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BeatTips.com - Beatmaking, Making Beats, & Hip Hop Production Information tag:typepad.com,2003:weblog-1726306 2014-11-25T12:51:40-05:00 BeatTips.com is the leader in information about beatmaking, making beats, & hip hop production. Home of 'The BeatTips Manual,' the definitive book on the art of beatmaking. TypePad The Mainstream Isn't the Boogeyman: Why the Mainstream Imbalance Argument Falls Flat tag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00e554d2e4f4883401b8d0998429970c 2014-11-25T12:51:40-05:00 2014-11-25T15:41:18-05:00 Party Music, Early 90s Music, Trap Music, and Awareness — More Than Anything Else, Personal Taste, Knowledge of the Art Form, and Individual Choice Determines the Style and Sound of Music that One Makes, Not the Mainstream By AMIR SAID (SA'ID) from left: DJ Tony Tone, LA Sunshine, and Charlie Chase — The gym of Taft High School in the South Bronx, ca. 1982 (Photo credit: Joe Conzo) Departures from traditions usually lead to new traditions, which are themselves reimagined (repurposed and reworked) themes, tropes, and devices of the traditions from which they departed, or rather forged, themselves from. For... Amir Said

Party Music, Early 90s Music, Trap Music, and Awareness — More Than Anything Else, Personal Taste, Knowledge of the Art Form, and Individual Choice Determines the Style and Sound of Music that One Makes, Not the Mainstream

By AMIR SAID (SA'ID)

 from left: DJ Tony Tone, LA Sunshine, and Charlie Chase — The gym of Taft High School in the South Bronx, ca. 1982 (Photo credit: Joe Conzo)

 Departures from traditions usually lead to new traditions, which are themselves reimagined (repurposed and reworked) themes, tropes, and devices of the traditions from which they departed, or rather forged, themselves from. For some, this break from tradition is quite difficult to accept. For others, the changing or expanding of tradition is rather liberating.

 In this light, some commentators prefer to summarize hip hop/rap's current manifestation as the result of hip hop/rap having evolved and grown up. But hip hop/rap didn't "grow up," as some snobbishly argue. Hip hop/rap wasn't some immature kid wild in its youth and in need of growing up. Hip hop/rap has always thrived on a rough rawness as well as level of polish; of course, the rawness being the more powerful of these two components. Not to be outdone by the evolutionists, there are other commentators who wax poetically about how far hip hop/rap music has fallen in recent years. But even here I take issue. While the overall quality of hip hop/rap has seen a decline in some areas, I believe that as hip hop/rap grew in popularity from its humble beginnings, it simply expanded, allowing for more regional and international voices to enter into (i.e. add to) the tradition. Ironically, or perhaps not, it is this expansion that has now largely led to the frustration of many who feel that the so-called real hip hop/rap has been overtaken by the artificial, supposedly less authentic hip hop/rap of the mainstream.

 Nowhere does this frustration about the present-day state of hip hop/rap bubble up to the surface more than on Twitter, the ubiquitous social media website that countless people use for rather forgettable soap-box moments that are often dogmatic, authoritative, riddled with inaccuracies, and personal opinions or theories presented as fact. If you look at Twitter on any given day or night, you will notice that it can quickly descend into a forum for people (of different ages, races, ethnicities, gender, and levels of hip hop/rap knowledge) to rant about what's wrong with post-90s hip hop/rap music. Often within these rants, you'll find the "mainstream imbalance" argument put forth. This argument maintains that the biggest reason that hip hop/rap music is suffering right now is because of a lack of balance in the mainstream. Or, for some commentators, another way of (condescendingly) saying it is that there's too much trap music in the mainstream and not enough "other" or alternative choices. I don't subscribe to this argument because I believe that today's mainstream actually has far much less influence than it did in the 90s.

 The Narrowing of the Mainstream: More Choice Means Less Dependence

In the past 15 years or so, there's been an explosion of choice in the marketplace. When it comes to music today, there's more choice than ever! Individuals have much more freedom to directly choose the music that they want to hear, or for that matter ignore. This means that individuals have infinite control over what they hear and how and when they hear it. Also, there's been a noticeable decline in the power of the radio. While not entirely dead, substantially fewer people tune into the radio for their music consumption and recommendations. Right now, there's a wide variety of outlets for listeners to consume, discover, and learn about both new and old music. For many people, the web has displaced the role that radio and television has traditionally played. Currently, there's much less of a dependence on the radio and television — the primary vehicles of the mainstream — for guidance because people can get their cues and recommendations elsewhere, like from various new music targeted websites, music service providers, and, of course, their growing peer networks via social media. Whether an individual takes advantage of this unprecedented level of choice is not the fault of the mainstream.

 Certainly, with the abundance of choice came the narrowing of the mainstream. And this makes perfect sense. As overall product choice increases, mainstream product offerings — i.e. those products overtly intended for mass appeal — naturally contract. This is because those with the strongest marketing power, the biggest promotional sway in the marketplace, and the greatest control over manufacturing and the channels of distribution want to ensure the success of the products in their orbit. Thus, they hope to achieve this by limiting what actually gets pushed in the marketplace. Think in terms of physical shelf space in a store. There's only so much space for products to be placed on the shelves at Walmart, Target, or Best Buy; so those products with mass appeal, i.e. those with the most widespread recognition and the greater chance of selling, get the shelf space. Or think about when the radio only plays a certain number of (the same) songs everyday. That practice isn't based on a vendetta against a balanced mainstream, it's a business model designed to control the market space and ensure "hits." If radio stations and their programmers (or music television shows and their producers) believed that balance in their programming would ensure hits and greater profitability, they'd do it. But that's not the philosophy that many radio stations believe in. They understand the widespread contraction in the mainstream; more importantly, they understand the nature of today's fractionalized media. In other words, precisely because there's so much choice and actual variety, they've decided to narrow the music that they put into their rotation.

 Still, it must not be forgotten that products gain "mass appeal" for different reasons. Let's also remember that mass appeal simply means something that appeals to the masses, i.e. a great mass of people. Smartphones have mass appeal; mid-sized SUVs have mass appeal; running sneakers have mass appeal. All three are mainstream products (albeit without the emotional weight of music) and each may have their opponents, but none of them are inherently bad. But in the hip hop/rap music scene of today, just the mere idea of mass appeal is often taken by many to mean something that is inherently bad. Of course, the cover for some commentators who have this opinion is that they're merely referencing the imbalance in the mainstream.

 Thus, this is a dangerous side effect of the mainstream imbalance argument: an implication that anything that's truly good in hip hop/rap music can't or shouldn't really have mass appeal or mainstream recognition even though it deserves it. In fact, there are many people who fundamentally believe that real hip hop/rap music isn't really meant for the masses; the idea of who true hip hop/rap music is meant for has long had traction. Bizarre, I know. This is obviously counter to what you think many opponents of the mainstream would want. After all, isn't part of their argument that the mainstream suffers from imbalance, that it needs more variety, presumably more of the kind of hip hop/rap music that's inline with their taste? Yet, as soon as someone break throughs to the mainstream from the underground, there's often a backlash from previous supporters who are upset that their favorites are now mainstream, or rather less exclusive.

 But I see no irony here because there's also a sense of elitist pride and authoritativeness that can be deducted from all of this. Just as there are some people who want to be known for and take pride in how much they love hip hop, or being among the first to hear or recognize a new hip hop/rap artist, etc., there are a number of hip hop/rap music writers who want their taste in hip hop/rap music and their "first-to-be-up-on-it" credentials to be recognized. This is akin to the "Anti-tastemaker/But I want to be known as a tastemaker" duality, where one loudly exclaims rejection of tastemakers and tastemaking, but all the while they write, not to just inform but to presumably develop a following — a following that just might make them one of the tastemakers. Perhaps this pursuit of covert (overt) tastemaker status is all about helping to bring more balance to the mainstream, no?

 The Mainstream is Not Responsible for the Music that Individuals Choose to Create

Still, I get the point: I acknowledge that there's an imbalance in the mainstream. But I'm less interested in the obvious. I'm more interested in exploring the overlooked root causes for this imbalance, not lamenting about the imbalance itself. For me, the cause for this imbalance begins with the style and sound of hip hop/rap individuals choose to make. I don't see the mainstream as some evil boogeyman who's responsible for getting people to make lousy hip hop/rap music; nor do I see the mainstream as inherently incapable of inspiring anyone to offer up anything good.

 Music makers, like all artists, make choices based on their personal taste and knowledge of their art form, as well as their individual purpose for creating art. When you get right down to it, all artists create because they are driven to do so. The extent to which this drive comes from creative compulsion, recognition and fame, or financial profit has as much to do with why and what artists create as anything else. While there are some music makers who will preach that they are "not in it for the money," there are others who are unabashedly focused on making a profit from their creative labor. Does the former stand on higher creative or moral ground than the latter? All things considered, the mainstream, just like the underground, is a construct, a path that music makers reconcile with their music tastes, knowledge, level of creativity, and purpose.

 For this reason, I believe people should be held accountable, not a category. The mainstream isn't a person, it's not an entity, it's not a publication — it's not something you can complain to. In entertainment, "mainstream" is a generic descriptor typically used to distinguish something that's high concept, common among the masses, built primarily for profit, and/or popularly well-known. In truth, however, mainstream need not be any of things because there are no hard rules about what gets to crossover into the mainstream; however, notoriety, i.e. mass awareness, seems to be the one constant underlying factor. Once the masses become aware of a product and they engage with it, the product becomes mainstream. In other words, awareness has great power. Focus more on awareness or how to create better awareness about alternative music, and focus less on highlighting the imbalance in the mainstream. Isn't that the most effective way of actually adding more balance to the mainstream?

 But for the loudest mainstream-imbalance proponents, it's always the mainstream that's mostly to blame for what's wrong with, or missing in, hip hop/rap music today. What also can't be ignored is that some proponents often imply that reaching for a spot in the mainstream is bad, but holding a spot in the underground is good and noble. I don't see anything wrong with an artist seeking mass appeal or underground critical acclaim, both pursuits are valid. Whether or not any of those who propagate the mainstream imbalance argument would describe themselves as purists, experts, or life-time hip hop/rap fans is of no concern to me. But what does concern me is the tendency for many of them to twist, misrepresent, romanticize, ignore, understate, and overstate key components of hip hop history (all the while predictably blaming the "mainstream" itself as the culprit for it's own imbalance). And three such components that routinely get butchered in these rants are party music, early 90s music, and trap music.

 Cold Crush Brothers Performing at Harlem World, ca. 1983 (Photo credit: Joe Conzo)

 Regarding Tradition, Personal Taste, and Individual Choice

Party music in hip hop is tradition, so it's not a phenomenon that should be discussed or dismissed lightly. However, some commentators prefer to romanticize the early roots of hip hop and present it as a consciously political movement right from the very start. While the socio-economic reality of the backdrop of hip hop is rife with complexities, including issues of poverty, crime, violence, street gang culture, and urban renewal, the notion that the earliest pioneers and practitioners of hip hop were "political" — in every aspect of the well-understood sense of the word — is way off mark. From the onset of hip hop in the early 1970s (late 1960s if you count the significant role graffiti writers played), prior to studio recorded hip hop/rap music, party music was the driving force (in The BeatTips Manual, I cover the roles that party music played, as well as the early history of hip hop culture in great depth and detail). Whether someone rapped a nursery style rhyme of braggadocia or a cursory tale about life in the streets, most rappers of hip hop's first golden era ( ca. 1973-1979) deliberately made music to be enjoyed at parties, i.e. park jams, rec centers, clubs, lounges. Even when lyricism expanded, both in terms of content and mechanics, party music — and its significance — did not wane.

 Yet some commentators would have you believe that real hip hop/rap, early hip hop/rap music, was all but devoid of anyone with questionable integrity; devoid of anyone who dumbed down their music; devoid of silly rhymes or schemes to get attention; devoid of any obvious celebration of money and material things; that the purpose of all of the earliest hip hop architects was only pure love, nothing else. While there was certainly far less money in hip hop/rap before it hit the studio, there was still plenty of compensation in the form of prestige, fame, and women — and many early hip hop practitioners saw party music as means to obtaining all three! Today, many music makers still see party music — which is basically what most trap music tends to be — as viable means to prestige, fame, women, and money.

