Roughly a year ago the New York Times released an interesting feature looking at a recording style known as “The Punch-In Method.”
The video was released as part of the NYT’s coverage of hip-hop’s 50th anniversary. “Fifty years into hip-hop’s constant evolution, many rappers don’t write down their lyrics at all. Here’s how they make songs now.”
The video, “Why Rappers Stopped Writing: The Punch-In Method,” has been viewed over 410K times to date, and provides an interesting look at how recording methods have evolved.
As described by The Learning Network, “‘Why Rappers Stopped Writing: The Punch-In Method’ is a six-minute Diary of a Song video that provides an up-close, behind-the-scenes look at how rap music is made today. Using studio footage of young rappers like Doechii, Veeze and Lil Gotit, as well as interviews with hip-hop veterans including the artist Killer Mike and the producer Just Blaze, the short film looks at why more and more artists are using an improvisational studio technique known as ‘punching in’ rather than writing their lyrics down in advance.”
