One of the great talismans of hip-hop is going the way of the buffalo. Will the disappearance of the lyricist’s notebook affect rap music?

^ tech convenience has BEEN affected music

recording back then on them reel to reels, you had to have perfect execution, no punch-ins. you might even get sheet music if you were working with professionals. you had to be able to SING, on key. On beat. Song had to be done BEFORE you got in the studio, not WHILE. even IF you could get studio time. that Mead composition notebook was your portable study hall. the string and glue kept you from losing pages and you could waste like 5 pages until you got it right and wrote it in perfect form to perform. yeah cats had micro-cassette recorders, but that was on some so you can put it into the NOTEBOOK later.

Now with recording software you don’t need to be perfect. you can record and adjust as you go along. just hit a couple of notes on the scale and it can be enhanced. Some rappers & singers (and if you listen you can hear) do nothing but punch-in SONGS. you can use the memo function on your phone as the notebook, write in text slang, and go record it on your computer.

So of course it affected the music, you don’t have to work as hard to strive for perfection…you can get to it later, or just start another. The convenience of having access at your fingertips.

best you believe though, A LOT of these rapper dudes have their Mead composition notebooks stashed away. That’s their gold.