 On one hand, you can blame some commentators' romanticism on their skewed view of hip hop history, which sometimes seems to be based on incomplete research, conjecture, the inaccurate research of others, or dogmatic theories. I understand, but what's great about researching early hip hop history is reading the interviews with some of the earliest practitioners, particularly their early interviews where they say — in their own words — what hip hop was about to them. The earliest published "hip hop" interviews — with the first musical architects of hip hop culture — emerge around 1983. Perhaps there are more interviews and coverage in existence, but hip hop seems to have gained no mainstream journalistic interest prior to 1983, save for coverage of 1979's "Rapper's Delight." Further, the first hip hop interviews published in book form arrive in 1984. None of the interviewees (including Kool Herc, Grand Master Flash, Afrika Bambaataa, Grandmaster Caz, and others), in either Rap Attack (Toop, 1984) or Hip Hop (Hager, 1984), make hip hop out to be a thing only done out of love. In fact, party music and money figure prominently in these interviews and first publications. Indeed, by the mid-1970s, hip hop DJs desired and expected to get paid; rappers followed after them. And by the late 1970s and early 1980s, disputes over money had lead to a number of rap groups breaking up. That's not all for the love! But this also doesn't mean that they didn't love hip hop. Of course they loved hip hop, they just clearly wanted compensation and recognition; thus, they did those things that they thought would give them that.

 On the other hand, you can blame some commentators' romanticism about hip hop on the gift and curse of hip hop's second golden era (ca. 1988-1995), which many wrongly consider to be hip hop's only golden era — see the problem? The gift and curse of the late 1980s and early 1990s was that the hip hop/rap music tradition expanded to include an "art music" sub-tradition, a music meant for deeper observation, not just partying or dancing. Not coincidentally, this art music expansion coincided with the emergence of a number of key beatmaking pioneers. This was the gift. The curse was that the music of this period was deemed to be the only form of real hip hop/rap music. Prior to 1988, 15 years of hip hop/rap music and hip hop culture had already existed. Yet today, when something is said to be "that real hip hop shit," the underlining meaning is that it's something that only echoes the early 90s or late 80s. Does this mean that hip hop/rap music from 1973 to 1979 was not real? This is an important question, as there were a number of sub-traditions in hip hop that one could draw parallels with today's scene — none more noticeable than party music and the motives behind it.

 To be certain, hip hop/rap is a music tradition that contains a number of different sub-traditions. Depending on who you ask, it is the disdain for some post-90s traditions — namely trap music and some of the lyrical dimensions that typically accompany it — that irritate many people. Incidentally, I wonder if any of the mainstream imbalance proponents ever go to clubs, where today's mainstream often shares some of its glory with hip hop/rap classics from the past and new tunes on the come up. If they do boycott clubs, such an anti-club or club-music stance is ironic: Clubs have always been an important staple of hip hop culture. Nonetheless, before I go further, it's worth pointing out that not all 90s inspired hip hop/rap is good or useful; conversely, not all trap music is terrible or useless. If you disagree with this simple premise, i.e. if you believe that ALL 90s inspired hip hop/rap is good and ALL trap music is bad, then it's likely your view of hip hop/rap music is much more narrow than you think. Remember: Hip hop's second Golden Era begins roughly 10 years after it's first one ended in 1979. So which era's really real?

 DJ Toomp at his production studio in Atlanta (Photo credit: Amir Said)

 Usually in music, what's beautiful to most is what's familiar to them, the thing that they already know, the thing they recognize; and it usually follows that what's ugly and distasteful to them is what can't fit into their expectation of what something should sound like. In the latter scenario, one can dismiss an entire aesthetic simply because it doesn't subscribe to what one already likes. And that's fine. What can be problematic, however, is when one demonizes the entire aesthetic itself. This is often the case with trap music. That they are merely railing against so-called mainstream hip hop/rap music or the "lack of balance" in mainstream hip hop/rap music is the common pretext for some peoples' opposition to trap music. But when you consider the decreased importance of radio and the reality that there is now a limitless number of ways to choose, consume, and find new music, the mainstream imbalance argument seems antiquated.

 The issue isn't with the trap music sub-tradition itself; although, unfortunately, there are some who routinely argue that trap music isn't "real" hip hop. The issue relies with personal responsibility. Trap music doesn't make beatmakers (producers) or rappers hold back creativity. DJ Toomp has a catalog of great stuff. Likewise, trap music doesn't force lyricists to dumb down their lyrics or their message. Big K.R.I.T. and T.I., artists from two different spectrums in terms of sales and notoriety, have proven capable of highly creative lyricism that is at times profound and at times fun and light. And while I find most (not all) trap music to either be run-of-the-mill, mindless, or uninspiring, I don't think trap music itself is the culprit.

 T.I.

 Proponents of the mainstream imbalance argument also want to ascribe a (big) share of the blame to the general hip hop/rap music press, in some cases specific bloggers. Now, while I do believe that hip hop/rap music criticism has declined in a number of areas (for instance, plenty of music reviews from a number of hip hop writers are more fanboy love letters than critical observation and insight), and that there are a number of dogmatic, know-it-all, and self-righteous music bloggers in hip hop/rap, I can't bring myself to blame them for the mainstream's imbalance. That's because the decision to create music is a personal one. Just the same, what style and sound of hip hop/rap music one chooses to make is also a personal decision. As creative decisions in hip hop/rap music go, what someone chooses to do or not is always based upon four factors: (1) Personal taste, which is based on one's creative influences and knowledge of the art form; (2) Current trends; (3) Past traditions and trends; and (4) purpose — either creative compulsion, recognition and fame, or financial gain.

 The Problem with Creative Safety in Numbers

The beatmaking (hip hop production) community was not always as vast and accessible as it is now. Between 1979 (the year of the first studio recorded hip hop songs) and 1984, there were only a handful of music producers who specialized in hip hop production. And from 1985 to 1989, the list didn't swell. it wasn't until the early 90s that we saw a minor explosion in the number of dedicated beatmakers. It was also in the early 90s that we get our first glimpse of an actual beatmaking community. But this community was much less accessible than the present beatmaking community, mostly because the cost of production tools, lack of instructional and teaching materials, and, of course, the lack of a robust internet. Thus, the beatmaking community found it relatively easy to establish (non-written) metrics of quality and creative standards. In other words, the small number of beatmakers in the early 90s made it easier for the beatmaking community to police itself.

 Fast forward two decades later, and the number of beatmakers — not to mention other music producers who dabble in hip hop — has swelled dramatically. While some may prematurely conclude that this is a bad thing, I think it's good. There's strength in numbers. But there are two main problems that have emerged with the rapid inclusion of scores of new beatmakers. First, a fundamental lack of knowledge of the art form, particularly its history. Most new beatmakers often overlook the musical and historical knowledge in pursuit of the instructional knowledge. This is one reason why YouTube beatmaking videos routinely make up the main educational regiment of vast numbers of new (and not-so new) beatmakers. And while a small number of these videos may be helpful (the majority hold little educational value) in teaching someone how to do some technical steps in a given music process, seemingly none of these videos offer extensive background understanding, historical context, or other critical education nuances. This creates an environment in which the ultimate goal is the pursuit of technical process, rather than the pursuit of beatmaking know-how and understanding. And this know-how and understanding only comes after you're familiar with all of the spheres of beatmaking — the technical, the logical, and the creative spheres. That requires a lot more than just instruction on how to use a given piece of gear or how to perform a specific process. (For a more in-depth discussion of the three spheres of beatmaking, read The BeatTips Manual)

 The second problem that a rapid swelling of the number of beatmakers has caused is creative cover or safety. With so many new beatmakers, it's hard for there to be any real self-policing. Instead of creative standards and quality metrics being a key goal of many new beatmakers, we now have a little league baseball atmosphere, where everyone gets to play and no one's beats are ever bad, it's just someone else's opinion, or someone's just hating. In this atmosphere, as long as you're doing the same bare minimum technical things, you're creatively safe. This is certainly the case with regards to trap music because trap music has a low barrier of entry, especially knowledge-wise. Some of the most popular trap music is very sparse, nothing more than an 808 kick drum-led arrangement and a couple of sounds. I've often described this tier of trap music as almost anti-music because there's not much really going on in the beat. But never mind that there's different degrees of quality and complexity when it comes to trap music beats (and rhymes), the only thing that matters to lots of new beatmakers who pursue this style and sound is that they can make trap music. And again, because the threshold for what constitutes trap music is so low, these beatmakers can take comfort in the creative cover (safety) that exists by the sheer number of beatmakers doing the exact same thing.

 Conversely, the sample-based East Coast/New York rap sound, whether you like it or not, has a higher barrier of entry knowledge-wise. The art of sampling isn't something easily picked up; you don't get a sampler and some records one day, then make something dope or even decent the next. On the other hand, to make entry-level trap music one can simply tinker around with some 808 sounds and come up with something passable. Note: This is entry level trap music; but entry level trap music still has its support! Entry level sampling requires a bit more knowledge and experience, particularly in the areas of chopping, arrangement, and drum programming. Also, there's not the same level of creative cover (safety) in sampling because there are still clear metrics about what is decent in sampling.

 There Are Some Music Makers Who Simply Want Mass Appeal, and There Are Some Who Don't

Finally, there's the nationwide populous appeal of trap music. It's not difficult to hear what the current national sound is; both new and veteran beatmakers (and rappers) can see what the mainstream is primarily made of. As mentioned before, one's purpose in making music is an important individual choice. Lots of music makers want mass appeal and everything that comes along with it. And for many, the quickest or most accessible path is to simply duplicate what the mainstream is already showcasing. Still, there are plenty of others who don't want mass appeal, but instead, they want critical acclaim within a given niche or style and sound of hip hop/rap music.

 Some simply want mass appeal and they're only interested in what they believe to be the best way to get there. And while simply making a replica of what's already out (tried formula though it may be) isn't the guarantee that some believe it is, the mainstream — in the abstract — isn't why someone makes one form of music over another. Again: Why someone chooses to make a given type of music boils down to: (1) Their personal taste, which is based on one's creative influences and knowledge of the art form; (2) Current trends; (3) Past traditions and trends; and (4) Purpose — either creative compulsion, recognition and fame, or financial gain. But one can gain recognition, fame, and financial gain side-stepping the mainstream altogether. Unfortunately, many are simply unaware of that. Thus, I find that the biggest cause for today's imbalanced mainstream isn't the mainstream itself, but a widespread lack of either the will or desire among many individuals to do something outside of the mainstream's safety zone. I think much of the blame for this can be placed on a huge lack of awareness — notably a lack of awareness of hip hop/rap history, a lack of awareness of alternatives modes to success, and a lack of awareness of just how varied hip hop/rap music can be.

 To change (or expand) mainstream hip hop/rap, you have to change the conversation. Pull back the curtains on the mainstream imbalance argument, and what you'll find, at its core, is a conversation about contemporary music and the direction its gone in for the past two decades. The mainstream is an easy target; it's the most visible apparatus in popular culture. But mainstream, abstractly speaking, isn't the problem — it's not the sickness, it's the symptom. There will always be a mainstream. And what's represented as a given mainstream will reflect the creative decisions of the groups of music makers, as well as the influence of the tastemakers, of the time. You want to change what's represented as mainstream hip hop/rap music, i.e. add more balance to it? Well, aside from deepening media coverage of powerful alternatives, you have to change the music makers. Help make new music makers become more aware of the many different styles and sounds of hip hop/rap music, and help them become aware of hip hop's long held emphasis on originality and innovation. Doing so will inevitably change the mainstream.

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 The BeatTips Manual by Amir Said (Sa'id).
 "The most trusted name in beatmaking."

