Immortal Technique – “Dance with the Devil” Listening Description

Trevor Blanchard

Professor Armstrong

Rap & Society

The song “Dance with the Devil” by Immortal Technique contains a wide variety of musical elements that change throughout the progression of the song. The song begins with a piano that sounds pretty sorrowful. During this introduction to the song, there are also very faint drums and guitar chords that can be heard as well, but the piano is by far the most dominant and loudest layer. The piano and drums play for approximately 20 seconds before any more sounds are introduced. During this 20 seconds, the piano and drums loop twice meaning that each loop is roughly 10 seconds. Within this 10 second span, the spacing of the drum hits is fairly consistent. The hits are also relatively far apart and can be considered disjunct. The piano notes start off at a moderate pace and they are nearly an equal distance from one another. After the first few seconds, there is a brief pause or break in the piano notes. After the pause, the notes are played similar to the very beginning pace for another couple seconds. It is at about 5 seconds through the loop, or the midway point, that the notes begin to play faster, more closely together, and conjunctly. These notes are played in a rather quick succession for roughly 3 seconds before the notes slow down and become blended with the beginning of the next identical loop. There is no break in the music from one loop to another and the transition is very smooth. It is important to note that this first 20 seconds is a sample of the theme from “Love Story” by Henry Mancini and that the sample and original song both sound nearly identical during this entire span. While nothing is known about the meaning of the song at this point, the sampling choice was perfect as it sets the mood for the rest of the song. The piano utilized in the sample sounds graceful, but more significantly, it also captures the tragedy of both the love story in the movie “Love Story”, and the love story that is going to be told in “Dance with the Devil”. The love story in “Dance with the Devil” is tragic as the horrific actions and atrocities that are associated with the glorification, or love, of the gangster lifestyle are shown in powerful extremes.

At the 20 second mark, the song begins to change drastically. Both vocals and am extremely powerful, attention grabbing beat are introduced. Rapper Immortal Technique’s vocals are deep in pitch, dark, serious and embody the gritty nature of the song. The beat and vocals stand as nearly equals as the newest, most dominant layers in the song. The beat is played at a slightly faster pace than the piano and it remains at nearly a constant speed throughout the entire song. While there is the introduction of the vocals and beat, the piano and drums continue to follow the same 10 second loop as before. They are unchanged by the inclusion of other instruments, it is rather that the new instruments just add new levels of layering and complexity to the song.

It is about 85 seconds into the song before any new sounds are introduced. The first sound is difficult to describe, but the sound interjection is similar to the sound of shuffling a deck of cards. This lasts for only a few seconds before the songs second sample is featured. The sample uses the moans from the Lyn Collins song “Think (About It)”. In the context of “Dance with the Devil”, the moans sounds like a painful and sorrowful cry, but given the context of “Think (About It)”, the moans compliment the female empowerment portrayed in “Think (About It). While the two songs utilize the same sound in a very different way, they both use it effectively. Its use in “Dance with the Devil” could almost be used as the screams of the women who is sexually assaulted later on in the song.

At the two minute and thirty second mark, the piano and drums of the “Love Story” sample temporarily cease, and a string section takes their place. The string section uses higher pitch instruments such as the violin or viola. After about 30 seconds, the piano and drums are reintroduced and the string section subsides. Alongside with the reintroduction of the first sample, the second sample and card shuffling noises are also used again. Once again, the second sample is only used briefly, whereas the piano and drums of the first sample persist for much longer.

Around three minutes and thirty seconds in to the song there is a rare pause in the vocals, as the song transitions into a detailed story about the very specific events that occurred on the aforementioned night of the sexual assault. During the transition, the string section once again takes the place of the first sample loop. This time, the string section lasts for about 40 seconds before the piano comes in at the right time to sync up with the description of the horrible violent actions that were taking place in Immortal Technique’s story.

A little before the five minute mark, the third and final sample of the song is used. “Dance with the Devil” uses the vocals “I’m falling and I can’t turn back” of the song “Survival of the Fittest” by Mobb Deep. This sample is very fitting as both songs capture the inescapable repercussions of deviant gangster behavior. This sample also builds up to the surprising twist that the main character of Immortal Technique’s story, Billy Jacobs, unknowingly physically and sexually assaults his own mother.

The alternation of the first sample and the string section continues one last time at around five minutes and twenty seconds when Billy Jacobs fully realizes what is happening. This transition captures the surprise and disbelief that Billy Jacobs is experiencing.

The song concludes with 15 seconds of the beat, piano, and drums playing the same as before, but slowly fading out and becoming quieter until the point of silence and the songs conclusion.

The song “Dance with the Devil” is played in a common duple meter, as it has four beats per measure. The song is also played in consonant minor as there is consonance, or unity, amongst the sounds.

There are some elements of syncopation present between the vocals and the drums as there are accented notes that occur in between the main rhythms. None of the layers in the song serve a harmonic function, as the layers do not strive to compliment the melody.

According to Audiokeychain, the tempo of “Dance with the Devil” is 89 beats per minute.

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