Flow is a popular term from hip hop culture

In recent years, the musical tastes of young people have undergone a new round of changes - a place of piercing rock ballads and fiery dance electronics took a rap. Along with the new culture, new words have entered the masses - terms used among performers and their devoted listeners. However, those music lovers who discovered rap for the first time hardly understand the meaning of the words flow, battle, diss, beef and similar slang words. Undoubtedly, descriptions of such terms are not difficult to find on specialized sites - the Russian-speaking sector of hip-hop is widely represented on the Internet. However, if most of the terms have specific definitions, then in a nutshell, explaining what a flow is is not easy.

Origin of the word "flow"

The word "flow" came to Russia from the English language - the founder of rap culture. Flow is translated as "flow", "flow" - at first glance, this concept has nothing to do with hip-hop. However, in this case there is a metaphorical transfer. Rap-performers and their listeners equate a rhythmic and multifaceted recitative to a uniform and noisy flow of water. Thus, for a hip-hop fan, flow is an important indicator of the quality of the track.

Flow as a composition score

Among the discussions of rappers and their creativity, one often encounters the term in question as a review of an album or track. What is flow in this context - a positive or negative characteristic? Based on the translation of the word from English and a beautiful metaphor, this is certainly a positive response. Flou is a recognition of all the rapper's creativity or some of his compositions as "kachovymi" or "pumping", that is, affecting listeners to the point that they involuntarily begin to shake their head in time with the track being played.

Flow as a musical term

Along with all of the above, it is worth noting that the term flow is not purely emotional - for performers of hip-hop it has very specific meaning. Flo - this is the correct speed of reading, flawless technique of writing and playing text under the "swinging" bit. It is not necessary nevertheless to think that the quality in this case depends on the speed. A quick but inconsistent reading will not disturb the viewer in the same way as slow, but clearly falling into the rhythm. Thus, flow is not only an assessment of quality, but also an artist's skill.

Flo in Russian Rap

The ability to create truly "swinging" tracks for a long time bypassed the Russian-speaking performers side. Often the compositions were read out for not very prominent bits of calm, almost emotionless voices. Probably, this state of affairs was connected with the Russian mentality - gray and bleak weekdays with their dank weather and heavy skies did not have Russian rappers to express emotions. The listeners found something of their own in a quiet and melancholic performance, but the hip-hop culture in Russia still remained isolated. With the appearance on the Russian stage of such rap-figures as Hyde, Oxxxymiron, Horus (Luperkal) and other supporters of the prevalence of reading technology and the quality of the text, in the domestic hip-hop sector appeared that fits all definitions of the word "flow". Even those who previously did not listen and did not understand such music, often appreciate these artists, paying attention to the fact that their tracks, in contrast to the songs of many of their "colleagues", really "rock".

Together with this, fans of the "old" style of performance do not recognize such changes - in their opinion, in this form the Russian-speaking rap loses its soul, becoming only technically filigree, but empty text. Rapper Ptaha, whose compositions are mostly calm and melancholy, spoke about the tracks of the above-mentioned Oxxxymiron extremely negatively, accusing him of excessive craving for pathos poetry and complex technique, which is what, as it seems to him, the work of Myron and his rappers , Ceases to be "male". The conflict between the two rappers has not been exhausted so far - it is unlikely that at the meeting two opponents will shake hands. Despite this, the new rhyme and performance style is gaining momentum and attracts new listeners, which is undoubtedly a good indicator. This only confirms that the Russian "rap" was penetrated by the same "flow", which previously could only be heard from overseas and some European performers.