The Hip-Hop Thread

[SD_Eagle5]

gangstarr - step into the arena

Great album

[Diomedes]

vigy suggested only three thru five, so let me suggest as your sixth:

either Beastie  Boys -- Paul's Boutique or De La Souls' Three Feet High and Rising

ya

[ice grillin you]

ha i realized that after i did it...in my head i did 6-3 = 3....wow

pauls boutique is a nice choice but 3 feet high and rising doesnt even make de la souls top three

[Diomedes]

oh?  I should go to the library I suppose

[hbionic]

I like Nas, but not enough to consider Illmatic.

I'm a beats first kind of guy...and although the album has classics...it doesn't make the cut in my own top 10.

I like step in the arena. It has the feeling of what early New York hip-hop was. It has that scratchy, sound to it that puts you back in the last 80's.

Step in the arena
Who's gonna take the weight (sick ass sound)
Just to get a rep.

Those are the best on that album.

I'm not sold on the Beatnuts. Again their beats are off and on.

I think my favorite beatnuts beat is (I'm not even sure what the song is called)...'Are you ready?' ? I think that's it.

I'll have to listen to the album to consider it.


Dio, De La Soul is timeless. Weird but I haven't heard all of De La Soul's songs before. Isn't that crazy?

Beastie Boys are always classic. Pauls Boutique is one of the greatest pieces of art out there. Mid -80's, dope beats, timeless, it's a consideration...but for some reason...they get old. I have to be in the mood for beasties.


Cypress Hill's debut album is a consideration. I was a huge Cypress Hill fan and although their sound is old....something about being able to sing every song, knowing every word that makes me consider them. I used to do  a good B-Real too (but, who didn't).

[ice grillin you]

altho its not my favorite album illmatic is definitely the best album ever made...perhaps of any genre...the beats are off the charts good on the whole thing...pete rock - q-tip - primo - large professor all in their prime on one album...a producer lineup of that caliber has never appeared together on one record and never will again

and ive heard people say they arent big beatnuts fan but ive never heard anyone say their beats were the problem...strange that you dont like them hb...street level is arguably the best produced album ever


step into the arena came out in the spring of 1990 and along with peoples instinctive travels to me defines the beginning of the 90's boom bap era...its one of the few perfect hip-hop albums

de la soul in order

1. de la soul is dead - A++
2. stakes is high - A
3. buhloon mindstate - A-
4. 3 feet high - C+

[phattymatty]

altho its not my favorite album illmatic is definitely the best album ever made...perhaps of any genre...the beats are off the charts good on the whole thing...

truth.

[phattymatty]

guess the song...

[SunMo]

hahaha

[BigEd76]

Pimp C....ya later

[ice grillin you]

Old School Legend, The 45 King, Teaches Producer Stans How To Make A Beat


Bronx native the 45 King has enjoyed a career as a hip-hop DJ and producer that spans over two decades. With classic contributions like Eminem's "Stan" and Jay-Z's "Hard Knock Life" under his belt the 45 King shared with SOHH some simple guidelines for fans interested in making their own beats.

1. Go Digging

Visit Record Stores, the Salvation Army, record conventions, that's how I used to look but now I have a lot of records so I don't need to look anymore. More than likely I didn't listen right when I got home, or maybe I did, I don't remember. Either way, once you find something you like you make it up for now or you make it up for later. I found "Hard Knock Life" (from the Broadway Musical Annie) in the Salvation Army. I made the drums, I put the bassline over it, I sampled the record. [Watch the "Hard Knock Life" video here]

2. Less is More

With [Queen Latifah's] "Ladies First" there was a King Errisson sample in it. King Errisson drums and somebody played the bassline for me and from the bassline I came up with the hook and Latifah did the rhyming. And some horns. That was about it. If anything I underproduce, I don't overproduce. [listen to "Ladies First" here]

