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Switched on Pop. Welcome to Switched on Pop. I'm musicologist Nate Sloan. And I'm songwriter Charlie Harding.
Songwriter Charlie Harding, J. Cole, is one of the most successful rappers of his generation. Someone who's racked up hits while sustaining critical interest. He positions himself as something of an elder statesman, someone who's co-founded a record label, Dreamville Records, whose roster includes Ari Lennox, Bass, and Earthgang.
He's established, respected, and already built a legacy for himself. And Charlie, that might be a problem. What do you mean? Cole's sixth studio album, The Off Season, finds a musician struggling to stave off complacency and to keep his skills sharp.
In a short documentary about the album, Cole describes it as an attempt to push himself. It's a sentiment that's reflected in one of my favorite lines on the Timbaland-produced track, Amari. If you solo these vocals, listen close, and you can hear grumbling. So let's just break that down for a second.
Solo these vocals, as in, if you put that entire track and just listened to his vocal, you would hear grumbling. What's that about? That's someone who is never satisfied with what he's creating. And that kind of sense of, like, I gotta do better, that permeates this whole album.
Track after track finds the rapper pushing his technique to the breaking point through verbal dexterity and rhythmic complexity. So I want to dig into a few of these tracks to discover how a rapper at the top of his game tries to stay in shape. Let's do it. Album six is a difficult one.
You've already established yourself. How do you keep pushing the envelope? I'm curious. Let's start with the track whose title is a literal reference to putting in the work.
It's called Punching the Clock. That's actually an audio clip, not of J. Cole, but of the basketball player Damien Lillard. Okay.
And I love that because I think it captures the kind of competitive spirit of this album, right? Right. He also plays basketball. He also plays basketball.
Very good, Charles. And the album's literally called The Off-Season. So it's like, there's a lot of athletic references here. And so I hear it almost as a musical equivalent to, like, staying in shape.
Now, how do you do that? One way is to unleash a virtuosic rhyme scheme, which is something he does as soon as the beat drops. I've definitely never heard Habitat for Humanity and Calamity put together. I mean, yeah.
I sense you're impressed, but not, like, blown away. Well, they're a bunch of end rhymes. They're more complex end rhymes. There's a good narrative through, so I dig it.
But I'm interested in seeing where we even get some of those interior rhymes and some more across-the-bar kind of things. Wow, really coming down hard on the end rhymes here, Charlie. Kind of taking some of the wind out of myself. But I think what is remarkable about this particular track is the sheer amount of those rhymes.
I mean, it goes on and on and on. And we end up just listening to the whole track because it keeps going, right? Christianity, reprimanded me, handed me, family, handed me, branded me, insanity, understanding me, candidly, planned to be. It's like, whoa.
There's every possible iteration of that particular end rhyme. Oh, no, okay. I'm much more convinced. I mean, this is like a track that's a little less than two minutes, and I think pretty much every rhyme is some variation of that beginning quatrain.
He's flexing. He's flexing. And it's interesting because there's not even a chorus in the song. We have that little intro from Damien Lillard.
We have this, like, CVS receipt length intonation of calamity rhymes. And we have another clip from Damien Lillard. And then one minute, 53 seconds, the song is over. So to extend your metaphor, it's kind of like his continuous rhyme scheme on the same idea is like standing at the three-point line, just like hitting shot after shot after shot.
Yes, I like that. I like that. That rings a bell from the last time I played basketball in 11th grade. That definitely rings true.
And the fact that there isn't even a chorus to the song to me suggests that this isn't about, like, trying to generate billboard hits. It's not this record. This is just about, like, how can I improve my flow? How can I challenge myself?
How can I do something new? Interesting, because I do feel like the beat that he's playing against is a little bit more old school. Yeah, okay. Tell me more.
It reminds me of, like, 90s MPC sample chop kind of playback vibe. Yeah, there's also a little bit of that New York boom bap, perhaps, in there. You're looking at me like that was a ridiculous thing to say. Okay, less boom bap and more.
That's too pit-pat or something. It's a little, it's a chill boom bap. Yeah. Yeah, but I think even that might be in line with this project, because there's something about him that is projecting this kind of old school allegiance to the craft of hip-hop, I think.
Yeah, exactly. It's kind of like, I'm just going to keep playing with your metaphor. Yeah, go, go, go. It's like wearing a jersey with a 23 on it.
