Beginning in the late 2000s, the widespread use of Auto-Tune has revolutionized the popular music industry. As technology has improved, an influx of opportunity has emerged to help artists create the posthuman condition that exists in many of today’s R&B songs, through the use of Auto-Tune and synthesizers. Posthumanism occurs when the human voice transforms during an interaction with technology. Many believe that this transition interferes with modern rap music as Auto-Tune can serve as a means of diverting the listener’s attention from a lack of lyrical and performance ability. Also, most modern rap songs appear to be centered around the pursuit of acquiring wealth, disrespecting females, and the use of drugs and alcohol. As a result, Auto-Tune often carries a negative reputation, and is generally associated with African-American rappers who lack legitimate musical talent. In reality, artists have begun to use Auto-Tune as a new medium of expression, which ultimately helps them to voice their thoughts and messages in an improved fashion. According to Alexander Weheliye, a professor of African American Studies at Northwestern University, Auto-Tune can help to intensify an artist’s expression in “the representations of soul and subjectivity they [Auto-Tune and synthesizers] harbor,” (Weheliye 517.) Combining emotional expression with technology, Weheliye firmly believes the topic of posthumanism needs to be viewed through a lens of race (Weheliye 516). The song “Modern Slavery” by Travis Scott and Quavo, and the works of Future serve as prime examples of using Auto-Tune as a tool for artistic expression in a way that challenges the negative public perception of this genre. Moreover, there are various uses for Auto-Tune as demonstrated in the differences between the joking nature of the song “I’m On a Boat” by The Lonely Island ft. T-Pain that parodies many clichés in rap songs (excessive wealth and drinking) and a deeper application in “Modern Slavery,” by Travis Scott and Quavo, which references historical racial injustices (Genius). In this essay, I will be examining how Auto-Tune, an emerging technology, intersects with race in twenty-first century rap music in its ability to both mask and reveal emotion.
Since the early 2000s, Auto-Tune has proven to be incredibly successful in its ability to allow new forms of personal expression for primarily African-American rap artists. The presence of speech synthesizing devices in rap, according to Weheliye, “imagines interpersonal relations and informational technologies as the mutually constitutive rather than antithetical foils,” and, “gives meditation to performance as opposed to just supporting it.” (Weheliye 516, 515). The artist Future is known for using Auto-Tune in nearly all of his music, exhibiting his understanding of the mutually constitutive relationship between Auto-Tune and message. Future has developed his own style with Auto-Tune, and many claim he has reinvented blues for the 21st century, by using Auto-Tune to repurpose music to express his feelings (Pitchfork). This is proof that synthesizers do not represent a lack of vocal skills that may strip humanistic elements – the slightly off-pitch and expressive elements from natural singing – in favor of flawlessness. According to Future’s late sound engineer, Seth Firkins, Auto-Tune was always used from the start of any Future recording session because, “that’s how we get the emotion out of him,” (Pitchfork). “My music – that’s pain,” says Future, and “I come from pain, so you gonna hear it in my music,” (Pitchfork). Future uses rap to talk about his childhood and growing up surrounded by the drug trade. Rodney Carmichael, NPR’s hip-hop writer, adds, “Between its bitter lines, Future reveals a heart victimized by the same emotional cesspool he’s drowning in, even as he gurgles his last Auto-Tuned breath,” (NPR). In other words, there is a much deeper meaning to Future’s disconnected lyrics, which are often expressed through issues of sex, hard drugs and a sense of general emptiness in his life. On the track “All Right,” Future raps, “I got money, fame, I got mini-mes/I can feel the pain of my enemies/ I been downin’ Percocets with Hennessy/ I can hear the hood sayin’ they proud of me,” (Pitchfork and Genius). Future clearly expresses a feeling of pain for those he has defeated on his rise to the top. Similar examples of emotion in Future’s work include: “WRLD on Drugs,” “First Off,” “Mask Off,” and “Stick Talk,” among others. Nonetheless, Future uses Auto-Tune as a means of emotional expression to an extent he would not be able to match otherwise.
Another example of using Auto-Tune to display emotion, while keeping racial issues at the center, is the song “Modern Slavery,” by Travis Scott and Quavo. The song begins with a sample from Otis Redding’s 1966 track, “Cigarettes and Coffee,” which has been featured previously in tracks by Kanye West and JAY-Z. Buddah Bless, the producer of the “Modern Slavery,” said, “it [the Otis track] was so epic, it gets you the head bob into the record like 15 seconds in [to the song]”(Genius). The rest of “Modern Slavery” features Travis and Quavo drawing parallels between the history of slavery in America and the rappers’ metaphorical enslavement to luxurious items, including expensive cars, jewelry, and drugs (Songfacts). What catches the listener’s attention is the heavily synthesized chorus that appears in the fifth line of the song when Travis raps, “All these damn chains, modern slavery (Ice) But this ain’t 1800 so they pay me (Cash)” with Quavo mumbling in the background. The use of Auto-Tune in this track allows the rappers to compare powerful historical racial events to their lives. They even reference the Middle Passage in saying, “never been food for sharks (nope) wrist like fins on dolphins (splash), (Genius). Here, they are referencing the slaves aboard ships in the Middle Passage that were thought to be too sick to recover and subsequently thrown overboard. Travis also makes a comparison of his wrists being fitted with enough expensive jewelry to be comparable to the silver of a dolphin’s fin. Using Auto-Tune helps the two rappers develop a smooth flow for the song that draws a large listening base that is able to understand the rappers’ racial comparisons. Weheliye even writes that “black cultural practices do not have the illusion of disembodiment, they stage the body of information and technology as opposed the the lack thereof.” (Weheliye 516). Auto-Tune and synthesizers clearly demonstrate a true command of lyrical and performing ability, which serves as proof that using Auto-Tune is a choice made by the artist, as opposed to a negative use from a lack of musical ability.
