Making Beats MUSIC/CULTURE A series from Wesleyan University Press Edited by George Lipsitz, Susan McClary, and Robert Walser My Music Listening to Salsa: by Susan D. Crafts, Daniel Cavicchi, Gender, Latin Popular Music, Charles Keil, and the Music in and Puerto Rican Cultures Daily Life Project by Frances Aparicio Running with the Devil: A Thousand Honey Creeks Later: Power, Gender, and Madness in My Life in Music from Basie to Heavy Metal Music Motown—and Beyond by Robert Walser by Preston Love Subcultural Sounds: Voices in Bali: Micromusics of the West Energies and Perceptions in Vocal by Mark Slobin Music and Dance Theater by Edward Herbst Upside Your Head! Rhythm and Blues on Central Avenue Musicking: by Johnny Otis The Meanings of Performing and Listening Dissonant Identities: by Christopher Small The Rock ’n’ Roll Scene in Austin, Texas by Barry Shank Singing Archaeology: Philip Glass’sAkhnaten Black Noise: Rap Music and Black by John Richardson Culture in Contemporary America by Tricia Rose Music of the Common Tongue: Survival and Celebration in African Club Cultures: American Music Music, Media and Sub-cultural Capital by Christopher Small by Sarah Thornton Metal, Rock, and Jazz: Music, Society, Education Perception and the Phenomenology by Christopher Small Musical Experience Popular Music in Theory by Harris M. Berger by Keith Negus Music and Cinema Any Sound You Can Imagine: edited by James Buhler, Caryl Flinn, Making Music/Consuming Technology and David Neumeyer by Paul Théberge “You Better Work!”: Manufacturing the Muse: Underground Dance Music Estey Organs and Consumer Culture in New York City in Victorian America by Kai Fikentscher by Dennis Waring Singing Our Way to Victory: The City of Musical Memory: French Cultural Politics and Music Salsa, Record Grooves, and Popular During the Great War Culture in Cali, Colombia by Regina M. Sweeney by Lise A. Waxer The Book of Music and Nature: Symphonic Metamorphoses: An Anthology of Sounds, Words, Subjectivity and Alienation in Thoughts Mahler’s Re-Cycled Songs edited by David Rothenberg and by Raymond Knapp Marta Ulvaeus Music and Technoculture Recollecting from the Past: edited by René T.A. Lysloff Musical Practice and Spirit Possession and Leslie C. Gay, Jr. on the East Coast of Madagascar Angora Matta: by Ron Emoff Fatal Acts of North-South Translation Banda: by Marta Elena Savigliano Mexican Musical Life across Borders False Prophet: by Helena Simonett Fieldnotes from the Punk Underground Global Noise: by Steven Taylor Rap and Hip-Hop outside the USA Phat Beats, Dope Rhymes: edited by Tony Mitchell Hip Hop Down Under Comin’ Upper The ’Hood Comes First: by Ian Maxwell Race, Space, and Place in Rap Locating East Asia in Western Art Music and Hip-Hop edited by Yayoi Uno Everett by Murray Forman and Frederick Lau Joseph G. Schloss Making Beats The Art of Sample-Based Hip-Hop Wesleyan University Press Middletown, Connecticut Published by Wesleyan University Press, Middletown, CT 06459 www.wesleyan.edu/wespress Copyright ©2004 by Joseph G. Schloss All rights reserved Cover illustrations by Shawn Roberts Text design by Julie Allred, BW&A Books, Inc. Printed in the United States of America isbnfor the paperback edition: 978-0-8195-6696-6 Wesleyan University Press is a member of the Green Press Initiative. The paper used in this book meets their minimum requirement for recycled paper. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Schloss, Joseph Glenn. Making beats : the art of sample-based hip-hop / Joseph G. Schloss. p. cm. — (Music/culture) Includes bibliographical references (p. ), discography (p. ), and index. isbn0-8195-6695-0 (cloth : alk. paper) — isbn0-8195-6696-9 (pbk. : alk. paper) 1. Rap (Music)—History and criticism. 2. Hip-hop. 3. Turntablism. 4. Sound recording executives and producers—United States. 5. Turntablists. I. Title. II. Series. ml3531.s35 2004 781.64'9149—dc22 2004043013 5 4 To my parents, John and Suzanne Schloss, and to our ancestors Contents Acknowledgments xi 1 Introduction 1 2 “It’s about Playing Records”: History 25 3 “It Just Doesn’t Sound Authentic”: Live Instrumentation versus Hip-Hop Purism 63 4 Materials and Inspiration: Digging in the Crates 79 5 Sampling Ethics 101 6 Elements of Style: Aesthetics of Hip-Hop Composition 135 7 The Outer Circle: From Samplers to Ears 169 8 Conclusions 195 Endnotes 199 Bibliography 209 Interviews by Author 217 Discography 221 Index 222 About the Author 226