3. Sometimes It's Just Luck

When I made "Stan," I was watching television, doing bills and the song ("Thank You" by Dido) was on the coming attraction of a movie - it's in the end of a movie I believe and they were advertising. It was in a loop, so the ad kept coming on because it was the cable directory guide and that's how I heard the song and I taped it the third time around. That's how I found the sample, I looped it off the VHS and made the record. Actually, I didn't know who it was until we sold the record. [Watch the video for "Stan" here]

4. Do What You Know

"This Cuts Got Flavor" - Latee

The sample on that is [The] Fatback Band and I just used a guitar riff. I added a bassline and had a good rapper and drums, "You Better Think" by Lynn Collins drums. Nothing really made me use those drums, they were just the drums I decided to use. I got both samples from records I had in my collection. [listen to "This Cut's Got Flavor" here]

5. There Are No Rules

With "The 900 Number," [also used by DJ Kool for the classic party record "Let Me Clear My Throat"] Aaron Fuchs gave me a handful of records and one of those records was Marva Whitney's record "Unwind Yourself." I took the tenor sax riff from the beginning of Marva Whitney's record. I said let me put a drum under the sax and slow it down. That was about it. There isn't a right or wrong way to make a beat. I just do what I like. I'm so blessed people like the same things I like because that's what I basically try to do. [listen to "The 900 Number" here]

The Come Up

I started deejaying... in, I would say the 9th grade. First I was deejaying as DJ Mark, by the time I started making music it was DJ Mark the 45 King, then DJ Red Alert said why don't you make it the 45 King?

My name came...from me deejaying with the 45 rpm records. I wasn't scared to use them and they were easier to get. They were cheaper. It wasn't easier but I had no problems using those records. A lot of other DJ's would rather have albums.

What helped launch my career was ... I made a record called "Just Beats," it was a breakbeat album and I had a lot of breaks, a lot of different beats on there and Red Alert started playing it a lot in his shows. Red Alert put me on, he played more stuff and more stuff and people just assumed 'hey make a record with Mark, Red will play it."

The 45 King's Play-o-graphy

Selected Discography

Eminem - Stan 2000

Common - Car 1999

Jay-Z - Hard Knock Life (Ghetto Anthem) 1998

Queen Latifah - Name Callin' 1996

C&C Music Factory - Do You Wanna Get Funky? (Remix) 1994

PMD - Thought I Lost My Spot 1993

Diamond D - Best Kept Secret (Remix), Check 1, 2 1992

Apache - Do Fa' Self 1992

MC Lyte - Big Bad Sister, Kamikaze, Like a Virgin, Absolutely

Madonna - Keep it Together -(Remix) - Sire, 1990

Eric B. & Rakim - Let The Rhythm Hit 'Em (Remix) 1990

Digital Underground - Packet Man (Remix) - 1990

X-Clan - Heed The Word Of The Brother 1989

Eric B. & Rakim - Microphone Fiend (Remix) 1989

Salt-N-Pepa - My Mic Sounds Nice (Remix) 1989

King Sun - Fat Tape, It's A Heat Up 1989

Chill Rob G - Ride the Rhythm (album) 1989

Queen Latifah - All Hail the Queen (album) 1989

Lakim Shabazz - Pure Righteousness (album) 1988

GangStarr - Movin' On, Bust a Move, To Be A Champion1987

Latee - This Cut's Got Flavor, Puttin' On the Hits 1987

[Magical_Retard]

you guys should really pick up lupe fiasco's the cool.

really good stuff. the flow is insane.

[ice grillin you]

educate yourself on the famous kool moe dee busy b battle

http://youtube.com/watch?v=WtejGcQB75M


arsenio halls last show

tribe
yoyo
mc lyte
guru
treach
krs
wu-tang clan
mad lion
das efx
fu schnickens
cl smooth

classic shtein


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BH6D4LvYZwA

[phattymatty]

wow, that is great, never saw it before.

you hear 8 diagrams yet?  any good?

[Seabiscuit36]

Its better than Iron Flag was.