The Composer's Corner

What follows is the musical transcription in notation of the vocal rhythms from Tribe Called Quest's song, "Scenario." It includes verses by many different rappers from the TCQ posse, including most prominently Q-Tip and the very famous verse by Busta Rhymes.

What follows is the music transcription of Busta Rhymes' vocal rhythms from the song, "Holla", produced by Dr. Dre. Before it is a video demonstration of the rapper's rhythms as played by a triangle, while the bass kick below plays the underlying beat of the song's 4/4 meter.

Below is the sheet music for Notorious B.I.G.'s rap verses on his song "Hypnotize." It is a musical transcription of his vocal rhythms, not the beat. Before it is a video demonstration of the rapper's rhythms as played by a triangle, while the bass kick below plays the underlying beat of the song's 4/4 meter.

Below is the sheet music for the Fugees' song, "Ready Or Not." Wyclef, Lauryn's, and Pras' verses are all notated, and the music for the panning string idea and Lauryn's chorus are notated in the last image.

Below is the musical transcription in rap sheet music of Mos Def's vocal rhythms in his song, "Mathematics."

This is the vocal rhythms of Kanye West's "Jesus Walks" notated in a musical transcription.

Below is the sheet music for the beat to the Dr. Dre produced song "How We Do", where Game and 50 Cent rap. It just repeats, so I only put two pages here.

This is the rap sheet music of Game's and 50 Cent's vocal rhythms in the raps of their song, "How We Do."

This is the complete rap sheet music of the song named "Oh!" from the Obie Trice album "Cheers", and it features Busta Rhymes on the chorus and Dr. Dre on the beat. The Obie Trice verses haven't been notated, but the background beat is constantly adding and subtracting ideas, so I've included all 9 pages here.

Below is the rap sheet music for the Nas song called "One Mic."

Below is the 1st verse of the Eminem song "Bitch Please II" transcribed in musical notation. This makes it rap sheet music. It is performed by Dr. Dre, but Eminem ghost-wrote it.

This is one part of the rap sheet music of Jean Grae's vocal rhythms in the raps of a couple of her different songs, including "Uh-Oh". She's amazing, if you don't know her, you should check her out!

This is one part of the rap sheet music of Eminem's vocal rhythms in the raps of his song, "Business."

This is the rap sheet music of Big Sean's vocal rhythms in the raps of some of his different songs.

This is one part of the rap sheet music of Time Bomb's vocal rhythms in the raps of the Dr. Dre song "LA Niggaz" from his album, "Chronic: 2001."

This is the sheet music of Rakim's vocal rhythms in the raps of his song, "I Ain't No Joke."