 Extended Shelf-Life: Bronze Nazareth's 'School for the Blindman' — One of the Best Rap Albums in Decades tag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00e554d2e4f4883401b7c7090824970b 2014-11-18T17:15:29-05:00 2014-11-18T17:18:12-05:00 Soulfully Hard and Authentic, Loaded with Dope Beats and Edgy Rhymes, School for the Blindman Confirms that Bronze Nazareth and The Wisemen are in League of their Own By AMIR SAID (SA'ID) BeatTips Rating: 5/5 "Roll dice in old piss" —Bronze Nazareth We often like and celebrate an album because of its power to take us somewhere. The vivid images that it calls up; the memories that it inspires; the emotions that it makes us feel — these are the things that, when present and prominent on an album, take us somewhere. Hit play on Bronze Nazareth's enigmatic album School... Amir Said

Soulfully Hard and Authentic, Loaded with Dope Beats and Edgy Rhymes, School for the Blindman Confirms that Bronze Nazareth and The Wisemen are in League of their Own

By AMIR SAID (SA'ID)

BeatTips Rating: 5/5

"Roll dice in old piss" —Bronze Nazareth

We often like and celebrate an album because of its power to take us somewhere. The vivid images that it calls up; the memories that it inspires; the emotions that it makes us feel — these are the things that, when present and prominent on an album, take us somewhere.

 Hit play on Bronze Nazareth's enigmatic album School for the Blindman (iHipHop Distribution), and you're instantly transported to a music world that's oblivious —thankfully so — to the oversaturated, gutless or otherwise cookie-cutter abstracts that make up most of what we know as mainstream rap music today. But School for the Blindman doesn't just stand out as an obvious counterpunch to the jingle-filled, 808-dominated rap, it distinguishes itself from all other recent underground offerings as well. In fact, I find School for the Blindman to be one of the best hip hop/rap albums in decades.

 Prior to School for the Blindman, the only other hip hop/rap albums that I found that I could listen to straight through with repeat extended plays were lllmatic (Nas) and Supreme Clientele (Ghostface Killah). And like those two classic albums, School for the Blindman also stands out because of it's stellar, ear-catching production (soul samples & ill drums galore) and concrete rhymes. No beat on School for the Blindman is a mail-in job or simple drum program re-run. Instead, every beat contorts with its own structure and direction.

 Truly a "beatmaker's" beatmaker, Bronze's production (he produced all but three tracks on the album) illustrates organic drums, well-conceived chops and arrangements, uniquely filtered phrases, and a powerful injection of feeling. As per Bronze's style and sound, the art of sampling shapes the entire framework of School for the Blindman. And as with his previous efforts, all of the frequencies sampled and flipped make up amazingly hypnotic sonic textures that hold you at attention and demand frequent replays. (Bronze employs a smooth but defiant sampling style that priorities feel over needless complexity; thus the main reason that his beats draw you in.)

 As far as the rhymes go, here, too Bronze shines. On "Fresh from the Morgue," which features one of the dopest sounding hooks ever and a verse from The RZA, Bronze drops this quotable, "I'm so ill bring in the nurses to see him/my bitch purse is bulimic." This kind of smart, layered slant rhyme is a staple throughout School for the Blindman. But then there's the deeply personal "The Letter," where Bronze's knack for double (even triple) entendre reaches new stylistic and emotional levels: "I was the worst friend, couldn't see poison through veins/losing you in vain from making tracks/I shoulda stopped the train." The verse on "The Letter" and other songs on School for the Blindman cement Bronze's place among the best producer/rappers of all time.

 Although this is a Bronze solo joint, as with vintage Wu-Tang — the Wiseman's direct influence — The Wisemen show up in force. Salute, Phillie, Kevlaar 7, and June Megaladon are present, each adding their distinct voice and flow to the tracks that they appear on. Each member of the Wisemen carries an aggressive but subdued demeanor. To be certain, they represent a street, workman-like ethos. I'm sure that the labor realities (or lack their of) in Detroit has something to do with this. Indeed, The Wisemen offer up an everyday-man familiarity. Plus, for those who have actually spent time in the streets because of the hard draw of life, and not because of a prospective rap career, The Wisemen are especially refreshing. They paint the scenes of daily life in the hood — the highs, lows, and ironies — with confident strokes of well-stated details.

 In addition to Wisemen features, School for the Blindman also gets a literal Wu-Tang assist, as Inspectah Deck, Masta Killa, and The RZA all appear. RZA shows up on four joints (3 of them bonus cuts) and is in top form. Other features include Rain The Quiet Storm, L.A.D. aka La The Darkman, and Killah Priest.

 Another paramount feature of School for the Blindman is the level of authenticity that it exudes. The feel of the whole album is as hard as it is emotional, as street gutter as it is fine art. Each song brims with confidence and emerges as an exact, creative and sure-guided piece of art. This is because Bronze is deeply conscious musically and politically (peep the Martin and Malcolm messages), and as such, he's concerned with recapturing feeling, a specific feeling, one from a soulful and more noble time in Black American history.

 With this focus as a guide, there are no bells and whistles on School for the Blindman, only rough-stock beats and rhyme darts! Which means that the level of confidence — even, decadence — on School for the Blindman is the kind of natural confidence that only comes from a certainty in one's self and chosen journey. And that's just it: Right now, Bronze and the Wisemen collective are in a rap league all of their own. They draw energy from the essence of their squad; they don't come off as an overworked caricature of guys from the street. Instead, they showcase an honest handle on their station in life and demonstrate that they're an authentic and earnest crew, not a fastened together boy band masquerading as a rap clique.

 When I reviewed The Wisemen's Children of a Lesser God more than a year ago, I asked, rhetorically, if The Wisemen match or surpass the Wu-Tang Clan? My answer was no, of course. But I submitted then that The Wisemen's aim and effort to stay true to their pedigree and influences is what allowed (allows) them to create something authentically theirs — something that would stand for others to attempt to emulate, match, or surpass. This, I continued, was the continuum promise of a dope pedigree. But after listening to School for the Blindman, I no longer think that the question of whether The Wisemen match or surpass the Wu-Tang Clan is applicable. Direct Wu-Tang influences aside, Bronze and The Wiseman have successfully navigated a course that now has them in a league all of their own. In today's rap scene, there are few collectives (if any) that are comparable in style, sound, weight, and consistency to The Wisemen.

 BeatTips Rating Breakdown

Favorite Joints

"The Letter"
 One of the most moving songs that I've heard, any genre! This hard-hitting "letter" to a dead friend, taken to soon by the jaws of drug addiction, is absolutely chilling…and beautiful. Bronze is himself on every track for sure, but on "The Letter," he travels deeper into his heart and taps into a pain that's made up of a triple cocktail of loss, confusion, and guilt. The beat (which, by the way gives a clinic on how to pitch up a sample and loop it) holds this sort of smooth rumble to it. So effective is the filtering, the chops, and mix on this joint, it sounds as if the vocal "oooing" — that rides through the better part of the track — is separate and on top of everything. And the drums, which feature a highly tucked, almost muffled kick and a punching snare that features a chorus on every 4th hit, are simply masterful. With three primary sampling elements (as far as I can tell, there could be more) that dissolve into each other, this drum-work scheme sounds even more impressive.

Bronze Nazareth - "The Letter"

Bronze Nazareth - "King of Queens"

 "Fresh From The Morgue" ft. The RZA (This joint is multidimensional dope! Soon as the hook drops, you're rocking along to the song.)
 "King of Queens" (Prod. Ernesto LTD)
 "4th Down" ft. Salute, Kevlaar 7, Phillie (Pay attention to the sample flip on this joint!)
 "Gomorrah" ft. Killah Priest (Prod. by Kevlaar 7)
 "Worship" ft. Salute, Phillie, Kevlaar 7 of Wisemen
 "The Records We Used to Play"
 "Jesus Feet"

Bronze Nazareth feat. Killah Priest - "Gomorrah" (Prod. by Kevlar 7)

Bronze Nazareth feat. RZA - "Fresh From The Morgue"

 Sureshot Singles

"4th Down" ft. Salute, Kevlaar 7, Phillie
 "Carpet Burns" (bonus song)
 "Gomorrah" ft. Killah Priest (Prod. by Kevlaar 7)
 Worship Ft. Salute, Phillie, Kevlaar 7 of Wisemen
 "King of Queens" (Prod. Ernesto LTD)

Bronze Nazarath feat. Salute, Phillie, and Kevlar 7 of Wisemen - "Worship"

Sleeper Cuts

There are no sleeper cuts on here; all of them will catch your attention on the first listen.

 Gripes and Weak Moments

NONE

 Final Analysis

What ultimately makes School for the Blindman sore is its very nature — a subdued, soulful — beat send-up with authentic rap voices. You get the feeling that Bronze knew what he wanted this album to be — a "school" where the echoes and retransformations of soul music helps to guide the thoughts and imagery of each listener. Thus, School for the Blindman delivers an effect that is more like a savvy, entertaining documentary, than a CGI-laden action feature film. So much authentic nuance abounds on this album that you almost miss the polish and forget that Shool for the Blindman is, afterall, a feature and not a documentary film, if we stick with the film metaphore.

 I've always been of the opinion that an album should be examined (critiqued/reviewed) on what it aims to do, what it purports to be. By this metric alone, School for the Blindman gets a BeatTips Rating™ of 5. The album is a classic. Still, what makes it superb is not that it excels in what Bronze set out for it to be, but that it goes beyond. School for the Blindman demonstrates a timeless combination of theme and execution through a collection of beats and rhymes that live up to each other. And when the beat and rhyme fit as if they were born together, there's no tougher combination. This occurs again and again on School for the Blindman.

Afterword

I'm almost puzzled as to why Bronze Nazareth and the whole Wisemen collective do not receive decent, ongoing coverage by rap music publications and even those music blogs that seem to pride themselves on pushing good music to the front, trends be damned. But the Wisemen represent a continuum essence, something held over from the concept of hip hop/rap music as a quality experience that pulls you in with dope beats and rhymes and authentic nuance. The Wisemen do not fit within or defer to a caricature of "pop cool" that prioritizes smedium t-shirts, skinny jeans, fake fun or emo synth-lines. They are not an outfit of over-hyped misfit angst pushing out contrived adolescence over sub-par beats. The Wisemen are blue collar stars, indicative of Detroit, the city they rep. Moreover, they are students and masters of a specific rap aesthetic, an art style and sound that holds meaning to them (and countless others around the world). Subsequently, they're little concerned with trend-chasing critics who seem more interested in being the tastemakers of only one, often diluted branch of hip hop/rap music.

 So the only reason that I'm even slightly puzzled by the lack of coverage that The Wisemen receive is because of what they represent and offer. Listen, hip hop/rap music is an indefinite music form. This means that there is no time — era, nuance, style, theme — in its vast tradition that can't be summoned up, celebrated, and mastered. But as long as music publications fail to realize this important fact, unfortunately, The Wisemen (and any groups of similar stock and trade) may get overlooked.

 Here, I'm reminded of something I learned as a kid, and something I tell my son: To be true to yourself is a blessing and a burden. Fortunately, Bronze Nazareth and The Wisemen have accepted the burden along with the blessing.

 ---
 The BeatTips Manual by Amir Said (Sa'id).
 "The most trusted name in beatmaking."

 Think Outside the Box for Custom Snare Sounds tag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00e554d2e4f4883401b8d09012de970c 2014-11-13T16:45:51-05:00 2014-11-13T16:45:51-05:00 Presets Get the Job Done, But Customized Sounds Help You Create Your Own Style and Sound By AMIR SAID (SA'ID) An exclusive excerpt from The BeatTips Manual, 6th Edition by Amir Said (Sa'id) You know the deal: drum sounds are fundamental. Whether you've made your 10th or 1,000th beat this week, you've learned the importance of dope drum sounds. And when it comes to drum sounds, you can get away with a limited number of non-descript kicks. But without a distinct group of snare sounds, your beats might suffer. Why? Because since the advent of the MPC 2000, widespread sample... Amir Said

Presets Get the Job Done, But Customized Sounds Help You Create Your Own Style and Sound

By AMIR SAID (SA'ID)

 An exclusive excerpt from The BeatTips Manual, 6th Edition by Amir Said (Sa'id)

 You know the deal: drum sounds are fundamental. Whether you've made your 10th or 1,000th beat this week, you've learned the importance of dope drum sounds. And when it comes to drum sounds, you can get away with a limited number of non-descript kicks. But without a distinct group of snare sounds, your beats might suffer. Why? Because since the advent of the MPC 2000, widespread sample packs, and software programs galore, many beatmakers have taken to using the exact same stock snares. And, in the process, they've decreased the chance of giving their beats a distinctive sound.

 Now, don't get me wrong. There have been some beatmakers who have been able to get away with rocking one or two snares. But in those cases (most of the time), the snares have been cultivated to an ultimate level of distinction, a level in which they work almost with any non-drum arrangement. Keep in mind, however, in order to arrive at such snare sounds, some level of customization had to have gone on previously. So in this BeatTip, I want to discuss some different methods for customizing snares. Some of which were taught to me and some of which I developed on my own.

