Making Beats: The Art Of Sample-based Hip-hop (music / Culture)

Despite having created one of the most important musical cultures of the last fifty years, hip-hop composers who use digital sampling are rarely taken seriously as artists. But hip-hop deejays and producers have collectively developed an artistic system that features a complex aesthetic, a detailed array of social protocols, a rigorous set of ethical expectations and a rich historical consciousness. Based on ten years of research among hip-hop producers, Making Beats: The Art of Sample-Based Hip-Hop is the first work of scholarship to explore the goals, methods and values of this surprisingly insular community. Focusing on a variety of subjects - from hip-hop artists' pedagogical methods to the Afro-diasporic roots of the sampling process to the social significance of "digging" for rare records - Joseph G. Schloss examines the way hip-hop artists have managed to create a form of expression that reflects their creative aspirations, moral beliefs, political values and cultural realities. Despite having created one of the most important musical cultures of the last fifty years, hip-hop composers who use digital sampling are rarely taken seriously as artists. But hip-hop deejays and producers have collectively developed an artistic system that features a complex aesthetic, a detailed array of social protocols, a rigorous set of ethical expectations, and a rich historical consciousness. This book explores the goals, methods, and values of this surprisingly insular community. Focusing on a variety of subjects - from hip-hop artists' pedagogical methods to the Afro-diasporic roots of the sampling process to the social significance of "digging" for rare records - the author examines the way hip-hop artists have managed to create a form of expression that reflects their creative aspirations, moral beliefs, political values, and cultural realities Winner of IASPM's 2005 International Book AwardBased on ten years of research among hip-hop producers, Making Beats was the first work of scholarship to explore the goals, methods, and values of a surprisingly insular community. Focusing on a variety of subjects—from hip-hop artists'pedagogical methods to the Afrodiasporic roots of the sampling process to the social significance of'digging'for rare records—Joseph G. Schloss examines the way hip-hop artists have managed to create a form of expression that reflects their creative aspirations, moral beliefs, political values, and cultural realities. This second edition of the book includes a new foreword by Jeff Chang and a new afterword by the author. Cover 1 Making Beats 2 Title 6 Copyright 7 Dedication 8 Contents 10 Acknowledgments 12 1 Introduction 16 2 “It’s about Playing Records”: History 40 3 “It Just Doesn’t Sound Authentic”: Live Instrumentation versus Hip-Hop Purism 78 4 Materials and Inspiration: Digging in the Crates 94 5 Sampling Ethics 116 6 Elements of Style: Aesthetics of Hip-Hop Composition 150 7 The Outer Circle: From Samplers to Ears 184 8 Conclusions 210 Endnotes 214 Bibliography 224 Interviews by Author 232 Discography 236 Index 237 About the Author 241 First book on hip-hop sampling as a musical process, now with a new foreword and afterword