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BeatTips Hip Hop Archive
Excerpts From The BeatTips Manual: Escaping The Tempo Trap
When it comes to making beats, setting the right tempo (BPM) isn't as easy as it might seem. Some…
Excerpts From The BeatTips Manual: How DJ Premier Sees Himself As a Producer
"I’m always a consumer first. Then I’m a DJ. Then I’m a producer. And then I’m
an artist!"
Why the GOATS Were Young: Age, Poetry, and Lyricism In Hip Hop/Rap Music
Comparative analysis in hip hop/rap music is always a tricky endeavor. Taking different rappers and…
How Many Drum Sounds Are Enough?
The number of drum sounds that a beatmaker (producer) should have is debatable. There are some who…
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…
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…
Names on the Marquee: Bob James’s “Nautilus”
Oliver Wang remembers one of the most sampled and interpolated songs in history, and points out why…
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,…