Wow, Charlie, that's probably the most we've ever talked about sports. That's all in full knowledge. That's probably good. All right, let's go to another track, because, you know, it's not just that Cole is pushing himself lyrically on this album.
I think he's also pushing himself musically. The music, the samples, the beats present challenges. And one of the tracks that comes to really clearly to me is on The Climb Back. Now, I like this track because, one, I think it highlights his skill as a producer.
Because I think that's something kind of not unique about J. Cole, but certainly like a part of the sound is that he's someone who writes his own raps and he produces his own beats. He flips his own samples. And this is a creative one.
It's a sample of a song that I've never heard before. For the 70s soul group, Brief Encounter, and their song, I'm So In Love With You. I love that descending count. A little chromatic.
It almost sounds like a Chalessa or something. It's magical. It's a cool moment from this obscure track. It's a slow track.
It's really slow. Well, I love it because he takes that kind of slow, classic soul song and he puts the most, like, bedeviling drum rhythm on top of it. Like, every time I hear this, I think it's just a kind of standard 404 pattern, but there's something about where he's putting the accents of the snare and the high-hats that every time I'm listening to it, I'm like, what is happening? I cannot count what's happening.
It's weird, right? It's really weird. We need a music theorist to come break this down for us because I think it is just a 4-4 groove, but there's something about that sample and the drum accents that just, like, break my brain. Someone's going to know the answer.
They're going to correct us. And I look forward to it. Yeah. In the meantime, let's just acknowledge it's a tricky beat that I think would be hard for us to rap over.
I'm not rapping over anything, but particularly, yeah. And yet Cole comes up with another verbose set of lyrics here, and I think you're going to get some of those internal rhymes that you wanted from the first show. To the left of that decimal, I need seven fingers to play the joint. Turn up the decibels, keep how I decimate the joints.
Check out my rhymes that's like the word is at section 8 of points, and you'll see how I flip, like exclamation points. Wow. Decimal, decibel, decimate, section 8. This is, like, kind of that overlapping wordplay and rhyme that I heard you craving, and now you're hopefully satisfied.
But also over an extremely potent lyric. It's like, good job you got some good rhymes, but what he's communicating is also extremely powerful. Totally. And that's, I think, a great pivot to the next song that I want to talk about, which is called Interlude, and digs into some heavier themes.
In this particular song, he's talking about the fragility of black life, and he makes some powerful references. He talks about Jesus Christ dying at 33, and then compares him to late rappers like Pimp C and Nipsey Hussle. And you get this potent feeling of loss that has this almost religious overtone. Wow.
That is a moment. The way that the music follows up from that lyric, it's almost like you're ascending into a gospel heaven kind of vibe. Yeah, I totally agree. And I don't know about you.
When I heard this, I was like, what is that sample? Like, you know, what obscure 70s record is this? What is it commenting on? And I learned that this is actually an original track by the producers Tommy Parker and T-.
Wow, they are adapted. This is a cool thing, because it sounds like something really old, but in order to do that, I guess they're just making their own track and then resampling it and playing with it so that it's giving you the feel of a sampled soul track. But no, it's actually totally new. And I think part of the reason this track interlude hits so hard is that we have these powerful lyrics, we have this kind of soul sample that's not really a sample.
And then we have this utterly modern element, which are the trap high-hats. But when you listen closely, they're actually not your typical trap hats. They're doing something a little different that might be more aligned with the depth of the song. They're doing a rhythm that you don't really hear in trap music that actually has a name and history.
It's called the shuffle groove, the 12-8 shuffle. Yeah, when I first heard this, I was stunned, because trap style drums have become the dominant sound of popular music, even beyond hip-hop. And it's so rare that I hear that kind of a sound and hear something that sounds totally singular while simultaneously taking me through a whole history of popular music at the same time. It left me with a burning question, something we need to address on this show.
What's that? Why is that shuffle groove so powerful? Why can't we stop listening to that after? It's been with us since the beginning of music history.
It shows up in every single genre. Yeah. Can we take a quick break, and when we come back, try and get to the bottom of this 12-8 shuffle? Let's do it.
I want to know why it makes us move the way it does. We'll be right back. Good. Can taste it.
We were just listening to J. Cole's interlude. We were kind of floored by its combination of modern trap drums with a classic 12-8 shuffle groove. And it raised this question that I feel like we are overdue to address.
