Is Waka Flocka’s “Hard in the Paint” the Most Ad-Libbed Track in Rap History?

Sweet baby jesus knows I don't sit back in the crib with a cigar and scotch and listen "Hard in the Paint", but Waka Flocka's apocalypse-level banger definitely has a spot in my workout playlist. Yesterday, while working on my delts (they're pretty sweet, thanks for asking), the music stylings of one Mr. Flocka came on and whether it was exhaustion, boredom or a combination of both, all I could think was: "Holy shit this song has a lot of ad-libs."

Of course my next thought was "I wonder how many ad-libs 'Hard in the Paint' actually has?" The answer, as I quickly learned, is "way too many to possible even fucking count." Seriously. The sheer volume of ad-libs in "Hard in the Paint" is absolutely incredible. If we were to extrapolate from the first minute from the song, we'd be looking at a more than 1 ad-lib lyric per second rate. More than 1 per second! He's spitting approximately five ad-libs for every one word of actual lyrics!



For example, here's a ten second sample, starting at the 0:28 mark, when the track actually starts, and ending at the 0:42 mark, when I start to suffer a brain aneurysm from actually listening closely to Waka.

Actual Lyrics:
"I go hard in the motherfuckin paint nigga
Leave you stankin nigga
What the fuck you thinkin nigga
I won't die for this shit or what the fuck I say
Front yard broad day with da SK"

Ad-Libs (0:28 - 0:48)
"Flocka! Flocka! Flocka! Yeah!
Yeah! Yuh! Yeah! Yuh! Yeah! Yuh!
Bow! Bow! Bow! Bow!
Bow! What? What? Brick Squad!
Pa-pa-pa-pa-pa-pow!
Gucci! Gucci! Flocka! Flocka!
What? Juice! What? Frenchie! What? Peso! What?"*

On the surface "Hard in the Paint" sounds like one of the more basic songs you'll ever hear, but when you factor in the ad-libs, the session file (the file that contains all of the track's individual parts: snare, bass, lyrics, ad-libs, etc.) has to be massive.

The actual lyrics he could have easily done in one take, but it must have taken hours to lay down all those ad-libs. And mixing that shit? Holy fuck, that must have taken fucking forever. The engineer would have to match each individual ad-lib up with the timing of the track perfectly, and often Waka's throwing down ad-libs on top of other ad-libs (ex. "Gucci! (What?)".

I've got to do some more research before I can say this with authority, but "Hard in the Paint" has to be the front-runner for "Most Ad-Libs in a Song" in music history. Frankly, I don't know what other song would even come close to touching it. If only Guinness have out records for shit like this Waka would...um....have a Guinness World Record.

To quote the almighty Ron Burgundy, "I'm not even angry, I'm impressed."

* My best guess, if you've got a better idea of what he's actually yelling, more power to you.

See Also: Waka Flocka & Drake Release Ass Clapless “Round Of Applause” Video