 The first set of snare sounds that I ever customized were part of a classic rock kit (on floppy disk) that came with the E-Mu SP 1200, the first drum machine/sampler I ever used. Some of the snares on the kit were OK, but they didn't fit where I was trying to go sonically. So after finally recognizing that none of the snare sounds fit with the feel and style of music that I was going for, I went about customizing them. At the time, I didn't have an analog mixing console to run my sounds through; therefore, I couldn't easily boost up the bass (the low end) of the sounds I wanted to modify. I did have a dual cassette recorder and a lot of imagination, though.

 So here's what I did the first time I ever attempted to customize snare sounds. I recorded every snare sound that I had to cassette tape. Next, I dubbed (duplicated) them. After dubbing the sounds, I sampled them into my Akai S950. Once inside of the Akai S950, I was really able to get creative. It wasn't that I couldn't have chopped or filtered the sounds inside of my old SP 1200, I could have. It was just that the S950 gave me a different sound, plus I felt more comfortable working with its sampling functions than those on the SP-1200.

 Next, I went around my room (at that time) with a Shure SM-58 live microphone sampling all sorts of sounds. I took a hammer and hit the bottom of a metal folding chair. I took a drum stick and rapped back and forth on a Nike sneaker box stuffed with socks (I sampled the sneaker box with and without the lid on; there was indeed a noticeable difference). Switching up between the hammer, the drum stick, and a wooden hanger, I hit the inside of a window pain. Needless to say, I sampled every sound that I could imagine, anything that I thought might be interesting. All of this sampling probably took me no more than 10 minutes, tops. By the way, I would also like to think that this process taught me more about acoustics, but I digress…

 So having sampled this wide assortment of sounds, all in the same room, mind you, I went about "matching" the sounds with the cassette versions of E-Mu's classic rock kit as well as several other snare sounds that I had. Incidentally, this was around the time that I first began to understand the process of layering sounds. Particularly, I was discovering the potential for layering, both as a means for customizing drum sounds as well as other sounds. I was also learning how layering could affect the overall texture and tenor of a beat. Not too long after that, I began applying these techniques to all of the drum sounds that I used. And after while, I stopped buying other peoples' drum kits altogether and I started sampling drums from records and literally making my own drum sounds.

 Special Note: Since I first began customizing my snare sounds, I have never used a pre-set drum sound as-is again. Although pre-set drum sounds undoubtedly serve a purpose (I have heard some pretty nice pre-set drums), I've always found that customizing your own sounds goes a long way in helping you carve out your own unique style and sound. Still, if I come across a pre-set drum sound that I like, I'll use it. Of course, I modify it to make my own.

 Short list of items great for customizing snares:

• Live microphone with an extended chord to allow you to move freely
 around your space.

• A tambourine. Any percussion instrument you can pick up from a music store will help you customize your snare sounds as well create sound composites that are unique.

• A wood block.

• At least one drum stick. (You can use two in rapid succession on any hard surface. You'll be surprised at what you can come up with after you filter and adjust the pitch on a sound created by two drum sticks.)

• A mallet and a hammer.

• A shaker.

• A real set of bongos are ideal but not absolutely necessary.

• A cassette tape player! Yes…they're dirt cheap now, and they allow for connection back to the analog age (if that matters to you). Also, nobody will ever be able to duplicate your sounds if you've used some combination involving a cassette tape.

• Some sort of wooden board, maybe a chef 's cutting board, something that you can strike with anything, like a bottom of a shoe, a mallet, a set of keys, a hockey puck, and, of course, a drum stick.

• Some studio foam.

 ---
 The BeatTips Manual by Amir Said (Sa'id).
 "The most trusted name in beatmaking."

 BeatTips Interviews Minnesota tag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00e554d2e4f4883401b8d08bda00970c 2014-11-06T16:34:32-05:00 2014-11-08T17:09:08-05:00 A Frequency Runs Through It By AMIR SAID (SA'ID) (Photo credit: Amir Said) Understanding. It's one of the primary keys to crafting quality beats. Understanding is something South Bronx-bred beatmaker Minnesota has plenty of. He understands why beatmaking (hip hop production) has moved into the forefront. He understands that one of the beatmaker's most fundamental roles is to provide the right frequency for a rapper to rap to. And, most importantly, he understands the essence of a dope beat and what it takes to become a skilled beatmaker. Minnesota (or "Minnie" as he's called by those who know him best)... Amir Said

A Frequency Runs Through It

By AMIR SAID (SA'ID)

 (Photo credit: Amir Said)

 Understanding. It's one of the primary keys to crafting quality beats. Understanding is something South Bronx-bred beatmaker Minnesota has plenty of. He understands why beatmaking (hip hop production) has moved into the forefront. He understands that one of the beatmaker's most fundamental roles is to provide the right frequency for a rapper to rap to. And, most importantly, he understands the essence of a dope beat and what it takes to become a skilled beatmaker.

 Minnesota (or "Minnie" as he's called by those who know him best) is the rare no-nonsense but jovial type. Bronx born and bread, he witnessed hip hop as a young child in the late 70s, which gives him a perspective not matched by many today. Because he studied the hip hop from its inception in the Bronx to its meteoric rise worldwide, he has an acute understanding of how hip hop culture and rap music mixed from the 70s on into the 200s. A beatmaker (producer) who enjoys discussing the intricacies of the art of beatmaking, Minnesota's knowledge of the craft runs deep, and he's also one of the biggest advocates for beatmaking education that I know. While working on an earlier edition of The BeatTips Manual, Minnesota and I got together to do a series of formal interviews. Below, I've put together the highlights of those discussions.

 BeatTips: When did you realize that you had skills to make it?

Minnesota: Well, production wise, I was always indirectly into music. It was somethin' that I always loved. So from the second that I picked it up… I bought my first beat machine in 1994. By 1995, I was selling tracks. I was taught by Scratch, the producer of KNS (he did "Déjà Vu" for Lord Tariq and Peter Gunz). I was coming out of the street, getting into music. I got the ASR; well, no, the first thing I got was the EPS 16 by Ensoniq.

 BeatTips: 1994? Good Year! So what skill do you think you've developed the most since then?

Minnesota: The tide of music is generic right now. So I really had to learn how to dumb-it down. Doin' music that's acceptable to masses of people. The music that I usually be doin' is some Advant Garde shit, music that's ahead… A lot of times when I do a beat, I don't like to do it with my ears, I like to do it with my spine. I like the no-brainer—the first 5 seconds of the beat is hittin' you.

 BeatTips: A lot of producers that came out of that mid-'90s period resisted change.

Minnesota: Not me, 'cuz see, there's always my artistic mind and then there's my hustlin' mind. There's always the mind that wants to get a lot of paper [money]. And then there's always the mind of creating something because it's some real ill shit. So there's two minds. I could do something for someone like Mariah Carey, and then I could do something for someone underground… But just being a producer, sometimes you'll be hard-headed, just wanting to go in one direction. When that happens, you become your own worst enemy.

 BeatTips: What's currently in your setup?

Minnesota: ASR-10

 BeatTips: You don't mess with the MPC?

Minnesota: Nawgh, none of that shit… It's always the n*gga, it's never the machine! I will say I lack certain keyboard sounds, the Ensoniq [ASR-10] doesn't come with all that. There was a time when I was getting ready to get rid of it and I had gone with Tariq to Virginia. And we were in the studio with Pharrell [and Chad, the Neptunes] and I was getting ready to get rid of my machine…And I had gotten to see Timbaland's setup and Pharrell's setup, and at the base of their shit was the ASR-10. It's a machine that might not be modern, but you can really get it off. I'm not close minded. There's other different shit that I'm going to fuck with. At the time, I just didn't come across any other machine that I wanted to use… I was never really big on the 1200 [E-Mu SP 1200]. And MPC's just remind me of updated 1200s. I was really more for the keyboard, 'cuz I could play by ear… The sounds in the ASR come in layers. I can strip layers, I can take two different sounds and glue 'em on, you know what I'm sayin'. Tone it, glue it on, pitch it, then I'll have a different sound.

 BeatTips: I remember once when you and I were in the studio and you were telling me about this clap that you had made; you had layered some percussion over it. Is that a stable of your sound? Do you do a lot of layering?

Minnesota: Yeah, I do a lot of layering. Layering and pitching, you know what I'm sayin'. That's the good thing about the ASR. I mean, I'm not going to say that you can't do it on other machines, but there's a certain warm sound that the ASR already comes with. Its got like a raggedy warm sound already. So even if I'm doing a keyboard beat, it sounds a little different then a nigga on an MPC.

Ghostface Killah - "Beat the Clock" (Prod. by Minnesota)

 BeatTips: When you sample your drums, how do you do it? Do you sample them dry or do you do all your effects after?

Minnesota: Nawgh, I do everything dry. I don't know if that's a downside or not; I just grew up lovin' warm music. I do all my shit dry. Unless I'm in the studio and I want to go a certain way.

 BeatTips: What do you owe your sound to?

Minnesota: I like to do music that hits you right away, music that you feel. That could be a downside, though. 'Cuz the music that's out right now is microwave shit. You understand. It comes and it goes! But me, I just like that real, real good shit. I try to give it raw. Even with my keyboard joints… I don't like to be boxed in as a producer. I can do anything. I can do Reggaeton, I can do R&B. But my forte is spittin' out the joints that I like, and I'm known for that.

 BeatTips: You did the theme song for Def Poetry Jam. Them violins was crazy. Now, for that beat, for something like that, you would think that you had to have a musical background where you were taught how to arrange music traditionally.

Minnesota: Well, what happened with that was there was a sample that couldn't be cleared. So we had violin players come in and I had to hum it to the best of my ability. I like the beat. But we got close, but far, from the original tune… Even still, it fit so good with what was going on with Def Poetry. But the original sample, they was talking house and swimming pool money to clear it! People like how the final beat came out. But honestly, in my heart I didn't like it, but that was a paper [money] situation.

 BeatTips: Right now, reflectin' back on your career, what producer or producers had the most influence on you early on? Who took you in early on?

Minnesota: SHOWBIZ!!! From Diggin' In The Crates. That nigga opened my ears! Back when niggas was just sampling. Showbiz was the one that told me that I was listening to the records all wrong. Like, I would sample 1,2,3,4. He taught me 3 ½, 4 ½, 2 ½; like to catch it so awkward where nobody would be able to figure out what you did. He was the first person that showed me how to chop. And I just took it to Mars. He was on the SP 1200… I can always say that I owe all of that to Showbiz from Diggin' In The Crates.

 BeatTips: So how were you choppin' before Show put you on?

Minnesota: Musically, it was like, when I got on the machine… you know how some producers are crazy over the megabytes and the gigahertz. I don't know about none of that shit. I'm not technical AT ALL! My setup is hilarious to producers, when they come to my house, 'cuz my shit is hooked up to a CD player! Niggas be buggin' like, "Yo, where's the studio?" I'm like, 'Fuck a studio.' I'm always more for the feeling of the music, or more for the frequency. Niggas be having the biggest studios and THEY BE TRASH!!! It's never the machine, it's the nigga. Like, if you put Pharrell on anything, he's gonna come up with something wicked.

 BeatTips: Considering what you just said, for somebody's that's never been into producing, how would you recommend they spend $3,000?

Minnesota: Man, let's not lie: If I wasn't a ASR nigga, I would've been one of the MPC niggas…an MPC something! 'Cuz that is a hot machine. I've pressed on the buttons and I like the way it does drums. You can do like the stutter kicks…You can't do that on the ASR…

 BeatTips: You got joints with the stutter kick. So how do you do that on the ASR?

Minnesota: I gotta slow the shit down. If I got a beat going at 93 beats per minute, I gotta slow the beat down to like 51 and then play in the kicks, and then turn the BPM back up. That's the downside to the machine. And the ASR doesn't timestretch. That's the only other thing that I hate. Other than that, man… But what I would recommend to someone is some kind of MPC. I hate the Triton. I never liked the sounds in it.

 BeatTips: Are you into downloading sounds?

