Comment: 6
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Charming! (by forestgum, Jul 18th, 2007) Wat a charming melody! :) Thanks! |
Kinda tight !!! (by kitty, Jul 9th, 2007) I really that lovely sound, y'all. So smooth. |
Crytal Drop (by billyoung, Jul 9th, 2007) It's great, so smooth i like it. |
Exciting (by nautin, Jul 8th, 2007) The rhythm is so soft and lovely. I like it so much! |
Great sound (by Kristy, Jun 22nd, 2007) I downloaded it for bedtime, hihihi... |
GooD ringtone (by Jacky, Apr 1st, 2007) Just love it!!!!!
Where did you get it? |
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Hip-Hop's New World to Conquer: Your Phone
Hip-Hop's New World to Conquer: Your Phone
You just downloaded one of the hottest hip-hop ringtones from the Internet and,
guess what? It is already yesterday's buzz.
Ringtones, or ringer tones, are those tinny, no-vocals 20-second snatches of
songs you hear when a cellphone rings. They are produced by vendors who are paid
by cellphone carriers to obtain the rights to format songs for various kinds of
handsets. Ringtones can usually be downloaded from the Internet for a few
dollars or, with certain cellphone plans, free. They may be monophonic (just the
melodic line) or polyphonic (with some chords and harmony).
But they are not exactly compelling music, at least not yet. Take the ringtone
derived from Petey Pablo's "Freek-A-Leek," a song that Kelefa Sanneh, a pop
music critic for The New York Times, called "a strip-club anthem that might just
be the dirtiest song on the radio." Because the ringtone has no vocals, the best
part of the song - the fabulous list of chanted names - is gone: "Felicia,
Tenisha, Shavon, Monica, Monique, Christina, Yolanda." What's left? Something
like "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen" crossed with a dirge.
The closest cousin to the ringtone is the novelty doorbell that plays, say,
"Oranges and Lemons." But that hasn't kept ringtones from selling. In late
October Geoff Mayfield, the director of charts at Billboard magazine, which
recently started a Hot Ringtones chart, told National Public Radio that the
American ringtone business would probably rake in $300 million this year.
And what people are buying is mostly hip-hop.
The No. 1 ringtone the week of Nov. 27 was Snoop Dogg and Pharrell's "Drop It
Like It's Hot." If you listen to it (there are a number of sites where you can
browse different versions of the same tone) you might think you are hearing a
Steely Dan number from the 1970's. And you will notice that although the
ringtone has those funny sliding notes, it lacks what makes the original so
original, the clucking tongues in the background.
The No. 2 ringtone was Usher and Alicia Keys's "My Boo": pure Muzak, cheesy
organ and all, set to the deadly beat of a drum machine. Where is all the sexy
stuff? Usher's sultry, insinuating, breathy voice is gone, and no one, sorry to
say, is faking a climax into the mike. No. 3, "Lean Back" by Terror Squad,
sounds like Greek dance music with its minor melody and frilly trills.
Today's tones descend from a long line of annoying rings. The first ringtone was
Nokia's notoriously irritating monophonic one based on "Gran Vals" by the
19th-century Spanish composer Francisco Tarrega.
Why did ringtones take off? Or, rather, why are they taking off now? Because,
whether they are irritating or funny or odd, they satisfy something that iPods
and other MP3 players cannot. With an iPod, no one knows what you are listening
to. But with a ringtone, the anti-iPod, everyone within earshot hears what you
hear.
And, sure enough, phones that play ringtones and music are now chasing down the
iPod market.
Already a number of countries have found ways to make ringtones sound more
musical. Some have learned to embrace the irritation, turning it into a kind of
art. In Korea, one company has introduced a phone that can play 128-tone
polyphonic music. (That will make the music, whatever it is, sound a lot
better.) In London, some Underground stations have vending machines that allow
you to download music into your cellphone. In Paris, there is a sonic show at
the Georges Pompidou Center that includes a collection of ringtones composed
especially for cellphones. Recently in Estonia there was a ringtone concert. And
in Uzbekistan, tests are being done on the musical equivalent of pheromones for
ringtones.
In the world of ringtones, the United States lags behind Europe and Asia. If you
doubt it, check out ringtonia.com, a Web site devoted to the topic, and you will
get an idea of how the bell is going to toll when it tolls for you. |