Uploaded March 2019 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago

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The Scotch Snap is everywhere in modern hip hop - a metrically accented sixteenth note followed by a dotted eighth note. Why is it everywhere? And where did it come from?

The answer lies in how American speak english.

A Study of Rhythm in London: Is Syllable-timing a Feature of Multicultural London English?
https://repository.upenn.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1205&context=pwpl

Philip Tagg’s 1 hour documentary on the Scotch Snap!
tagg.org/Clips/HTML5/ScotchSnapAll_VP8.webm

Another fantastic lecture by Philip Tagg if you want to get into this stuff
vimeo.com/278543832

Music and the Brain: The Music of Language and the Language of Music
youtu.be/2oMvtw4aeEY

Music-Language Correlations and the “Scotch Snap”
davidtemperley.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/temperley-temperley-mp.pdf

David Bruce Composer: How the way you TALK affects the music you write
youtube.com/watch?v=HeHWJ8-_2Pk

PBS Soundfield - How Trap Music Took Over
youtube.com/watch?v=zKicD86F7KA

Les "SCOTCH SNAPS" de Lil Wayne à Purcell [ANALYSE DE MONA LISA]
youtube.com/watch?v=AYv2PCAocfw

The Scotch Snap from Strathspey to Rap - Wayne Marshall/wayneandwax
youtube.com/watch?v=AeRa0oR6iqQ

The Origins of Strathspey
youtube.com/watch?v=LP188D6Phlo

Rhythm in the speech and music of jazz and riddim musicians
https://repository.wellesley.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1118&context=scholarship

Perception and acquisition of linguistic rhythm by infants
http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.362.2572&rep=rep1&type=pdf

A Comparison of Rhythm in English Dialects and Music
pdfs.semanticscholar.org/ab5a/3735a4daab3fb9f20374f40e3502ebf4f541.pdf

African Banjo Playing!
youtube.com/watch?v=lzt0v9roU6g

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EXAMPLES OF SCOTCH SNAP IN HIP HOP/POP (used in this video, there are way, way more)
Soulja Boy - Pretty Boy Swag
Meek Mill - I B On Dat Feat. Nicki Minaj, French Montana & Fabolous
Beyoncé - Drunk in Love
Ariana Grande - 7 Rings
Ariana Grande - thank u, next
Childish Gambino - Worldstar
Bazzi - Mine
Lizzo - Juice
Wifisfuneral - It Don’t Matter
Cardi B, Bad Bunny, J Balvin - I Like It
Zedd, Marren Moris, Grey - The Middle

ALSO FEATURED
J Balvin, William William - Mi Gente
Vybz Kartel - Come Home
Kery James - Mouhammad Alix

SCOTCH SNAP EXAMPLES in Scottish Music
Siobhan Miller youtube.com/watch?v=yLrIG51x3Jg
Douglas Lawrence youtube.com/watch?v=dIrZ64-3U8o
Andrea Beaton youtube.com/watch?v=BYQMncWCbj0

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