"Editorial abstract illustration evoking the emotional arc of a song titled "What Is Hip" by Tower of Power. Noticeable climb from quiet to loud. layered composition, overlapping color planes. Mood: energetic, uplifting. Visual style: 1970s editorial print aesthetic, sun-faded color. Painterly, grainy film texture, muted palette with strategic accent colors. The composition should read left-to-right like a timeline — calm on one side, intensifying toward the other. Strictly no faces, no text, no logos, no literal objects, no band imagery. Pure color-field abstraction with emotional weight. 16:9 editorial format."
Balanced energy, right in the middle of 19,209 measured songs — measures out best for focus.
120
BPM
What Is Hip by Tower of Power is 120 BPM — Allegro (fast).
Half-time 60 BPM · Double-time 240 BPM · released 1973
Fan image for "What Is Hip"
An abstract illustration of what this song feels like. Each image is built from a prompt — the text description fed to the image generator. Listeners submit their own prompts, upvote the ones that fit best, and the top-voted prompt drives the next regeneration. After 100 image votes, we make a new picture.
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Song DNA
Notes: The song features a vibrant brass section and dynamic vocals that create an engaging and lively atmosphere. Its rhythmic complexity and layered instrumentation contribute to a rich listening experience.
Misophonia Triggers
Recommended for: energy movement
A balanced track — neither sleepy nor charged. It has a big quiet-to-loud range with the occasional gentle turn, over a layered texture. Strong, dynamic vocals driving it, at a brisk, driving tempo. Mostly steady, it still leaves a little room to surprise. On our 19,209-song scale, it sits more energetic than 69% of songs, calmer than the rest.
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Hear it the way it was made
The right gear changes everything.
Moods: energetic, uplifting
Traditions: funk
Volume Warning
"What Is Hip" climbs hard.
Dynamic range 7/10 places this in our upper band. The opening volume that feels comfortable will not be comfortable at the climax. If you are setting this up for a focused listen, anchor your volume to the quietest section, not the loudest. The arc is the point of the song; if you blunt it by riding the volume knob, you lose what makes it work. Tower of Power built the dynamic shape on purpose. Plan around it.
How this song sits on each sensory axis
A dynamic range of 7/10 means this song moves. Expect a real volume climb between quiet sections and the loudest part of the arrangement — enough that you may want to set the initial volume below where you'd normally land.
Sudden changes: mild. There are one or two transitions worth knowing about, though they're musically resolved rather than surprise-driven.
Texture is layered — a full arrangement with clear separation between parts.
Predictability is medium — conventional structure overall, with one or two moments that deviate from what you'd expect.
Vocal style: dynamic vocals.
Where this sits in Tower of Power's catalog
We have 20 songs from Tower of Power in the library. Of those, 0 are rated Safe, 19 Moderate, and 1 Intense. This song's dynamic range of 7/10 sits above the artist average of 6.8, making it the #5 most dynamic track of theirs in our library.
Other tracks from Tower of Power
We have 7 songs from this album. Overall, the album leans moderate in sensory profile.
- Squib Cakes — intense DR 8
- So Very Hard to Go — moderate DR 6
- You're Still a Young Man — moderate DR 7
- The Skunk — moderate DR 7
- In the Slot — moderate DR 7
- Soul with a Capital S — moderate DR 7
1973 context
Released in 1973. We have 297 songs from that year in our library, averaging a dynamic range of 6.4/10. This track is about average than the year average. Explore more from the 1970s.
Explore by mood and tradition
Traditions
funk · 406Guides that may help
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low-intensity Workout Music: Energy Without Overwhelm — A guide for sensory-sensitive listeners on m…
The Calmest Songs We’ve Ever Measured
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Even Flow: Pearl Jam’s Song for the Man Everyone Walks Past
Even Flow is Pearl Jam at full throttle — and underneath the riff is a portrait of a homeless man an…
How fast is "What Is Hip"?
120 BPM — Upbeat (dance-pop / running warm-up)
For running
Slow jog or recovery run pace. Matches a 120-140 stride-per-minute cadence.
For workouts
Steady cardio, power walking, light weights.
For daily life
Driving, getting ready in the morning, light party.
Browse more songs at 120 BPM.
When "What Is Hip" works, and when it doesn't
Use-case verdicts computed from the song's tempo, dynamics, and sensory profile.
✗
Focus / studying
No — too dynamic or too many surprises. Save for active listening.
✓
Running / workout
Yes — 120 BPM sits squarely in the running / cardio band. Matches natural stride cadence.
✗
Sleep / winding down
No — contains elements that will keep an awake nervous system engaged.
✓
Driving / road trip
Yes — predictable enough for safe driving attention, interesting enough to stay engaged.
✓
Cooking / dinner background
Yes — sits in the background without demanding attention.
~
Emotional release / catharsis
Not really — it's pleasant but doesn't hit hard enough for cathartic listening.