Minnesota: Nawgh, but there was this one kid that came by who did that. He used Fruity Loops. On a scale of 1 to 10, I'd give his beats a 6. And he was like, "I dig. I don't dig like you do. I dig on the computer." He said he could find records. That's cool, but there's just certain things that you're only going to find on vinyl. Like artifacts. Extinct shit, where you could sample it, put it out, keep your mouth shut, and you don't have to clear nothing. The thing that I would like to say to all producers is Shsh!… Stop talkin'! 'Cuz this is our own "intellectual property". People shouldn't know about our oil. This is our oil! They know too much about our oil mine. Let's shut up and we can get away with a lot of shit! If they want to find the sample, let them go look…FOREVER! We tell on ourselves too much… We tell on ourselves too much, musically! Producers: Shut Up. We got the power. You know, these idiots get on the music sometimes and fuck it up. But the producers have always been the ones who have had a burning passion to keep a certain frequency alive. So we control the music, you know what I'm sayin'. A producer shouldn't be going home like, "I'm a do a street beat." These people are defining us so much that they're even fuckin' with the producers' mind now. And psychologically, it's just got a lot to do with controlling our music and everything.

 BeatTips: So what do you tell somebody who's got the skills, but they can't seem to break in… What's their next move, how should they approach it?

Minnesota: You know, breaking in is based on politics a lot of time. There's such a pretentious ethic that goes with the music game. You know, when you're dope, you're dope. But it's like…one name gets you to another! Like when you find that one person. I don't give a fuck if he's in the mail room at Sony. He knows somebody, he's gonna play your music for somebody…Point is, you gotta get with people that truly have a burning desire for your sound, your music. You gotta go with the one-name-gets-you-to-another approach. And that doesn't mean that you have to be a disloyal person. You kind of gotta go from branch to branch, to kind of move forward… And another thing for producers is get any exposure that you can! Get in front of a camera, 'cuz we all have a laid back way where we don't wanna be seen, or we don't wanna be heard. Now, it's a different era. It's about being visible. 'Cuz you can be trash, but visible and everybody's gon' come and get your shit. There is a different game being played. You just gotta have your artistic mind and your business mind, your hustler mind, like in reference to hustling your music. Like if the South is poppin', you go to the South. Stop runnin' down to these motherfuckers, tryin' to shop beats to these idiots. We in New York, but New York is not poppin' right now, 'cuz there is such a hateful, pretentious ethic that these black people use on each other. If you go in the South, yeah, you might not get $20,000 a beat, but you might get $6,500 cash, and they buy four of 'em from you at once!

 BeatTips: How would you say that you broke in? A lot people credit 50 Cent for using the Mix Tape movement as a way to break in. But I remember the Money Boss Players' mix tape movement years before…

Minnesota: Times change, and you can't be no asshole. 50 provided a climate of somethin' that really happened with music. There was some real criminal shit going on in Queens; and he's talented, you can't take that away from the nigga…We [Money Boss Players] always down-played the street game. We was a small circle, and we was always real rap niggas…The Money Boss Players was me, Lord Tariq, C-Dub, Big Eye, Eddie Cheeba, and Trè Bag… You know what though…See, people look at rap…Like, I love 50 Cent and the G Unit movement. I love Murder, Inc. I love the Dipset…I'm not a hater… I love the Ruff Riders…What happens with our music is…I don't know if I'm going off but this is something that I really gotta get out…What happens with our music is they can't push drugs on the black community anymore, like they used to.

When crack came out, it was on every corner. Every 100 feet…Crack was an epidemic. It really hit us. It tore the black community a new asshole. So now, the new drug is thug! The kids don't wanna' be the junkie no more. Everybody wants to either be the shooter or the dealer. Now there is a machismo…And it's creeping into the music…Let me put it to you like this. I like where the South is coming from with theirs. Because hard core is having its time to burn itself out. The South is bringing a playful thing into it… In '91, '92, the ganstas in the street was waiting for A Tribe Called Quest and Leaders of the New School to drop… See, music is spiritual government. It's like a silent government over masses of people. Music can make you go kill someone! I pay attention to frequencies. I'm a producer. I see how certain frequencies hit people and their faces cringe up. You can't stop music from goin' in. So the government had to control our community through the music, 'cuz they can't push drugs on us! Producers…we provide a frequency to a poet. We're frequency providers, you know what I mean…

 BeatTips: Word… Yo, to you, what's the difference between a beatmaker and a producer?

Minnesota: Well, everybody's different…And that always transcends in your music… I don't know how to explain it but check it out…You listen to Premier, you can hear Brooklyn in his music. You can hear he comes off the cloth of '80s in his music. In his frequencies that he picks to put out and sell, you can tell he's somewhat of an elder, that he's been around some shit. You can hear that he was some type of street dude in his music. Or you can take the Neptunes, the Virginia sound. You could hear that the Virginians really loved hip hop music. But they have a southern tinge on them…But you can also hear that they loved New York hip hop. We are ALL musicians!!! Even if we're sampling, we're just musicians…I don't like the producer or the beat man shit! What I'm saying is this: I know how to make songs. I'm dope at it. I'm in a song zone, now. I hate just doing beats, now. Almost every joint I do, I hear the song to it…I'm just now getting into the song part of it, 'cuz I was always trying to sell beats for money… I loved Ghostface on "Beat The Clock". Big Pun grew up over here with me. And I underestimated him, but he made me see his vision. That's what I loved about Chris [Big Pun].

 BeatTips: Some people have told me that they don't really get into listening to music. Do you listen to music on a regular basis.

Minnesota: I used too. You gotta understand. The crack babies are doing our music right now! I know I'm ol' school in a lot of ways. [These new cats] cater to a mind state, a massive mind state. The music game is fucked up because the producers are not A&Rs. You put producers and DJs behind desks, you'll get doper music; you'll get a lot more good frequencies. But you know what though, there are a lot of good things resurfacing. Like Little Brother. That sound is a certain sound.

 BeatTips: About a year ago, we was buildin', and you mentioned somethin' real about what Kanye West brought. Speak on some of that…

Minnesota: Well, if I can say one thing that I always say about him. He evened the playing field! He killt' the machismo… He brought back the 'nigga, be comfortable with yourself'. I like that shit. He just evened the playing field to where you didn't have to be just that nigga over there. And you couldn't discriminate against him because he's the producer. There's a different stigma. The public will allow you freedom if you're the beat man. But if you're a rapper, it's like, "nigga you gotta be this way"… Kanye's music feels good, let's not even sit there and lie… The first thing you gotta understand… I just want to get to somethin' about the South. If you're doing hip hop music, you're doing Bronx music! That shit, we did that shit. When I was running around playing tag in the Bronx, I was listening to southern music, if that's what it is, man Batta [Afrika Bambatta] and 'em with the "Planet Rock", and they rocked the planet with it. And then it went to Miami, and then it stretched out from there. Miami bass was South Bronx music! If you're doing rap music, whatever the fuck you do, you're doing Bronx music! The culture was birthed here. And New York stretched it out, and it went wherever it needed to go. Every sound that was ever featured, they did it hear a long time ago.

 BeatTips: How does the business work? How do points work? And Explain how you will have to chase people down for your money.

Minnesota: If you can, I think that everybody should start out with two lawyers. I mean, everybody gets jerked, it's fucked up… To a beat, there's always 200%. There's 100% writer's and there's 100% of the frequency [music]… Yeah, it's fucked up. I have had situations. It's ugly when it comes to paper…There's just so much shit…And one more thing. Yo, tell a friend to tell a friend: DO NOT FEEL BAD ABOUT CALLING A MOTHERFUCKER 90 TIMES for your paper, in one day. Because they have a reverse psychology, where they make you feel bad about calling for your money, like you're a bum. NO!!! You worked for it. Get your lawyer. These people behind the desk might make $60,000.00 a year, and now this record company owes you $50,000.00 off of one hit. GET YOUR MONEY. These jerks… These cock heads…These A&Rs. I don't know where they get them from…

 BeatTips: I hear this a lot: "If you ain't got it, you ain't got it." How do you look at that?

Minnesota: That's ignorant to say. No one has pristine eyes. Everybody's got a different story. Your background, where you come from…Your life is gonna' go the way it's gonna go…Like me, I know music. There's no arbitrary time frame, but you gotta be where it's goin' on. You can be a half-decent producer, but be around people who are consistently gettin' some money. You have to be around it… be in contact with the right people!

 BeatTips: I write that the equation looks like this: the person + the device = success. What order would you rank the machine…What order do you rank a person's background… What order do you rank where a person lives…What order would you rank a person's music introduction?

Minnesota: Motivation, Personality and Talent. Talent don't mean nothing! I got a ton of it. I should be making somewhere in the lower millions. But my personality. My brutally honest shit is a thorn in the industry. Motivation, I'm 60/40…60% motivation, 40% beware of people!

 ---
 The BeatTips Manual by Amir Said (Sa'id).
 "The most trusted name in beatmaking."

 BeatTips MusicStudy and Source Material: Gwen McCrae - "90% Of Me Is You" tag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00e554d2e4f4883401b8d0888857970c 2014-11-01T14:11:09-04:00 2014-11-02T18:12:10-05:00 The Gateway Record for My Path to Deeper Diggin' By AMIR SAID (SA'ID) Gwen McCrae Just as there are gateway beat machines and beatmaking tools, there are also gateway diggin' records. Gwen McCrae's "90% of Me is You" served as such a song for me. Before I heard this record, my approach to diggin' for records was casual. I would search for records and recording artists that were popular, or at least the ones that I had faintly heard of. When I picked up Gwen McCrae's album Rocking Chair, the goal in mind was for one song, "90% of Me... Amir Said

The Gateway Record for My Path to Deeper Diggin'

By AMIR SAID (SA'ID)

 Gwen McCrae

Just as there are gateway beat machines and beatmaking tools, there are also gateway diggin' records. Gwen McCrae's "90% of Me is You" served as such a song for me. Before I heard this record, my approach to diggin' for records was casual. I would search for records and recording artists that were popular, or at least the ones that I had faintly heard of. When I picked up Gwen McCrae's album Rocking Chair, the goal in mind was for one song, "90% of Me is You". Little did I know what was on the other side. Still, I must've listened to "90% Of Me Is You" at least 5 times a day, for six months straight.

 Everything about this song is dangerous. There's the opening guitar riff. It's warped (a sound that you hear throughout). There's the second guitar that seemingly plays off in its own rhythm, yet it never leaves the pocket of the entire groove even though it skips across the arrangement randomly throughout. There's the bass line, for the most part a simple but steady anchor that goes Up and down, down and up, up and down before it rounds off the end of the second bars with a small break in the pattern then it repeats. For the bridge, the bass joins the rest of the instruments for a change in the pitch. Then there's the strings, a polite soaring pattern that puts you in the mind of a Gamble & Huff produced arrangement, only hear the strings do more simmering rather than soaring.

 Of course, I'd be remiss if I didn't mention the drums. The hi-hat has a ticking sound that floats over the top of everything and punches in and out with urgent gracefulness all at once. The kick and the snare pattern is a simple K K S K K S pattern (I cover drum patterns in great detail in The BeatTips Manual), but because it' so tight, it's combination with the hi-hat makes for an incredible swing rhythm and shuffle, perfect for Gwen McCrae to ride the groove with her earnest and searingly soulful vocals.

 It's worth pointing out that I learned more about how to create drums and drum patterns from this song than I did listening to any hip hop/rap song. From how to create swing naturally through the use of certain drum sounds, to how to shuffle my hi-hats, to how to incorporate the right velocity and sustain for open hi-hats, to how to anchor my kick drums so that their movement sits with the arrangement... No doubt, "90% of Me Is You" was important to my understanding of music and my development as a beatmaker.

The music and video below is presented here for the purpose of scholarship.

Gwen McCrae - "90% of Me is You"

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---
 The BeatTips Manual by Amir Said (Sa'id).
 "The most trusted name in beatmaking."

