Multi-Timescale Recurrent Structures in Rhyming Focused on the Vowels of Rap Lyrics
摘要
This study evaluated multi-timescale recurrent structures by analyzing rap lyrics containing recurrent structures (e.g., rhyme) at multiple temporal units. The multi-timescale recurrent structure is a common feature of a rapper’s rhyming, as rhymes can appear on a single local timescale, such as every four beats, but also multiple global timescales, such as every eight or sixteen beats. Multi-timescale rhyming is important for evaluating rap performance. However, multi-timescale recurrence, which is often observed in rap music, has not yet been investigated. Thus, the present study is the first to evaluate multi-timescale recurrence using data extracted from rap lyrics. To do so, we assessed the similarity of repeated and rhyming structures between successive temporal windows at specific timescale (i.e., 4–, 8–, and 16–measure) by applying joint recurrence plot. As a result, the similarity changed depending on the timescale, that seems to reflect a certain lyrical structure. We found that the current lyrics had recurrent structures specifically with 16– and 4–measure units. These findings suggest that the proposed method can capture the optimal and data-specific timescale.