BeatTips List of Sample-Based Songs to Study: Madvillain – “Fancy Clown”
I’m a strong advocate for MusicStudy. In my book The BeatTips Manual, I describe the importance of…
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The Main Ingredients of A Successful Loop
The success of a loop depends on a number of things but mainly: The chop (truncation) of the sound, the…
The Music Industry’s Policy On Sample Clearance Is Prior Restraint, and the RIAA Must End It
With regards to sampling, the Constitution already protects our right to the freedom of speech. The…
Dope Sample Flips: Mobb Deep – “Trife Life” (1995) (prod. by Havoc) and Norman…
A sample flip doesn’t just refer to the technical changes made to made to a sample, like chops and…
DJ Clark Kent on Beats, Creativity, and the Big Smoke Screen in Music
20 years ago, I interviewed legendary Brooklyn DJ/Producer DJ Clark Kent. Sadly, today, October 26,…
Post-Disco: Uptown Meets Downtown — Hip Hop, Punk, and the Art World
Whenever the connection between hip hop and punk is mentioned, the assumption is that we’re talking…
The Sample Clearance “Tax” and the Primary Beneficiaries of the Sample Clearance System
When the music industry first took notice of sampling, their burning question had to have been: How can…
Q-Tip Needle Dropping, As Kanye West and No I.D. Look On
“By 1977, many DJs had followed Kool Herc’s lead, none more notable than Grandmaster Flash and Afrika…
What The Music Taught Me: John Klemmer – “Free Soul” and Jazz Fusion
John Klemmer’s “Free Soul” was one of the first records I ever hunted down and bought at a record…
Stable & Fresh: Bronze Nazareth’s ‘School for the Blindman’ — One of the Best…
Soulfully Hard and Authentic, Loaded with Dope Beats and Edgy Rhymes, School for the Blindman Confirms…