from Jamaica characterized by a laid-back, syncopated groove, prominent bass lines, and steady offbeat “skank” guitar or keyboard chords. The rhythmic core often emphasizes the third beat in a bar (the “one drop”), creating a spacious, rolling feel that foregrounds bass and drums. Typical instrumentation includes drum kit, electric bass, rhythm and lead guitars, keyboards/organ (notably the Hammond and the percussive "bubble"), and often horn sections. Tempos generally sit around 70–80 BPM (or 140–160 BPM felt in half-time), allowing vocals to breathe and messages to be clearly delivered. Lyrically, reggae ranges from love songs and everyday storytelling to incisive social commentary, resistance, and spirituality, with Rastafarian culture and language (e.g., “I and I”) playing a central role in many classic recordings. Studio production techniques—spring reverbs, tape delays, and creative mixing—became signature elements, especially through dub versions that strip down and reimagine tracks.

Soul is a genre of popular music that blends the spiritual fervor and vocal techniques of African‑American gospel with the grooves and song forms of rhythm & blues and the harmonic palette of jazz and blues. It is defined by impassioned, melismatic lead vocals; call‑and‑response with backing singers; handclaps and a strong backbeat; syncopated bass lines; and memorable horn or string riffs. Typical instrumentation includes drum kit, electric bass, electric guitar, piano or Hammond organ, horns (trumpet, saxophone, trombone), and sometimes orchestral strings. Lyrically, soul ranges from love and heartbreak to pride, social commentary, and spiritual yearning. Regionally distinct scenes—such as Detroit’s Motown, Memphis/Stax, Muscle Shoals, Chicago, New Orleans, and Philadelphia—shaped different flavors of soul, while the style’s emotional directness and rhythmic drive made it a cornerstone of later funk, disco, contemporary R&B, and hip hop.

Trap is a subgenre of hip hop that emerged from the Southern United States, defined by half-time grooves, ominous minor-key melodies, and the heavy use of 808 sub-bass. The style is characterized by rapid, syncopated hi-hat rolls, crisp rimshot/clap on the backbeat, and cinematic textures that convey tension and grit. Lyrically, it centers on street economies, survival, ambition, and introspection, with ad-libs used as percussive punctuation. Production is typically minimal but hard-hitting: layered 808s, sparse piano or bell motifs, dark pads, and occasional orchestral or choir samples. Vocals range from gravelly, staccato deliveries to melodic, Auto-Tuned flows, often using triplet cadences.

West Coast hip hop is a regional style of hip hop that arose on the U.S. West Coast, especially in Los Angeles and the San Francisco Bay Area. It is known for its heavy funk-influenced grooves, prominent synthesizer leads, deep bass, and a laid-back but confident delivery. While the early scene mixed electro and old-school rap aesthetics, the late 1980s ushered in hard-edged street narratives associated with gangsta rap. In the early 1990s, Dr. Dre and peers popularized G-funk, a sleek, bass-heavy update that sampled and reinterpreted P-Funk. Later waves—from Bay Area mobb music and hyphy to Los Angeles “jerkin’” and ratchet—continued the region’s emphasis on catchy hooks, swagger, and club- and car-ready beats. Lyrically, West Coast hip hop ranges from party anthems and cruising music to vivid depictions of street life, social realities, and personal introspection, all delivered with distinctive regional slang and cadence.

Rap is a vocal music style built on the rhythmic, rhymed, and often improvised spoken delivery of lyrics over a beat. It emphasizes flow, cadence, wordplay, and narrative, and is commonly performed over sampled or programmed drum patterns and loops. Emerging from block parties and sound-system culture in the Bronx, New York City, rap became the core vocal expression of hip hop culture alongside DJing, breakdancing, and graffiti. While it is closely linked to hip hop, rap as a technique and genre has also crossed into pop, rock, electronic, and global regional scenes. Musically, rap favors strong drum grooves (breakbeats, 808 patterns), sparse harmony, and loop-based structures that foreground the MC’s voice. Lyrically, it spans party chants and battle brags to intricate internal rhymes, social commentary, reportage, and autobiography.

Rap québécois is the French-language hip hop of Quebec, Canada, characterized by its distinct blend of local slang (joual), French, English code-switching, and influences from the province’s diverse diasporas (notably Haitian and Maghrebi communities). It places a strong emphasis on identity, language politics, and everyday urban realities, often folding in humor, sharp wordplay, and regional references. Musically, it spans sample-based boom bap and jazz-inflected beats to trap, drill, and club-ready hybrids. Crews and collectives have long driven its scene culture, while battles, cyphers, and a thriving live circuit in Montreal and Quebec City helped forge an unmistakable flow, accent, and attitude that set it apart from both U.S. and European francophone rap.

Pirate is a theatrical, folk-rooted style that centers on nautical lore, tavern singalongs, and the romanticized life of seafaring outlaws. It blends traditional sea shanties and Celtic folk instrumentation with contemporary folk-rock energy and a playful, comedic flair. Songs are typically driven by raucous group vocals, call-and-response hooks, and stomping rhythms suited to communal singing. Accordions, fiddles, concertinas, tin whistles, mandolins, bouzoukis, and bodhráns are common, while lyrics revel in adventure, rum, camaraderie, and maritime myth. The result sits between historical reenactment and modern folk entertainment, equally at home on festival stages, Renaissance fairs, and lively pubs.