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Editor’s Choice
All the top picks of the site chosen by The Art of Sampling’s editor-in-chief.
Madlib Made All the Beats for ‘Bandana’ On His iPad
Madlib shook up the beatmaking community Saturday when he announced that he'd made all of the beats for Bandana, the stellar collaborative album with Freddie Gibbs, on his iPad:
As I've said in my book The BeatTips Manual, if you…
Beat Breakdown: Main Source – “Looking At The Front Door”
Oliver Wang breaks down Main Source’s “Looking At the Front Door” and points out why Large Professor’s production work on this song exemplified sophisticated leaps forward in hip hop song structure.
The first album I ever bought on the…
Little Children, All Grown Up: Exploring the Ways A Kool & The Gang Album Cut Was Flipped
Kool & The Gang’s “Little Children” is an obscure prayer for the youth of the ‘70s, wishing them godspeed in their pursuit of a better world. In the hands of the titular children - namely, Buckwild, Ez Elpee, Ghetto Professionals and…
Beat Breakdown: Prodigy – “Keep It Thoro” (Prod. By Alchemist)
A menacing apparatus, “Keep It Thoro” personifies how light and heavy textures co-mingle and combine, giving a beat a powerful sonic impression
When certain names in beatmaking get tossed around with praise, it’s not always easy to…
Are Sample-Based Beatmakers Musicians?
A “musician” is simply one who creates (makes) music. It’s someone who is conscious of the notion of music as well as at least one type of music-making process. Whether one likes a particular music form, or prefers the methods used to make…
Gensu Dean: Production Master, Music Traveler, Perennial Record Borrower
What comes across the most when speaking with Gensu Dean is a sense of community. Not simply how much he cares for the beatmaking community, but how many individuals in this community have helped to shape his understanding of the art of…
Rhythm Roulette: Large Professor
"I'm not just gon make some bullshit." —Large Professor
This is one of the best installments of Mass Appeal's Rhythm Roulette series. It finds Large Professor, one of the pioneers of beatmaking, flip records that at first seem…
Did Kanye West’s “Five-for-Five” Album Release Strategy Hinder Teyana Taylor’s K.T.S.E.?
Very few people can be the leader of the creative production behind the music on a given album and the marketing force behind said album at the same time. Normally, these roles are given to multiple people because it’s best to split…
Today’s Fun Hip Hop is Good, But It Needs a Deeper Message (Sometimes)
Trap music, modern-day "R&B", and drill music are cool. I listen to it. Whether I'm at a party, out with friends, or at home alone, it gets regular spins. I enjoy the music just like most of my generation. The music sounds good, it…
Jump N Funk: DJ Rich Medina and His Celebration of Afrobeat
To speak with Rich Medina, a world renowned DJ, producer, and poet, is to receive a lesson in culture, politics, humility, and, of course, music. Rich is smart and endearing, the type that knows something about everything and everything…