 BeatTips Top 30 Beatmakers of All Time tag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00e554d2e4f4883401b8d085ed7e970c 2014-10-28T10:33:48-04:00 2014-11-03T19:02:54-05:00 A Top Beatmakers List with a Deeper Meaning and Purpose By AMIR SAID (SA'ID) NOTE: If you've already read the disclaimer about the nature of the BeatTips Top 30 Beatmakers of All Time, you can jump down to the rankings and click on the corresponding name for a helpful breakdown of each beatmaker. Whenever lists of this sort appear, they're generally presented with little or no serious discussion about the list beforehand. Perhaps that's fine for pure entertainment purposes. But for readers to get the best learning experience from a review list of this kind, I believe there are a... Amir Said

A Top Beatmakers List with a Deeper Meaning and Purpose

By AMIR SAID (SA'ID)

 NOTE: If you've already read the disclaimer about the nature of the BeatTips Top 30 Beatmakers of All Time, you can jump down to the rankings and click on the corresponding name for a helpful breakdown of each beatmaker.

 Whenever lists of this sort appear, they're generally presented with little or no serious discussion about the list beforehand. Perhaps that's fine for pure entertainment purposes. But for readers to get the best learning experience from a review list of this kind, I believe there are a number of things that readers should know up front. Thus, I'd like to offer an important disclaimer about the nature of the BeatTips Top 30 Beatmakers of All Time list and the criteria used to determine which beatmakers were added to it.

 The Nature of this List

The BeatTips Top 30 Beatmakers of All Time list is one of the first sub-projects of the BeatTips Art of Beatmaking Education Project (ABEP) that I recently started. The fundamental purpose of the BeatTips ABEP is to help preserve, promote, and expand the beatmaking tradition of hip hop/rap music through a series of specialized projects. In this way, the BeatTips Top 30 Beatmakers of All Time list is meant to serve as a discussion, MusicStudy, and general research portal.

 Next, the BeatTips Top 30 Beatmakers of All-Time purposely omits the word "producer", and here's why. In the hip hop/rap music and beatmaking traditions, the term "producer" is often synonymously used to describe a beatmaker. But as I point out in my book The BeatTips Manual, this is not always appropriate particularly because the definition of "producer" can be murky: "Hip hop production is the creation of hip hop music. And although this description broadly covers every dimension of hip hop/rap music, the term hip hop production is used most commonly to refer to the making of the hip hop/rap instrumental — the beat. So technically speaking, a beatmaker, one who makes beats, is a hip hop producer; ergo, a beatmaker is a producer." But "producer" is a loose term that can be used to describe anyone within the process of the final sound of a recording. Simply put, a beatmaker is someone who actually makes beats. A beatmaker can indeed be a producer; in fact, most double as both. (Further, being a beatmaker is not in anyway less noble than being a producer!) However, and this is a critical point, a producer need not be a beatmaker. Hip hop/rap music is littered with people who have "producer" credits, even though they never actually made (or assisted in the making of) any beats. Thus, The BeatTips Top 30 Beatmakers of All Time List only includes beatmakers. Of course, each beatmaker on this list has also rightfully earned the title of producer.

 There are four other important things to know about the nature of The BeatTips Top 30 Beatmakers of All Time list. First, the purpose of this list is to educate. Hopefully, new beatmakers will be introduced more appropriately to some prominent beatmakers that they've only heard about in passing. And beatmaking veterans will be reminded of just how far the beatmaking tradition has come. In either case, I'd like this list to prompt some serious exploration and reflection from readers. Preserving and expanding hip hop/rap's beatmaking tradition requires historical examination, present-day review, future speculation, and, at times, constructive (helpful) debate.

 Second, this isn't a list to appease anyone that I know personally. I can count a number of beatmakers as friends; and I've interviewed many well-known and lesser-known (but quite acclaimed) beatmakers. That aside, I've made no effort to show favoritism in the making of this list. My objectivity — and naturally subjectivity — in the making of this list was based on the catalog of work of each beatmaker that I seriously considered.

 Third, this is not a list intended to be safe, so as to not offend anyone. Top lists of any kind tend to offend one group or another, so I'm all right with that. And certainly, a top 100 list would have given me enough coverage to include everybody's favorite. Even a top 50 would have allowed more room for adding all of what many would consider to be the obvious names. Still, a top 30 list presents a challenge, especially when you consider beatmaking's classic past and its mixed present. I'm not interested in gathering up an easy list of names. Instead, I want readers to seriously think, perhaps even broaden their own thoughts about how, why, and where they rank their favorite beatmakers.

 Fourth, The BeatTips Top 30 Beatmakers of All Time is not a "hottest in the game right now" list. I deeply respect longevity, particularly because it requires talent, drive, integrity, and hustle. I'm less interested on shining a light on just this moment in time. In fact, I believe all-time lists offer a better learning (and discovery) experience for readers. This is especially important for new beatmakers who are often less familiar with the names and critical works of earlier times.

 The Criteria

When making the BeatTips Top 30 Beatmakers of All-Time list there were many different things that I considered, far too many to mention here. But there are eight main criteria that I used in making this list:

 (1) Body of work. Without the work speaking for itself, there could be no serious consideration of any beatmaker who made this list. And while I did not deem it necessary that each beatmaker on the list had a massive catalog, the sheer number of beats (recognized and respected songs) of certain beatmakers could not be ignored. Therefore, a larger body of acclaimed work was appropriately given more preference. Also, special attention was paid to how many songs a beatmaker had within the cannon of hip hop/rap music, as well as whether or not a beatmaker contributed to the career of another pivotal hip hop/rap artist's career. I should further add that the body of work that I've considered here is hip hop/rap only! Whether a beatmaker could or did produce music outside of the hip hop/rap genre had no bearing on where I ranked them with respect to hip hop/rap music. If I were ranking all-time horror film directors, it would be silly to include the comedic works of those directors as consideration in where they should be ranked. Likewise, neo-soul, drum-n-bass, dub step, etc. has no influence on a hip hop/rap ranking.

 (2) Critical acclaim for a clearly distinguishable and/or signature sound. Preference was given (as I believe it should have been), to those beatmakers who either established their own well-recognized signature sound or contributed considerably to one or more of the eight distinct periods of beatmaking (In The BeatTips Manual, I examine and detail all eight periods).

 (3) Minimum of at least three critically acclaimed (not just top sellers) songs, albums, collaborative works, etc. within the last 30 years. Part of being a standout in any art medium is recognition within the field. Sometimes this means big hits, other times it means well-respected songs that most skilled beatmakers know of or appreciate for what they are. And note: this particular criteria reflects the reality that some of the best in any given field are overlooked for various reasons. However, this does not diminish their work. Moreover, history is loaded with artists who didn't get their proper appreciation until late in or well after their careers.

 (4) The number of lyrically acclaimed rappers — in their prime — who rapped over their beats, and/or the subsequent "classic" songs created over the last 30 years. This is of particular importance for two reasons. First, it serves as proof as a particular beatmaker's automatic place in the canon of hip hop/rap music. Second, it demonstrates the popularity and respect of a beatmaker among the best rhymers of their and other times.

 (5) Real, not misperceived, impact and influence on other top beatmakers
 of all time. Everybody has to be influenced by someone. But who influenced most of the beatmakers on the BeatTips Top 30 Beatmakers of All-Time list? Not surprisingly, many influenced each other.

 (6) Real, not misperceived, overall impact (or likely impact) on the beatmaking tradition. In other words, what was their recognizable impact on the beatmaking tradition itself? For instance, what developments, styles, techniques, ideas, etc. did they contribute to the beatmaking tradition?

 (7) Longevity. How long was a beatmaker able to maintain his career. For various reasons, some beatmaker's careers were cut short, while others have continued to blossom since they first began. Thus, longevity wasn't measured in a sheer number of years, but in terms of body of work within the frame of time a beatmaker made his name. Think of it this way: Jimi Hendrix's entire body of work is just four years…

 (8) Projected influence and impact on future beatmakers. Of course, this is speculation at best. No one can predict the future. Still, we can recognize the lasting contributions made to the beatmaking tradition by certain beatmakers.

 One final note about this list: It's not static. That is to say, the beatmaking tradition is constantly expanding, therefore, this list will necessarily need to be adjusted to account for new production output by beatmakers, as well as new research by myself. Thus, each new year, in September, a new BeatTips Top 30 Beatmakers of All-Time list will be generated.

 (Homage to DJ Kool Herc, Grandmaster Flash, and Afrika Bambaataa — the grandfathers of modern beatmaking.)

#30 • Statik Selektah

#29 • Dame Grease

#28 • True Master

#27 • Bink

#26 • The Beatnuts

#25 • DJ Khalil

#24 • Havoc (of Mobb Deep)

#23 • Rick Rubin

#22 • 9th Wonder

#21 • Alchemist

#20 • Buckwild

#19 • Madlib

#18 • Nottz

#17 • Prince Paul

#16 • DJ Paul and Juicy J

#15 • Kev Brown

#14 • Showbiz

#13 • DJ Tomp

#12 • Just Blaze

#11 • The Neptunes

#10 • Q-Tip and Ali Shaheed Muhammad (of A Tribe Called Quest)

#9 • J Dilla

#8 • The Bomb Squad (Hank Shocklee, Eric "Vietnam" Sadler, Keith Shocklee, Chuck D)

#7 • Kanye West

#6 • Dr. Dre

#5 • Large Professor

#4 • Pete Rock

#3 • RZA

#2 • Marley Marl

#1 • DJ Premier

 ---
 The BeatTips Manual by Amir Said (Sa'id).
 "The most trusted name in beatmaking."

 Nottz - "Shine So Brite," An Illumination of Beatmaking's Impenetrable Force Field tag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00e554d2e4f4883401b8d083ab10970c 2014-10-24T07:37:16-04:00 2014-11-01T00:03:53-04:00 Song Punctuates Beatmaking's Ability to Suspend Hip Hop/Rap Music in Time By AMIR SAID (SA'ID) 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 become about what constitutes a dope beat. But hip hop/rap music, perhaps more than any other twentieth-century American popular music form, has the incredible power to reuse, retool, reconceptualize, and recontextualize the very fundamentals that gave rise to its existence. Because of beatmaking, hip hop/rap music's chief compositional process, hip hop/rap is one of the only popular Western music... Amir Said

Song Punctuates Beatmaking's Ability to Suspend Hip Hop/Rap Music in Time

By AMIR SAID (SA'ID)

 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 become about what constitutes a dope beat. But hip hop/rap music, perhaps more than any other twentieth-century American popular music form, has the incredible power to reuse, retool, reconceptualize, and recontextualize the very fundamentals that gave rise to its existence. Because of beatmaking, hip hop/rap music's chief compositional process, hip hop/rap is one of the only popular Western music forms that can rotate in new generations of music makers who feature sounds that authentically span any of its pivotal styles and eras.

 This means that any serious student of the beatmaking tradition can reproduce any one moment in hip hop/rap's history (particularly its most soulful moments), in the exact style, sound, sonic template, feel, mood, and texture. Thus, for all intents and purposes, hip hop/rap music has an impenetrable force field. One in the form of a legion of beatmakers (now and in the future) whose commitment to hip hop/rap's core musical processes, protects (in effect) against its own demise.

 By perpetually reusing and recalibrating beatmaking's most unique processes and methods, in the finest, dare I say truest manner, these beatmakers ascend towards the graces, and sometimes ranks, of beatmaking's most important architects and pioneers. To be certain, these beatmakers that I speak of (both masters and novices) may not always get the recognition from the mainstream — or even the underground — that they deserve. However, all of these beatmakers embrace and enjoy their personal role in helping to preserve the hip hop/rap music and beatmaking traditions. This is why I've always appreciated Nottz and the music that he makes.

 Nottz Makes Timeless Hip Hop/Rap Music

It is from the basis of this context that I was compelled to breakdown Nottz' song, "Shine So Brite." Nottz, who's music is by and large both a fine example of and homage to the soulful "boom bap" sound of the hip hop/rap music tradition, is acutely tuned in to the essence of using recorded music in his creative process. And his mastery of the art of sampling (as well as the art of arrangement) is on full display in his song "Shine So Brite."

 From the first note, "Shine So Brite" aims to intimidate. The "1" drops, and over the aggressive, mid-pitched guitar sample is a fist-full-of kick that makes the "twang" of guitar strum spring forward like a countdown to a nefarious missile launch. In fact, this is why "Shine So Brite" bounces so hard: the punch of the primary sample phrase lands on the "1," "2," "3," and "4." Over the top of the kick is a truncated crash-cymbal that stalks the full measure, stabbing, in lock step with the chromatic pattern of the primary sample phrase, at the quarter points of each bar.

