Hiphop Beat Battle #18: Voting and Feedback

The Lounge Mission Briefs
#1

Thanks everyone of you who submitted a beat. :alien: :bomb:

I’ve only listened to the first few bars of every entry, but I’m impressed :slightly_smiling_face:

There’s a very different sounding selection of beats but given the sample sources, they all have a similar mood, which is perfect.

We’ll go with the traditional voting method. :spiral_notepad:

Select three beats.

1st- three points

2nd- two points

3rd- one point

Hope you all give a complete listen.

And we’ll say the last day for voting is Wednesday 22nd feb— when all timezones get there.

14 Likes
Elektronauts Hiphop Beat Battle #18 The 18th result
#2

Fuck me if the bar doesn’t get higher every month… :man_facepalming:

9 Likes
#3

Yeah!

Just had a quick flick through and some absolutely quality tracks in this one :smiley:

Looking forward to doing a deep dive and awarding some points.

5 Likes
#4

I’m actually ready to vote… strong field as I expected.

#1 is track one, rough in all the right ways, had me feeling proper Brit Hip Hop vibes, loved the staccato strings in particular, fantastic choice and the beats were super nice…

#2 is track 2 (this isnt a pattern forming) loved the 90s feel of this, the bubbling beat and sax loop were excellent, on point scratches too…

#3 track nine, great sample choices, loved the brass and the beat smacked hard…

Well done again guys Its always humbling to hear all the mad talent we have here .

6 Likes
#5

Wow. Just wow. I went from being really proud of my submission to knowing I didn’t stand a chance at winning pretty quickly there, lol. I’m still really proud of my beat and really proud to be a part of this competition. I’m not quite ready to vote yet, too many high quality submissions to chose from. Anything that got over four stars on my first listen will get a second chance to dethrone the clear winner, which I will hold off on mentioning until I’m ready to cast my votes. But wow! Well done folks.

5 Likes
#6

Okay, this is super hard to do but here goes…

#1 for me is track 2. This was a clear winner at first but it got tougher on the second listen through my top picks. Track 2 still wins though, for me anyway. I think Dilla would’ve dug it.

#2 for me is track 17. Such mighty heat. Just incredibly powerful. Well arranged and super heavy.

#3 for me is track 1. MF DOOM superhero vibe. Love it.

Honorable Mentions:

There were two that could have won the whole match but I felt suffered a bit from including acapellas or vocals that weren’t obvious to me what the words were. Track 7 might have been my top pick if you take Biggie off of it entirely. Track 5 was IMO rivaling my #1 pick until vocals came in that I couldn’t really understand. Is that French? I also really loved 9, 10, 11, 14, 15 and 16, especially the second beat on 16 and even the ones I didn’t mention were good/have lots of potential. An excellent collection in all, and I’m honored to be a part of it. Salute!

Edit: after further listening, Tracks 3 and 4 both deserve honorable mention as well. And please don’t be hurt if yours didn’t make an HM or a placement. I thought over half of the submissions were on par with or better than my own and everything was worthy of a few bumps at the very least. I have now learned firsthand what I already expected, I need to turn up the heat if I want to compete in this room. This is a formidable group of producers with a wide range of interesting flavors. A few of these beats are just ghastly. I would rap on 2, 7, 5, and 1 for real. I want to Collab on a beat with whoever did 3. 5 has Madlib vibes (as does mine IMO). K. I’m gonna shut up now.

7 Likes
#7

There are so many flavors to absorb here! Serious cheers to everyone that submitted :beers:
It’s hard to pick which beat is “better” than the other because they’re so different in style!

  1. TR : 11 - NICE STAIRSTEP FUNK + CUTS!
  2. TR : 04 - NICE ATMOSPHERE!
  3. TR : 01 - NICE N GRIMEY!

There were really nicely crafted submissions like: TR02, TR09, TR14, TR17. Everybody had some great material, but I felt hard pressed to decide between the former top 3 above, and my vice induced brain decided accordingly.

Excellent styles from @everyone! I don’t think I’ll ever feel as conflicted in life as participating/voting in these challenges :tongue:

Thanks for hosting @Yabba this was a lot of fun and it’s always a treat to play among hitmakers!

9 Likes
#8

It was really hard to chose a top three. I think there are six that could have easily been in the top three depending on my mood when I listened. If Acapella snippets were not allowed, I would’ve had a different top three entirely. This was crazy fun to be a part of. Big ups massive to the homie @Yabba for hosting and big up yaselves eryone. There’s some straight heat on this tape.

4 Likes
#9

Pffff…. This is insane. How can I only pick three from this list?

Gonna need some time to listen a few times before I am ready to vote.

6 Likes
#10

Ofcourse it had to be, it’s all star weekend.