What's that? It's why is this particular groove so infectious? Why can't we get enough of it? And it's something that listeners have been asking us for a long time.
In fact, I'm kind of embarrassed to say that a listener wrote us back in 2018 asking us to tackle this topic. We get the word email eventually. And I'm happy to say today is the day. Let's take it away.
Hi, Switched on Pop. I'm Ellis, a long-time listener from the Isle of Wight in the United Kingdom. And one thing some of my favorite songs all have in common is the feeling that the rhythm of a 12-8 time signature creates. For example, Adam Lambert's very underrated Another Lonely Night feels rather yearning.
Another day, another lonely night. Kylie W. Jepsen's now iconic Run Away With Me feels very romantic. Baby, baby, do the feeling.
I'll be up there, I can see. And Disclosure's huge American airplay hit, Latch, feels very escapist. Now I'm about to give us a six-up on that, but we'll do it. They all feel so anthemic.
But why? I think I understand that a 12-8 time signature is a compound quadruple giving the feeling of a triple meter within a duple meter. So you have a 1, 2, 3, 4 count, and within each of those number counts, you have a triple, resulting in a 1, 2, 3, 1, 2, 3, 1, 2, 3, 1, 2, 3 count. But is there anything you two can explain as to why 12-8 just gives off such a groove or why all these songs are really good to power walk to?
Okay, first of all, I've said it before, once again, our listeners are so smart. I can only assume incredibly attractive and just extremely accomplished. I mean, good people, you know, just like good, decent folk. And now we've got that out of the way, let's dig into this 12-8 groove.
I mean, Ellis, he nailed it. I mean, you could put that in a freaking textbook. That was such a crystalline explanation. Each one of these songs, Adam Lambert, Carly Rae Jefferson, Disclosure, J.
Cole's interlude, they all share something in common, and it's this groove of four pulses, 1, 2, 3, 4, each one of which is divided into a triplet. 1, 2, 3, 2, 3, 1, 2, 3, 1, 2, 3, 1, 2, 3, 2, 3, 2, 3, 4, 2, 3, 4, 2, 3, Wow, I've got you run away with me. Like, it's all... It's strutting music.
It's strutting music. Okay, so let's see if we can do this. Why? Why is this groove so powerful?
Charles, I consulted the mighty, you know, music theory textbooks of our college days. They probably don't have a lot to say, do they? They got nothing, man. This is like, this topic has not been covered, as far as I can tell.
Maybe that's because 12-8 is not super common in, like, Western classical music. It's definitely more of a popular music kind of groove. Okay, so we can't look at the classics for an answer. No, I think we have to look into our parts, Charlie.
It's... Do I have some kind of arithmia? Is that what you're telling me? About beating in groups of three?
It's... I think part of why we gravitate towards this 12-8 groove is that it's very similar to the most common meter that we encounter in popular music, which is 4-4. Like that if you turn on the radio, you have a 99% chance of hearing a 4-4 song. Four beats, one, two, three, four, each divided into groups of two.
One, and two, and three, and four, and. 12-8 has that same four beat pulse, but each of the pulses is divided into three. One, two, three, one, two, three, one, two, three, one. So it's like the pulse matches up, the four beat pulse, but what's inside of it is different.
Right, because it's a little bit of something fresh. What is it? It's like it's a propulsion or something. It's like this pushing you forward.
It's like a gear being cranked inside of your butt or something. I don't know. I don't know. We might not have the science to truly explain this.
I think you might have a complete misunderstanding anatomy, but yeah, continue. Okay, I feel like we've perhaps let Ellis somewhat down. I don't have a scientific, biological, theoretical explanation of why this groove is so powerful, but maybe what we can answer is where did this groove come from? I have no idea.
I'm very curious. So he won't go home and be back to the Isle of Wight. Not that this is easy to answer. The origin of rhythms are kind of shrouded in mystery and historic distance.
I actually found a quote from Quincy Jones, who surmised that the 12-8 shuffle could be traced back to West African musical practice, which contains a lot of polyrhythm, which is kind of a motivating, animating feature of that rhythm. Right, makes sense. And it's indisputable that it has origins in the blues. Right, yeah, yeah.
Which you can hear in a song like from one of my favorite New Orleans pianist, James Booker. Feel so bad. One, two, three, two, three, three, two, three, four, two, three. You know, I feel so bad right now.