Related reading
Editorial guides that cover this song's use cases, moods, or artist.
low-intensity Workout Music: Energy Without Overwhelm
low-intensity Workout Music: Energy Without Overwhelm — A guide for sensory-sensitive listeners on musiciwant.com
What silence does to a song — the science of the rest
The most powerful sound in your favorite songs is often no sound at all. How silence resets dynamic range, builds tension, and lands emotion…
The silence between the notes — what musical space actually does to you
The most powerful part of a song is often where nothing happens. How rests, drop-outs, and negative space shape tension, relief, and sensory…
Why this rating
We rate this song Moderate because it falls between our Safe and Intense thresholds on at least one dimension. Moderate is the default for most well-produced music that has real arc but no surprise elements. Full rubric: methodology.
This song in the Music Studio
53/100 intensity
See how “What Is Hip” sits against your own sensitivities, or use it as a waypoint in a calmer set.
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Spotify and YouTube links go direct to the track when we have the ID; otherwise they search for it. Embed this sensory profile on your site →
Rating last reviewed: 2026-04-17. Reviewed by the Music I Want editorial team against the documented methodology.
Think this rating is wrong? Contact the editor — every message is read and ratings get revised.
By the numbers: how this song compares
Computed from this song’s place among the 19,209 songs we’ve measured.
Where it sits in 19,000 songs
On our 19k-song scale this lands in the middle band — more energetic than 69% of songs, calmer than the other 31%. Its intensity reading of 53/100 comes from a dynamic range of 7/10, layered texture, mild shifts, and dynamic vocals. It shares this stretch of the spectrum with thousands of other tracks, so the finer fingerprint below is what really separates it.
What makes it unusual
What stands out most about this song is blazing intensity: more extreme on that axis than 69% of everything we've measured. At the far opposite end of the library sit the songs built on near-total stillness — steady volume, no surprises, a slow and unhurried pulse — the kind of track this one is the counterpoint to.
Feels almost identical to
Gold — Prince · 99%Fire on the Mountain — Grateful Dead · 99%Samson and Delilah — Grateful Dead · 99%State of Grace — Taylor Swift · 99%
Closest matches by feel across all 19,209 measured songs — not by genre or artist, by how they actually move.
What it’s good for
Sleep3/10
Focus7/10
Workout6/10
Dinner7/10
Party / hype6/10
Scored from this song’s tempo, intensity, dynamics and texture — not crowd votes.
1973 in context
The 297 songs we’ve measured from 1973 average a dynamic range of 6.4/10. At 7/10, this track is right in line with its year.
Mixes smoothly with
Within a few BPM and close in feel — they flow without a jarring transition.
The fingerprint
Intensity53
Dynamics67
Tempo44
Surprise25
Density33
Predictability50
Vocal force75
Trigger load13
The 8-dimension measurement behind every rating on this page.
Frequently asked about "What Is Hip"
Quick answers pulled from the song's sensory analysis.
What is the BPM of "What Is Hip" by Tower of Power?
"What Is Hip" by Tower of Power has a tempo of 120 BPM (Allegro (fast)). At half-time that is 60 BPM, and at double-time 240 BPM.
What is the sensory intensity of "What Is Hip" by Tower of Power?
"What Is Hip" by Tower of Power rates as Moderate intensity. Dynamic range 7/10, mild sudden changes, layered texture. Moderate is the default for well-produced music with real arc but no surprise elements.
How loud is "What Is Hip" — what is its dynamic range?
"What Is Hip" has a dynamic range of 7/10. Noticeable climb from quiet sections to loudest point. Set opening volume slightly lower than your preferred peak.
Does "What Is Hip" have sudden or surprising changes?
"What Is Hip" has mild sudden changes — one or two transitions worth knowing about, but they are musically resolved rather than surprise-driven.
What is "What Is Hip" best for?
In our library "What Is Hip" is recommended for: energy, movement. These tags are assigned only where the song's sensory profile genuinely supports the use case.
When was "What Is Hip" released?
"What Is Hip" is from 1973, on the album "Tower of Power". It appears in our 1970s catalog.
What is the emotional mood of "What Is Hip"?
We tag "What Is Hip" as energetic, uplifting. Moods are tonal descriptors based on how the song reads emotionally — separate from the sensory intensity axes.
What is the vocal style of "What Is Hip"?
The vocal style is dynamic vocals.
Is "What Is Hip" good for running?
Yes — at 120 BPM it sits in the running-cadence band (120-180 BPM). Match your stride to the beat and it keeps pace with most recreational runners.
Is "What Is Hip" good for studying?
Only partially. The song's dynamic range (7/10) means there will be loud moments that break focus during deep work.
Can I use "What Is Hip" for sleep?
Not recommended for sleep. Contains transitions that will wake you up.
Should I listen to "What Is Hip"?
"What Is Hip" is Moderate intensity — fine for most listeners, but with enough dynamic activity that it works best as active listening rather than background.
Songs with the same DNA
layered texture, similar intensity — across any genre or era.
Safer alternatives with a similar feel
These songs share similar moods but with a gentler sensory profile.
What this song means to people
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Where to next?
You know how this one feels — now go find the next one.