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Dear Robert,
This would be my go-to lo-tech approach, as Jonas has already suggested a hi-tech one.
If you are ready to use licensed material (probably depending on budget), then every hip hop artist has in their catalog some official releases containing acappella and instrumental versions of select tracks, often as b-sides
of singles. There would be some unofficial compilations running around and there might be some official ones as well. The one example I'm aware of is a massive funk / soul / disco compilation of acappellas that were originally released on Salsoul records:
In general, it should be relatively straightforward to use that site
www.discogs.com and search for acappellas (also spelled, a cappellas) within the artist pages of familiar hip hop artists - there will always be something available and you can quickly map the territory of artists with sizeable catalogs.
Best,
Adam.
On Fri, Mar 7, 2025, at 4:47 AM, Robert J Zatorre, Dr wrote:
Dear colleagues
We are looking for audio recordings of rap or hip-hop music that contain only the vocalizations, without any instrumental background. Does anybody know of such a database?
Alternatively, any databases of a capella singing in general would also be useful, if you can recommend any.
Thank you for your help and best wishes
Robert
Robert Zatorre, PhD
Professor and Canada Research Chair
Montreal Neurological Institute
McGill University
3801 University
Montreal QC H3A2B4
Canada