For most popular rap songs, there is a disconnection where the American public has become used to partially ignoring the significance of lyrics as a result of the Auto-Tune age in an attempt to achieve social acceptance. This is a result of racial inequalities; however, some song lyrics are simply too powerful to go unheard. Reginia Bradley, a researcher of African American Life and Culture at Kennesaw State University, also believes that there is a “coolness” factor associated with black music (Bradley 57-58). She writes that this societal reputation “leans heavily upon stereotypical and often uncontested expectations of black masculinity,” (Bradley 57). In “Modern Slavery,” and other popular rap tracks, the artists are appealing to multiple crowds, both of which are attracted to Auto-Tune. One crowd is a smaller listening base that will take the time to dissect lyrical meaning of song. The other, however, is the, “young, white, middle-class male majority,” which has grown to ignore the meaning of some rap lyrics (Bradley 9). Bradley mentions that American youth are now fascinated by the “coolness, antiheroic, antiauthoritarian stances of bona-fide genius black musicians,” (Bradley 68). In these instances, Auto-Tune generally serves as a way to ensure flow for the song. But in “Modern Slavery,” Travis and Quavo are able to use rap as a medium of citing history and making racial comparisons to demonstrate their feelings in a way that both allows them to be the most expressive and to access a new audience. As an avid listener of primarily African-American rap artists, I do fall in the second category and don’t necessarily listen to this music for the meaning. By constantly referencing the 1800s and slavery; however, the expertly crafted song, “Modern Slavery,” forced me to confront the issue of racial injustices throughout history. The Auto-Tune here provides a circuit to the posthuman conditoin by forcing listeners, regardless of race, to at least consider racial issues (Weheliye 517). Moreover, Bradly writes that the coolness and catchy element that results from using Otis samplings in popular rap was originally meant to serve as a resistance to white privilege and oppression and is wrongly imitated by nonblack fans (Bradley 68). Travis and Quavo certainly must have known that they have an enormous white male fanbase that would also be nodding their heads to the Otis sample in a quest for social acceptance. Overall, “Modern Slavery” is unique in the rappers’ ability to manipulate Auto-Tune to intensify the political aspect of race, which is different from the normal use of synthesizing in the rap industry to appeal to a broader fan base.
Auto-Tune clearly has a wide variety of uses that led the technology to be used in polar opposite directions. Most of the general public believes that technology is used to cover up an artist’s lack of ability. In reality, Auto-Tune opens a new door for many artists in its ability to serve as a tool in expressing emotion in a way that wasn’t previously possible. Regardless, the topic of race is vital to this discussion. Due to the biases and racism that exists in our society – subconscious or not – Auto-Tune has developed a negative reputation. In the examples of Auto-Tune in the tracks of Future and “Modern Slavery” by Travis Scott and Quavo, synthesizers have the ability to express unique emotions while challenging our notions of race. Additional uses of Auto-Tune can be seen in “Heartless” by Kanye West, which features seemingly simple lyrics that feature Auto-Tune as a way of appealing to one crowd in the flow of the song. However, Auto-Tune also reveals a deeper meaning of the track, since Kanye intentionally uses this to make his voice difficult to understand as an expression of his confused feelings. Auto-Tune also reveals a societal problem since a group of white people may only consider racial issues through listening in unintentional instances in rap music. Nonetheless, given its ability of emotional expression and propulsion of racial conversation, Auto-Tune represents more for the rap industry than merely a cover-up for untalented African-American artists.
In the future, I hope to consider how race intersects in the work of Lil Wayne and Kendrick Lamar. Both rappers have a history of using voice synthesizers, and feel very ambivalently about race as shown in this first video of Lil Wayne and the second of Kendrick. Also, I would like to examine the role of Auto-Tune and race in the work of Migos, who have a societal reputation for sacrificing lyrical meaning in pursuit of ensuring flow for their songs. However, Quavo, one of the artists on “Modern Slavery” and one of the three members of Migos said the Migos album, Culture II,still represents “all the races,” (Newsweek).
Work Cited
Weheliye, Alexander, “Desiring Machines in Black Popular Music.” The Sound Studies Reader, edited by Jonathan Sterne, Routlidge, 2012, pp. 511-519.
The Lonely Island – I’m On a Boat (Explicit Version) ft. T-Pain. Youtube, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=avaSdC0QOUM.
Scott, Travis and Quavo. Travis Scott & Quavo – Modern Slavery [Huncho Jack, Jack Huncho]. Youtube, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0BlOuESUp5o.
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(Ft. T-Pain) – I’m On a Boat.” Genius, 3 Feb. 2009,
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