[Noisebridge-discuss] "Half-rap" music and "Grabbing a record"

[William Nye_COMCAST]

Hello, I recently started listening to 99.7,
which plays around 10-15 popular songs over and
over.  I have 3 questions about these types of
songs, 2 non-technical and 1 semi-technical:
   1. Almost every one of the songs is what I
      call "half rap" -- the song alternates
      back and forth between a rap-style section
      and a normal song.
      Is there a better name for this song style?
   2. Why are so many songs using autotune as a
      cute effect almost constantly (and not for
      its intended pitch correction) ?
   3. There is an effect in many songs that sounds
      like grabbing a playing record to slow it
      down to a stop.
      Is there a name for this effect?
      Any hints on how to achieve this, say in
      Audacity, Ableton Live, etc. ?
Thanks  -B.i.ll