“The Next Movement” is a hip hop song that was released by The Roots in 1999.  The song was featured on their album “Things Fall Apart”. The song uses a variety of layers and instruments that include the rappers vocals, background vocals, drums, a clap, bass, and disk scratching. The song does not have a main melody line, instead the rapper’s vocals are more the main focus point of the song. The background  vocals fill space and utilize the accompaniment function. The disk scratching, drums, and clap assist with the rhythmic function as they help move the song forward. The song does not feature a call and response. The speed of the layers in the song is relatively slow and constant.

The song possesses a common duple meter. The motives that are repeated often include the lyrics, “We got the hot-hot music”, “The hot music”, and “it’s the next movement”. A disc scratching sequence is also often used multiple times throughout the song. I think the repetition helps illustrate the points the rap group is trying to convey with their music. The song has no swing elements and is played using straight quarter beats. The tempo is around 95 beats per minute. I believe there is syncopation created between the disk scratching and the main pulse of the song. Outside of the disk scratching. I could not find any other instances of syncopation. There is relatively simple rhythms in the bass line, drums, clap, and background vocal sections.

The harmonic character is played in consonant major because all of the sounds are unified. The rapper is the loudest part of the song, with the bass line following. The quietest part of the song is the background vocals. While the background vocals are not very loud, they add traces of a melody. The rapper speaks clearly throughout the song with minimal slurring. The rest of the instruments are played using short punchy notes.

While the song does not have a typical melodic line, the rapping is the closest equivalent.  Most of the rapping is done in spoken word outside of a few small interval changes. Consequently, the melodic range of the rapping is very small. The song begins with an introduction that leads into the chorus. The songs then alternates between verses and choruses. In total there are two verses and three choruses. The verses sound similar in terms of instrumentation but contain unique lyrics. The choruses appear to be the exact same.