With the creation of music recording and production programs such as Protools, Q Base, Garage Band, Fruity Loops, and Reason making and recording music has become easier than ever . This new technology has especially effected the hip hop world because of the nature of rap recording. Rap songs are much simpler to record than other forms of music because of the general lack of live instrumentation.
A predominant amount of rap songs are recorded over a pre-made instrumentals. The instrumentals are often created with the same program that the artist is recorded with, which makes it even easier to create a full song. Sometimes a multi track is used, meaning each instrument in the beat has its own separate track, allowing the sound engineer to tweak each instrument individually. While multi tracks are the preferred audio file often times artists will simply record over high quality single track audio files of the instrumental. While single track audio files give you less control over the beat you are still able to produce a good sounding song. Other than a recording program and a track, all an artist needs is a computer and a microphone to create a hit single. But can an artist really make it to the top with such a limited materials?
One doesn't have to look very hard to find an example of how easy it is to blow up. Using a make shift home studio and a beat he made on Fruity Loops Soulja Boy created the song "Crank That Soujla Boy." Distributing his music using Myspace, Youtube, and other social networking sites he quickly gained national recognition and rose to the top of the charts . With world wide success in combination with a Grammy nomination for best song, Soulja Boy has proven how technology has further simplified the recording process and made it easy for anyone to rise to stardom, but to what effect.
Even before Soujla Boy made it big there were tons of artists saturating the music industry. Although the new technology has made it easier for artists to create music, now everyone with a computer thinks they are a rapper. Rap music has become polluted with people who are making music to make a quick buck or because its the "in" thing to do. One only has to look through Myspace music page to see thousands of cooky cutter artists. This makes it harder for the real passionate artists to be heard and creates a space in which rap artists are looked at a dime a dozen. Music downloading technology has made it almost impossible to make money off your songs. Gone are the days when the best rapper in the city rose to the top by selling CD's out of the back of their trunk. While there are many talented artists making quality music technology has had a dramatic effect on the music industry.