Inner State (of Mind)

Dynamics

Rhythm / Tempo / Metre

• Steady 4/4 metre:

• Moderate tempo (♩=90):

• Heavy use of syncopation (Present in the "Summertime" guitar riff and the rap delivery.)

• Dotted rhythms and triplets used in sax solo

• Hip-hop "Boom-Bap" drum pattern: Strong emphasis on the (backbeat).

Texture

• Primarily melody-dominated homophony

• Layered texture built from samples(Drum loops, bass riffs, and synth pads stacked together.)

• Occasional polyphonic moments in the Coda where sax and vocals improvise at the same time.

• Stop-time used (Bar 51) - to mark the start of the solo.

Structure

• Modified Verse-Chorus structure:
  • Intro (Bars 1–10): 
  • Verse 1 (Bars 11–26): 
  • Chorus 1 (Bars 27–42): 
  • Verse 2 (Bars 43–58):
  • Instrumental Sax Solo (Bars 75–90): 
  • Bridge (Bars 91–106):
  • Coda (Bar 123–end):

Melody

• Fragmentary vocal motifs: Specifically the "Inner State" hook which uses a falling minor third.

• Blue notes used constantly(Flattened 3rds, 5ths, and 7ths in the sax and sung parts.)

• Syllabic rap delivery (The verses focus on rhythm and rhyme rather than pitch.)

• Vocal melody is highly syncopated and follows a "speech-like" rhythm.

• Chorus hook is repetitive and conjunct

• Saxophone
  • Wide Disjunct Leaps
  • Rapid scalic runs and arpeggio figures 

• Vocals
  • Melisma used on key words
  • Scat Singing (Bar 112) - Vocalist improvises nonsense syllables to mimic the saxophone
  • highly syncopated and follows a "speech-like" rhythm.
    
    

Instrumentation(sonority)

• Hip-hop/Jazz Fusion line-up: 
  • Rap Vocals(Blak Twang and MC Mello)
  • Female Jazz Vocals (Eska Mtungwezi)
  • Tenor Sax
  • Turntables
  • Whistle
  • Flute
  • Acapella voices
  • Distorted Guitar Sample
  • Turntable Scratches
  • Programmed drum-beat (hip-hop)

• Fairlight CMI used to sample the iconic "Summertime" guitar riff (George Gershwin).

• Saxophone techniques:
  • Altissimo register (e.g., Bar 10).
  • Bending and Glissandi - Used for expressive "vocal" quality.
  • Growling - a "dirty" tone.

Tonality

• Dorion C minor

• No modulation

Harmony

• Static "vamping" harmony: Long sections stay on a two-chord loop to allow for improvisation.

• Parallel chord movement used in the bridge (shifting between Bb, Ab, and Gm).

• No traditional V-I cadences: Moves from IV (Fm7) back to i (Cm7) in a Plagal-style loop.

• Substitution chords used (Eg., F7 instead of the expected Fm (Major IV in a minor key).)

• Extensive use of 7th and 9th chords - to provide a "jazzy" harmonic color.