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Editor’s Choice
All the top picks of the site chosen by The Art of Sampling’s editor-in-chief.
Sample-Based Beatmaking As Learned Through Soul Music
Sample-based beatmakers (producers) draw inspiration from a variety of music forms and sources. So it should probably go without saying that each of those sources has both a direct and indirect influence on the way in which a beatmaker…
Nottz – “Shine So Brite,” A Demonstration of Rap Music’s Impenetrable Force Field
Here’s a simple truth. Within the beatmaking tradition (of the broader hip hop/rap music tradition), the more beatmakers who make beats, the more fluid the notions about what constitutes a dope beat. But hip hop/rap music, perhaps more than…
The Function of Fair Use: An Excerpt from the Book The Art of Sampling, 3rd Edition
The following is an excerpt from my forthcoming book The Art of Sampling, 3rd Edition, which I’m currently running a Kickstarter campaign for. If after reading you have learned anything from this article and you would like to learn much…
Check This: Y.N.X.716 – “Excel”
Y.N.X.716 describes himself as a "Buffalo lyricist embracing the '90s sound...," but if you listen with a careful ear, you'll notice that he's much more that. His sound is timeless. And while is no doubt a student (and master) of the '90s…
Was It Fair Use? Kool G Rap & DJ Polo – “Road To The Riches” (prod. by Marley…
Released in 1989 as the title track of the album of the same name, “Road To The Riches,” produced by Marley Marl, features a sample of Billy Joel’s “Stiletto” (1979). Kool G Rap & DJ Polo and Marley Marl were never sued for copyright…
Kanye West Flipped “Strange Fruit” for “Blood On The Leaves;” And There’s Nothing Wrong With That
First, it was “Blood on the Leaves.” Outrage from everywhere for how Kanye West used a sample of Nina Simone’s heart-wrenching rendition of “Strange Fruit,” a 1939 song about lynching written by teacher Abel Meeropol and first popularized…
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…