Feel like I'm already. Yeah. Woo! Okay, do you notice that there's maybe even like a trap hat pre-perture here, where the high hat's going to be like...
Oh my god! Bring us back to the J. Cole. Whoa, I love that, Charles.
Totally, totally hearing it. Not expecting it, but I'm totally hearing it. It makes sense because the rhythm here is very slow, so there's a lot of room to fill in extra stuff. Totally.
I think, oh, okay, very good, Chuck. Yeah, there's, it gives it a kind of spaciousness. When you have... you have like these different temporal planes.
You have the slow four-pulse. One, two, three, four, and then these quick triplets within it. And then you can kind of put accents in weird places within that, like they're doing on this groove, which then bring us right up to contemporary trap beats. That's cool.
I like that. But identifying the roots of the sound in the blues, I don't think ultimately explains how it's become so popular and ubiquitous in mainstream music. No. But I have a theory, and this may be a bold claim, but I might go so far as to suggest that one person might be responsible for proliferating the 12-8 shuffle.
Stop it. That's bold. It's bold, but I am going to put all of my money on Bernard Pretty Pretty. Oh, yes.
This is my favorite drummer of all time. So you're familiar with Pretty. Perhaps some of our listeners are as well. For those who are not, this is someone who has played on over 4,000 recordings, who has been active from the 1960s to the present, and has worked with everyone from Hall & Oates to Aretha Franklin, Nina Simone, to Seely Dan.
I mean, if you've been in the vicinity of a pair of speakers over the last 50 years, you've heard Bernard Pretty Pretty. One cannot dispute this claim. Now, Pretty is an immensely talented drummer. Yes.
But I think he's particularly known for a groove that has become shorthand. It's the Pretty Shuffle. And you can hear it on like so many different songs. You can hear this iconic groove on any number of records, but let's maybe listen to Seely Dan's Home at Last.
That's got kind of a blues thing, a little reggae thing. This is a really slow version. Right. I believe we would call this particular variant the halftime Pretty Shuffle.
Ah, yes. Yeah. So if you buy my theory that Pretty Pretty is single-handedly responsible for bringing the 12-8 shuffle to the sound of mainstream popular music, we should probably hear a little bit about this groove direct from the source. Thankfully, there is one of the greatest YouTube videos of all time, which is Pretty Pretty, breaking down how he constructs this groove.
And I'm going to bring it to you by playing it on. What I love about this video is not only is Pretty Pretty an amazing drummer, he's like such a compelling personality. Such an entertainer. Even if you've never played drums in your life, you've got to watch this video from Drummer World.
We'll put a link to it in the show notes. This Pretty Shuffle, not only do we hear it on the tracks that he plays on, it also gets picked up by like every drummer on earth, pretty much. I mean, you can hear it in a song by Toto, like Rosanna. Or even Led Zeppelin on Fool in the Rain.
I mean, this is cool. So you have this thing originating probably with Africa going into the blues, Purdy popularizes his particular take on it, and then those and the rest of popular music are just like, that's the thing, and here we are today. Right. And I mean, I'm not saying that every time we hear a 12-8 groove, it's the Pretty Shuffle, even the Pretty Halftime Shuffle.
But it's like he took that groove and I think just propelled it into the mainstream consciousness so that when you listen to Yeezus and you turn on Black Skinhead, there's that 12-8 groove once again. And even Billie Eilish on Bear Your Friends, once again, the 12-8 shuffle. And finally, that brings us back to J. Cole and Interlude, where now this 12-8 groove has kind of come full circle and it's merged with the sound of modern trap drums.
So Charlie Ellis from J. Cole to all these artists, like, let's celebrate this 12-8 groove. And let's also celebrate the person who might be its creator, Bernard Pretty Pretty, who is still laying down this groove. In 2020, he joined forces with the group Wolfpack to cover the Beatles' iconic song something.
And what groove did they use? They tore it all apart and used the Pretty Shuffle, the 12-8, Bernard Pretty Pretty. We'll see you next time. We'll see you next time.
We'll see you next time. Go to the show notes to read more about J. Cole and the Pretty Shuffle. And reach out to us on the old Twitter, Instagram, at Switch.pop.
Tell us what are your favorite songs off the off-season and your favorite songs to feature this iconic Shuffle groove. We'll be back next week on Tuesday, and until then, thanks for listening. Thanks for listening.