Making beats : the art of sample-based hip-hop / Joseph G. Schloss ; with a new afterword ; foreword by Jeff Chang.

Print version of record.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Despite having created one of the most important musical cultures of the last fifty years, hip-hop composers who use digital sampling are rarely taken seriously as artists. But hip-hop deejays and producers have collectively developed an artistic system that features a complex aesthetic, a detailed array of social protocols, a rigorous set of ethical expectations, and a rich historical consciousness. This book explores the goals, methods, and values of this surprisingly insular community. Focusing on a variety of subjects - from hip-hop artists' pedagogical methods to the Afro-diasporic roots of the sampling process to the social significance of "digging" for rare records - the author examines the way hip-hop artists have managed to create a form of expression that reflects their creative aspirations, moral beliefs, political values, and cultural realities

Introduction -- "It's about Playing Records" : History -- "It Just Doesn't Sound Authentic" : Live Instrumentation versus Hip-Hop Purism -- Materials and Inspiration : Digging in the Crates -- Sampling Ethics -- Elements of Style : Aesthetics of Hip-Hop Composition -- The Outer Circle : From Samplers to Ears -- Conclusions.

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