Music and the fictive dream blog post (GTA San Andreas)

 

West Coast Rap/HipHop Music and the fictive dream presented by GTA San Andreas

Song of choice: Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas Theme, composed by Michael Hunter, Released in October 26th of 2004, California. 

    The Grand Theft Auto video game franchise created by Rockstar Games released their fifth installment being San Andreas, created by Leslie Benzie's and Dan Houser their idea for the game was supposed to create a 90's west coast gangster culture setting even replicating famous west coast rappers of that time such as Eazy-E and Notorious B.I.G. and so on in the games character's. The musical element in the west coast culture they are trying to portray became the biggest symbol of the theme and arguably the most famous part of the game. West coast hip hop or rap is characterized by using more electronic elements which is theorized to be due to the west coast hip hop era being more oriented around DJing opposed to rapping, as well as being more fast paced than other styles of rap. This genre is also frequent with g funk which is a mixture between hip-hop and funk music, in laymen's terms West Coast Hip Hop is supposed to be more laid back and lazy while in contrast to east coast's aggressive sounds.  

    This song is played each time the game starts, essentially setting the west coast experience for the player each time it is started as well as at the very end of the game as to which rap is added over the song itself. So the purpose of the work is to give the gangster playing the ultimate experience and immersion while playing, but what makes this specific piece have the west coast sound? The electronic aspects in this song are very audible and quite easy to catch due to the west coast genre having a very slow drawn out melody. 

    It sounds like long drawn out electronic whines that are fluctuating range to create almost a similar sound to wiping a mirror or windshield with glass cleaner as you stroke up and down different parts of the glass, creating higher pitch whines as you wipe upwards and lower when wiping downwards but instead of just moving vertically the music moves like a snaky streak across this audible windshield. The melody is perfect for the gangster sound and keeps the range within a certain boundary so it's pitch does not get too high or too low, and drawing out the melodic sounds produced to finish off the west coast theme. This really hits the nail on the coffin really representing g funk perfectly that this west coast genre really likes to over use and for good reason. 

    We can also hear that the beat is put at top priority above the other sounds even featuring a classic hip hop clapping sound every time it hits which is a very neat touch, as well as listening to other west coast rap I can say the beat being favored above other musical elements is very common and verbally mentioned actually quite a bit as well. In fact the most basic rap or hip-hop is actually created just using the vocals and the instrumental track otherwise known as, the beat! 

    I believe the deeper issue the game and music are trying to present is an era of African American culture, corruption as well as violence accompanied with racism. All of these elements are shown frequently throughout the game as it replicates life legitimate rappers even one's replicated in the game from this era recall, specifically the frequent acts of racism. Famous names like N.W.A spoke about these societal issues in the time period the game was based on with the release of their song "Fuck The Police" which took the world by storm, forcing more to look in the direction of corrupt cops and in the end fight for black rights and to stop acts of police brutality against minorities. 

    The game really displays all areas of urban culture even songs that feature members of N.W.A which really is a historical bookmark characterized by the long living musical art of west coast hiphop/rap. There is so much history behind this game and it's meaning, if you would like to learn first hand exactly what this time period was like I would really recommend watching the film Straight Outta Compton. The music featured as well as the story really depicts what life was like in the city of Compton California where the issue of police brutality was at large as well as the west coast rap scene. 

    In conclusion the song in my opinion takes the west coast theme and adopts it's elements perfectly, other than the notorious whine created in the song their is also many little bells and things jingling which almost made me think of the jingling of loose pants or city noises which also really added to the experience. I actually played the game a little to see exactly what noises I could really feel while being immersed, and the background noises among others was something I could really identify and enjoy a lot. The bells also come in different pitches each time they ring, another interesting thing noticed was the use of layering sounds slowly but starting out with each sound almost having their own place and time, rather than working together from the beginning, which I found to be really neat since they are not necessarily adding sounds but just slowly making them more chaotic with layering to build energy in the music while still being able to keep that slow west coast feeling.  

If you would like to see another example of west coast rap:

Snoop Dogg's Gin And Juice, January 18th 1994.

N.W.A's Fuck The Police, August 9th of 1988

 Bibliography: 

GTA (grand theft auto): San Andreas: A modern tale that described an era. Hypercritic. (2023, January 27). https://hypercritic.org/collection/gta-grand-theft-auto-san-andreas-a-modern-tale-that-described-an-era/#:~:text=The%20Rockstar%20Games%20used%20for,culture%2C%20corruption%2C%20and%20violence.

Rap Music: Structure, Techniques & Tips - study.com. (n.d.). https://study.com/academy/lesson/rap-music-structure-techniques-tips.html

Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas / WMG. TV Tropes. (n.d.). https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/WMG/GrandTheftAutoSanAndreas#:~:text=The%20main%20characters%20in%20San,Smoke%20is%20the%20Notorious%20B.I.G.

Gregory, R. (n.d.). Breakdown of east and West Coast Rap. Sword & Shield. https://uhsswordandshield.com/27060/arts-and-entertainment/breakdown-of-east-and-west-coast-rap/#:~:text=West%20coast%20is%20characterized%20by,coast%20artists%20adopted%20this%20genre.