 As for changes, the organ parts that Nottz works in are absolutely stone cold! Eerie and deadly serious, the organ phrases skip over the core rhythm, sounding like Jimmy Smith in a 1960s Harlem rib shack. Then there's the sampled vocal harmonizing, a spiritual musing that directly reinforces the soulful casing and arrangement of the beat. Finally, the "scratch-hook," a fundamental mainstay of hip hop/rap music, is used here in conjunction with Nottz' rapping of a refrain, which is itself doubled-up with a high-pitched vocal rendering of the same refrain. And to round out the hook section, Nottz goes with a very light (barely audible) melody synth line that glides and fades in and out almost without notice.

 With "Shine So Brite," Nottz is not taking hip hop/rap "back" to a glory time any less or more than he is helping to take it forward. This is the beauty and real genius of what Nottz is doing with "Shine So Bright." He's tapping directly into the energy and essence of one of beatmaking's (hip hop'/rap's) most notable schools of sounds, staying within its fundamental parameters, and giving it a fresh and entirely respectful interpolation. The result: A timeless sound that engages on its own merits and terms — a sound that both old and new beatmakers can enjoy, study, and appreciate alike.

 The music and video below are presented here for the purpose of scholarship.

Nottz – "Shine So Bright"

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Nottz – "Shine So Bright" (Official music video)

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Nottz "Shine So Brite" from Raw Koncept on Vimeo.

---
 The BeatTips Manual by Amir Said (Sa'id).
 "The most trusted name in beatmaking."

 The Mediocre Standard is Here to Stay; But Beatmaking Leads the Fight tag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00e554d2e4f4883401bb079e352b970d 2014-10-23T12:14:22-04:00 2014-11-01T09:49:32-04:00 Reward for Mediocrity Means that Rap Will Never Go Back to its Golden Eras, Where Vanguard Art Growth was the Norm By AMIR SAID (SA'ID) The norm in hip hop/rap music has changed. Success, both in the mainstream and underground, used to dictate that music makers strive for some modicum of excellence and originality. But now there's a new norm: the idea that mediocrity is not just acceptable, it's worth pursuing. "Success" is just as good a subjective word as any other when talking music. How one defines success goes a long way in shaping their thoughts and actions. But... Amir Said

Reward for Mediocrity Means that Rap Will Never Go Back to its Golden Eras, Where Vanguard Art Growth was the Norm

By AMIR SAID (SA'ID)

 The norm in hip hop/rap music has changed. Success, both in the mainstream and underground, used to dictate that music makers strive for some modicum of excellence and originality. But now there's a new norm: the idea that mediocrity is not just acceptable, it's worth pursuing.

 "Success" is just as good a subjective word as any other when talking music. How one defines success goes a long way in shaping their thoughts and actions. But if by success we generally mean three main things: notoriety, respect, and financial compensation, then success is still a constant. Fortunately, where skills-based beatmakers and rappers are concerned, having skills and craft integrity is still a constant. But for number of other beatmakers and rappers, the notion of skills, higher standards, and craft integrity has dissolved, and for valid reason.

 Entry Point and Master Level: What Trap Music and the East Coast Sample-Based Styles and Sounds Can Show Us About the Safeness of Mediocrity

Trap music has a low entry threshold. As a beatmaking style and sound, its barrier to new beatmakers is quite low; as a rhyme style, its barrier to new rappers is equally low. In both cases, one can seemingly begin immediately without any skill, little knowledge of the art of beatmaking, or experience. Further, in this scenario, one can almost instantly make the sort of trap music that's passable for much of what has already been accepted as decent. This isn't a knock against trap music; it's the reality of trap music's range. Just as with any beatmaking or rhyme style, there's a range to the style and sound. Thus, trap music has its entry point and its master level. For instance, making trap music on the level of DJ Toomp and T.I. is certainly not easy. Getting to their level (or thereabouts) requires years of practice, failure, experience, and, of course, skills and talent.

 Likewise, the sample-based east coast style and sound has its entry point and master level. But the entry point for the sample-based east coast style and sound has a high entry threshold. Sure, anybody can get a sampler, a turntable, and a record or download an MP3 and start sampling. But, instantly making sample-based beats that are passable for much of what has already been accepted as decent requires a great deal more of skill and experienced. (Incidentally, this is one reason so many find it hard when they start out sampling; they thought it was easy before ever actually trying to do it.) Making sample-based beats in the vein of DJ Premier, RZA, J Dilla, or Kev Brown requires years of practice, experience, studying, lots of patience, knowledge-building, and, of course, skills and talent.

 But what happens when the lines between the entry point and the master level, the top and the bottom, are blurred? More specifically, What happens when the entry point becomes just as acceptable — even competes with — the master level? When the entry point emerges as a lauded alternative to the master level, mediocrity takes on a whole new significance.

 Odd Future: Much to Do About Something; Large Professor and Nas: Chasing the Standard of Their Time

 Odd Future

 Odd Future's an interesting case. When they first came to my attention, I liked them. They showed promise. And while I didn't consider them to be mediocre, I didn't deem them to be great either. But I remember some years ago when Odd Future were media darlings, when journalists and bloggers alike blushed over how "fresh" and "creative" they thought Odd Future was. Some even made comparisons to Wu-Tang Clan. In the midst of the media hype surrounding Odd Future (which was driven in part by there supposedly must-see live-show antics), what was lost was that the beats (some dope by any standard) that they were using weren't anywhere near as sharp or thought out as RZA's, and the rhymes that they were reciting (some clever and thoughtful) were not quite on the same level of any Clan member.

 In terms of beats in particular, Odd Future was praised by some as if they'd hit upon some futuristic style and sound that was going to revolutionize beatmaking. During Odd Future's media-buzz heyday, I recall reading a number of write-ups that used one key word as the chief descriptor of their beats — "sparse." Sparse was used so often by writers struggling to say something knowledgeable (or good) about Odd Future's beats that it undoubtedly made some think that sparse was the new genius beatmaking method.

 What few people cared to recognize or point out was that sparsely made beats (particularly those that feature little more than a kick drum, snare, hi-hat, and some odd synth sounds) were perhaps the best that the collective of teenagers could do at the time, not the intentional stripped-down genius of a Rick Rubin or Showbiz. Odd Future had something, but their something — not to be confused with spectacular — was recognized for being levels beyond what it actually was. As the story goes, they were young, just having some fun, and sharing their music for free on YouTube. But fun aside, clearly the collective took music seriously, even if they did at times act disinterested, as if the whole thing was one big shoulder shrug. And what makes Odd Future so interesting, in the scope of this article, is that they didn't pursue mediocrity, yet when you look at their media buzz, it's hard not to believe that the effects of mediocrity elsewhere didn't help to shape how graciously Odd Future were received by the press. Still, what standard was Odd Future chasing?

 Large Professor and Nas

 By comparison, consider a teenage Large Professor, who at 16 years old was a serious student of beamaking and at the beginnings of an iconic career. Or by further comparison, consider a teenage Nas (Nas was still a teenager when Illmatic came out!) connecting with fellow teenager Large Professor. In the case of Nas and Large Professor, look at the standard of their time: Marley Marl, Kool G Rap, Rakim, Paul C., DJ Premier, Pete Rock, Slick Rick, KRS One, Chuck D, just to name a batch of what was out when they took up the challenge of being hip hop/rap music makers. Mediocrity wasn't acceptable when Large Professor and Nas began making hip hop/rap music. They couldn't YouTube their way into popularity and then convert it into success. There wasn't a music press eager to pore over their work with undue hyperbole. At the dawn of their careers, mediocrity wasn't rewarded, it was avoided. During that time, this meant that all of the fun was in taking the art form seriously; which meant building skills up to the scrutiny of your peers; which meant being a vanguard at times. And all of this meant that the art form grew. This used to be the standard, the norm.

 The Vanishing of Peer Scrutiny

But what if you don't care about the scrutiny of your peers? Even worse still, what if peer scrutiny dissolves in favor of a generally accepted mediocrity? With no standards in place, taking the art form seriously or building up skills or becoming a vanguard is nothing more than a voluntary act. In this scenario, the market (mainstream or underground) isn't demanding these things of an artist, as the widespread acceptance of (or indifference to) mediocrity shields the talentless and less serious music makers from any real (i.e. market punishable) scrutiny. If a 15 year old with no experience can make an entry-level trap song that competes with a master level trap song, tell me what incentive does that 15 year old have to further build his rhyme or beat skills? If the access to success and popularity are no longer buffered by skill or talent, knowledge or experience, then mediocrity inevitably becomes the norm.

 Some would argue that this makes it better for the true artist to rise to the top. I beg to differ. The bi-product of a generally accepted underwhelming-ness is that the noise thickens and genuine enthusiasm, for anything, wanes. What's considered to be good becomes whatever's passing; while great becomes overshadowed by the weight of average, making anything not mediocre the "other." And this can be dangerous, too, as the "other" can unduly be regarded as greatness. The truth is, mediocrity grants coverage; it shields people — do what everyone else is doing, and you don't stand out. This way, no one knows if you're good; more importantly, they also don't know if you're bad. Just reach for something that merely passes, make a YouTube video, and you have a shot. Hasn't the formula proven successful time and again over the last decade?

 Reward for Mediocrity and the Good News for Beatmaking

Reward for mediocrity means that hip hop/rap will never go back to its golden eras, where vanguard art growth was the norm. There are some who love to wax wise and say that it's all a cycle, that it's going to return to how it once was. Wrong. While there are some cycles in music that may repeat, there are others that die off when one era ends and another begins. And how it once was in hip hop/rap music is over. For good. No amount of wishful thinking or nostalgic zeal will ever displace the fact that the 90s, the 80s, or 70s are never coming back! Mediocrity has found a permanent home in the psyche of modern hip hop/rap music making, and the only thing left to hope for is that some future music makers avoid it. Still, mediocrity notwithstanding, art forms grow one way or the other...

 The good news for beatmaking in all of this is that, overall, the beatmaking culture has always shunned mediocrity. There still is a rite of passage in the art of beatmaking: You don't rise up until you've developed the skill and acquired the knowledge and experience; and you don't get a name until your peers respect you. This doesn't mean that mediocrity doesn't find its way into beatmaking, it just means that no one who takes beatmaking seriously will ever accept mediocrity as a viable alternative. In this sub-culture of hip hop, the lines between mediocrity and excellence are never blurred (for instance: BeatTips Top 30 Beatmakers of All Time). Which is why beatmaking will always continue to lead the fight against mediocrity in hip hop/rap music.

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 The BeatTips Manual by Amir Said (Sa'id).
 "The most trusted name in beatmaking."

 John King and the Story of Chung King Studios tag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00e554d2e4f4883401bb079ca48a970d 2014-10-21T10:47:54-04:00 2014-11-01T10:08:33-04:00 Pioneering Recording Studio and Its Owner Helped Give Hip Hop/Rap Music New Dimension By AMIR SAID (SA'ID) John King, Founder/Owner of Chung King Studios (Photo by Amir Said, Copyright © 2007, 2014 Amir Said) Chung King Studios is quite possibly the most important commercial recording studio in rap's history. Indeed, before D&D or Unique, or any other top flight New York City recording facility, it was the Mighty Chung King that mostly paved the way for rap music's commercial studio potential. Yet today, very little has been written about the Chung King story and the man behind it. So to... Amir Said

Pioneering Recording Studio and Its Owner Helped Give Hip Hop/Rap Music New Dimension

By AMIR SAID (SA'ID)

 John King, Founder/Owner of Chung King Studios (Photo by Amir Said, Copyright © 2007, 2014 Amir Said)

 Chung King Studios is quite possibly the most important commercial recording studio in rap's history. Indeed, before D&D or Unique, or any other top flight New York City recording facility, it was the Mighty Chung King that mostly paved the way for rap music's commercial studio potential. Yet today, very little has been written about the Chung King story and the man behind it. So to help preserve the significance Chung King, of one hip hop'/rap's flagship commercial recording spots, I interviewed its creator, John King, and wrote a piece about it. Check this out...

 It's 1979. Sugar Hill Records owner, Sylvia Robinson, records a make-shift trio of unknown rappers she dubs, the Sugar Hill Gang. The song they recorded in that afternoon studio session was "Rapper's Delight," a song that would go on to become the first mainstream hit record—and the second commercially recorded rap song (by mere months)—in hip hop/rap music history.

 Meanwhile, in that very same year, musician/engineer, John King starts his own label, Secret Society Records. Within a short time, King morphs his label into Chung King House of Metal (later simply Chung King Studios), an upstart recording studio in New York City's Chinatown.

 If Sylvia Robinson's fateful Sugar Hill Gang recording session opened the door for hip hop/rap music, then what took place early on inside of Chung King Studios, specifically, the collaboration that took place between John King, Steve Ett, and Def Jam records, blew the door off. And if Sylvia Robinson gets the credit for first realizing the commercial viability hip hop-rap music, then perhaps John King should get the credit for first realizing rap's commercial recording studio potential.

 In the beginning, John King's tiny, cramped, one-room conclave was a mainstay for local rock and punk acts. But after he hooked up with Rick Rubin and Russell Simmons, the brainstorms behind Def Jam Records, everything changed. Affectionately dubbed the "Chung King House of Metal" by Rubin (a nod to the old Chinese restaurant that stood below the Secret Society Records headquarters, King officially changed the name of his company in 1986), the graffiti-walled high-energy spot was the de facto musical home for Def Jam Records in its humble beginnings.

 In the 1980s, Chung King Studios was where artists like LL Cool J, Public Enemy, The Beastie Boys, and Run-DMC cooked up the sounds that would propel rap music and hip hop culture on to the main stage of America, in a way that was aggressive and overpowering, not to mention lucrative for the studio's founder. Thus, by the mid 90s, the demands of success and the need for expansion prompted King to relocate his establishment from its Chinatown digs to its present day location on Varick Street in New York's chic-hip Soho neighborhood. Building off of it's pioneering position as hip hop/rap's music first powerful commercial recording studio, in the 90s, Chung King quickly became one of the most (if not the most) sought after recording studios for both the elite and rawest street artists of hip hop/rap music.

 Gold Room, Chung King Studios (Photo by Amir Said, Copyright © 2007, 2014 Amir Said)

More than a decade later, Chung King Stands as one of New York City's most infamous recording studios. The multimillion dollar facility, which boasts no less than five state of the art rooms, is one of the world's premiere recording facilities. And the spot still remains as one of hip hop/rap music's most celebrated recording homes.

 But even with the Manhattan space of a large scale corporate law firm, the eclectic clientele list of industry darlings and burgeoning indies, and a technology arsenal that of a mini NASA, the heart beat of the original small, cramped space still echoes throughout the new spot. And there's no one more responsible for that then the studio's creator and owner, John King.

 Genius and music have always been linked together. But what's unique about the eclectic genius of John King is the fact that it comes coupled with a forward-thinking cultural sensitivity. From the beginning, King had an affinity for good music. In the mid 1980s, the major record labels' wholesale stance on rap music (and hip hop culture in general) was dismissive and disrespectful, to say the least. But king, a musician and entrepreneur who championed indie fervor as well as quality music, found rap to be fresh and magnetic, sincere and powerful. In fact, he saw at that time what the majors could not, would not see: That hip hop/rap was a musical and cultural revolution that would never be turned back.

 As with most geniuses, there is a non-stop motor of energy. John King is no different in this regard. When we got together to discuss everything from the history of Chung King Studios to the future of the global music industry, he was buzzing with excitement over future endeavors and his recent leveraging of New York's collapsed music scene. Candid and swift with his words and thoughts, King's excitement was pure and reassuring. And I found his understanding of the
 early blue print of beatmaking to be exceptional. Below is the first part of our discussion. (Editor's note: To date, my interview of John King is one of my most rewarding.)

 John King: I was there when the first LL record was made… I was working with a group of people the other day, and they were like, 'hey, John, where do you think it's going?' And I said, 'it's going everywhere it's ever been.' It's going to hip hop. It's going to have some rock in it. It's gonna have some funk music in it. It's gonna have some reggae in it.

 BeatTips: Yeah, the initial eclectic mix that hip hop has always been.
 John King: The thing is… it's also songs. Straight hip hop… I went back to listen to Raising Hell [Run-DMC] the other day, cuz I worked on that record like everyday, you know, for like 5 months.

 BeatTips: As a producer or engineer?
 John King: I was just owner of the studio at that point in time, but I was the one in there like, 'come on, let's turn up the bass drum… let's use this sound; let's use that sound.' Rick Rubin was working with Steve (Ett) and I on the beats and doing this and putting together the ideas and everything else. And at that point in time I was kind of an engineer/ producer.

 So I was getting the sound. The reason that we did it in the first place is because I wanted a more heavy bottomed beat on top of rap music. Rap at that point was an 808, boom tish boom, boom… I was just somewhat determined. When I started doing what I was doing, basically chasing away all the music… cuz New York City is… you know, now, it's just all about money, now, I mean, damn! What happened to New York? I don't wanna move to another place just to have a studio. I spent 7, 8 years of my life building this joint… I built this place by hand, myself.

 BeatTips: Talk to me about the time before you started your record label, Secret Society Records.
 John King: You know what it is, I had a studio in my bedroom when I was 8 years old. I had a Roberts Crossfield tape recorder. And I was like overdubbing and making sounds… I'd skip school and go see Jimmy Hendrix at Manny's [Manny's Music Store], cuz I knew they were coming to do a record signing, so I'd skip school and come in and see 'em. I saw the English invasion and the whole Motown thing when I was a kid, and I never wanted to do anything else, but fly jets.

 BeatTips: What about your parents, did you come from a musical background?
 John King: My father was a musician in Nashville when he was a kid. And I was always in the basement creating projects, when everybody else was doing their homework, I was out building big projects. So my father, he was a great man, he looked at me and said, "John, I don't think you're going to be a school kid. You're working at like five times the speed of all the other kids. You're creating things, I don't even know what they are." Every time the car didn't work I'd be like, "Dad, let me take a look at it." Then he try it and it would turn over and he be like, "Get out of here. He's 9!" I mean I just loved stuff. I loved cars, I loved electronics. I had the whole house wired so my t.v. would shut off if my parents came down the hallway. I'd be watching T.V. with these little headphones, and I'm supposed to be asleep because it's a school night, right. And so they walked down the hallway and this relay would click and it would turn off my T.V., then I'd pretend like I was asleep. I mean I was going to the junk bucket and finding parts and things, and building stuff. And I got bored with that. Right now, technical is not as exciting to me as it use to be when I was younger. Now, I like being a full blown John Hammond/Barry Gordy. That's what's going to make me proud of my life, when I finally reach that point, where I'm doing lots of different kinds of music, and I'm allowing new artists to flourish. That's the part that's going to make me proud… You know there's really two kinds of artists right now: really successful and nobody else. That's not right. That's not right! I wanna undo the undo, and put it back the way it was back when I was a kid.

 BeatTips: What was going on in your life in those years leading up to '79, when you first opened up your studio?
 John King: Those were the early days of the thing. That was like the inception of all this stuff. It was exciting, it was new. It was a different sound because it was a different sound!

 BeatTips: But did you have that vision… Did you know what you wanted to do? Like around that time, and even before in the early 80s, did you have an idea of what you wanted to do with your record company, as it morphed into what it was: Chung King?
 John King: Yeah, I pretty much always had a forward vision. Now, what I'm doing is going to a full blown record label. I'm going full blown Chung King Records. I'm going to do a multiple of things. It's going to be at tiered level. See what happened was, all these record companies got to a point where only certain artists could be put out. I want to put out the rest of the artists. You don't have to spend a million dollars on artists to do what they're doing. You know, it's crazy, the Temptations wouldn't get signed today! It takes a Barry Gordy… Give me the songs, give me the performers, give me this, give me that, give me a lot of different stuff going on, and let me put out a lot of different stuff. Throw things against the wall and see what sticks.

 You know, you gotta give people a chance. Cuz the thing is that… you know, New York City is not doing a good job of keeping the arts here. It's so expensive to be here. It's ridiculous. The landlords are a pain in the ass. Nobody will let… Nobody says this shit but there's a certain amount of, I call it "music prejudicism", going on with the landlords in New York City. They don't want studios anywhere near them. I like the music world. And unless I plan on moving to LA and being an LA music person, I'm sticking with New York. I'm sticking with what we did originally. I'm kind of going back to the roots.

 BeatTips: How did the relationship with Def Jam and Rick Rubin and Russell Simmons come about?
 John King: It was actually Russell [Simmons] and I. It wasn't Rick Rubin so much. Russell and I got together on the stuff early on, and I was working it for him for the right price. You know, Russell's a good promoter. He knew when somebody knew what they were doing, for the right price. Price was important, we didn't have a lot of money back then. And then Sony came along and then everything just blew from there… I don't even remember much from those years… We were that busy. It's not that I was drunk or high, I was just busy. I was fun… the thing is if you're really good at what you do, you don't notice it, cuz you're busy doing it. You know like somebody says, "Did you go to the party last night?" And I'm like, "What party?" I don't know… I was busy…

 BeatTips: Even though nowadays you can do everything at home, what is it about the mystique of a studio of Chung King's stature…
 John King: It's also… there's certain things that you do at homes… It's the same thing as having a home office. You find yourself staring at the refrigerator. You know, you turn the T.V. on and stuff. I mean, it's a different thing. When you're in a studio like this, it's not just the equipment. It's just this, it's not just that… but you do notice a difference when you're dealing with high-tech equipment. When you got real high-tech professionals working the equipment. When there is no noise; when you need a certain sound. And the keyboard's 25 feet away from you and you can bring it in. There's a certain magic. And with a lot of the new artists that are doing stuff, just because they're new doesn't mean they're not sharp, you know. All these guys that are top-notch, you know like, Timbaland, they were new artists at one point in time… You gotta give 'em a chance, you gotta bring 'em up. You can't have the same artists… America's famous for having the same artists for 50 years. And that's bullshit! And what's happened now is it's gotten worse. Because there's only like two or three little funnels that people are feeding through.

 BeatTips: Speak to me about this: how did you approach attracting both rockers and rappers at the same time.
 John King: The thing is…the truth of the matter is, you know, first we took a track off of a rock album. I just took the drum beat and Steve Ett and I put it all around the room on mic stands, and put clips, you know, and it was just tape (2" tape). There was a Studer machine in one end of the room, and we had the tape wrapped all the way around the room, so we had about a 30 second loop. And we looped the thing, then we played to it. [Editor's note: What John King describes here is clearly an early form of sampling!]

 BeatTips: This was live drum hits?
 John King: Then we put some cymbals, and then I got my DMX drum machine… I mean I was the drummer… This was back when Heavy D's first record; this was back when you know The Beastie Boys, you know, License To ILL… boomp – pap-bb-boomp boomp… That was those two fingers [pointing to his fingers].

 BeatTips: Give me a grand picture of the studio back then, describe the size.
 John King: It was smaller, it was simpler, it was a single room facility over on Centre Street. It was a little more private. There wasn't a front desk or anything. It was just me and… Well, there wasn't any staff. It was me and then I had an assistant… Back then, we didn't even have assistants. It was me, then I had another engineer working with me.

 BeatTips: So when did you make the move from the old spot to what we know now?
 John King: Well, we worked that spot for a long time. And then uh, 14 years ago, we moved in here.

 BeatTips: You were mainly responsible for most of the acoustic design right?
 John King: Oh, I designed and built every stitch of it.

 BeatTips: What in particular made Chung so suitable for hip hop/rap?
 John King: It's not just suitable for hip hop. It's suitable for everything. But the thing about it is that you have to be able to… first of all, you have to be able to accommodate a lot of people in the control room, that's one big thing. All of the control rooms were a lot smaller. There's more people on hip hop sessions. And because there's more people involved there's more people grooving to it. And it's more of a groove oriented thing. Therefore, you got your "thermometers" all over the room. You know when it's working. And like this room (Gold room) was built for me. And then once I finished it, I never got in it again because it was booked solid for 7 years.

 And 9/11 really got in the way of the music business. It was just… I mean the major labels were crunching… Everybody was crunching after that. I worked my ass off, and I did real estate deals to keep this place open. Otherwise I would've been open. Cuz… I don't know if you remember the business back then, but you know, all of your clients were $400 cash clients, some dudes on the corner, you know...

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 The BeatTips Manual by Amir Said (Sa'id).
 "The most trusted name in beatmaking."