3 Likes
#11
  • #1. The atmospheric build-up and the beat are organic and the breakdown is on point. The dissonance adds a lot to the track, the ending just as impressive.
  • #2. The funky beat is perfect for the great rap verses over it. The breakdown and bridge are interesting, and they add complexity with just a few elements.
  • #3. The snare hits so hard! This beat could benefit from more progression and evolution, but it’s still very good.
  • #4. Incredibly funky. The filtered bass line is super smooth, and the sound is just so good. It’s hard not to be envious of this beat.
  • #5. I appreciated the brief pauses that add a nice touch to the rhythm, and the mysterious vocals were well-selected. Overall, I enjoyed this beat and found it to be an interesting and enjoyable listen.
  • #6. Is that Zelda? I like the cello a lot. The straightforwardness of the beat really works well.
  • #7. The beat was a bit heavy on the lyrics side, and could benefit from some more fundamental depth or connection. i really like the scratches though.
  • #8. The stereo field is exceptional, and the sample selection and sound are on point. However, the rhythm felt way too loose to me. Tightening just that part up could bump the overall quality up considerably. Maybe even all the way up to my top contenders.
  • #9. The hook and bass line are great, but there is a bit of a disconnect between the hook and the verse. However, it does add to the contrast and makes the song even more interesting.
  • #10. This beat is very immersive, making it feel like I’m in a futuristic helicopter experiencing an alien apocalypse. It’s chaotic and long, but in a good way.
  • #11. This beat is just so good! The way the musical elements interact with each other, the vocal snippets, the horns, and the scratches are all impressive. The progression is perfect.
  • #12. The bass line is great, and i like the forward driving beat. drumming could be a bit tighter. The synth work is the most impressive part, and the lead solo is really nice.
  • #13. This beat is just plain good, with nice, hard-hitting percussion elements and a perfect balance between the horns and other elements. The progression is impressive, and the jungle sounds complete the mental picture.
  • #14.The drop is fantastic, with a hard-hitting snare and a nice filter sweep and stutter effect, sp404?. The clackclack… vocal sample is really cool, were is that from? great sample selection.
  • #15. The beat is too soft, and the build-up could be faster. However, the minimalist style is really nice and well-done.
  • #16. The funkiness is great, especially with the stutter effect. The telephone sound? is cool, and the breakdown is perfect. The build-up to the second beat is impressive, and I want to hear more.
  • #17. The snare and gloomy bass are hardcore, the flute melody is a bit too friendly for my taste in relation to that. It does provide an interesting contrast though. All in all, it’s a great beat!

3: #10, for the immersiveness, thanks for ruthlessly projecting me into a scifi/horror movie.
2: #11, for the display of mastery, thanks for providing a blueprint to improve the craft on

and finally

1: #4, for the inspiration, looking forward to buying to your whole album.

11 Likes
#12

Dope it’s finally there

1 Like
#13

  1. Dark & Heavy, could imagine GZA spitting on this

  2. Lovely vocal chops, nice sample layering with the other lead sound

  3. This beat feels nasty and drunk, in a good way!

  4. This has a great ATCQ / Soulquarians vibe , love the filtered drums. I would put this in one of my “relaxed hiphop” playlists

  5. This feels like a soundtrack somehow, could use a bit more variation

  6. Very nice use of ear candy, did I here some Navi sneaking in from the Zelda battle?

  7. Love the vibe, but relies too much on Biggie to carry the beat

  8. Creative glitchy stuff, I like!

  9. Love the use of the chops, this hits hard!

  10. This feels like some weird nightmare, LSD
    trip. Very creative soundscapes and textures. Was this done on an OT?

  11. Necksnapper, jazzy vibes, slamming drums. My number one, @Yabba, is this you again?

  12. Very creative. Nice dark retrowave feel.

  13. Very laidback, smooth blending of samples.
    Love the gurgle/bubbling kind of sound

  14. Oh yes, those drums! Nice variations as well. Somehow, this just pushes all the right buttons.

  15. Very relaxed vibe. Could use some more variation with the main sample

  16. Boom bap, boom boom bap. This is my kind of beat. Also love the outro part

  17. Slamming drums, love the pirate vibe this has for me somehow. Is that a handpan I hear? Only gripe with it is that the high end is a bit to present for me.

#1 Track 11
#2 Track 4
#3 Track 14

I know it’s becoming cliché to say this, but I do feel that we have an incredibly talented and creative group of beat makers here.

It’s so much fun to learn from all of you, thanks!

9 Likes
#14

This one was tricky. I changed my mind about how I ordered these a few times. But this is where I’m at. These were my four favorites.

First place - Number 9. This one, at its core, felt like a great late 90s sort of white label era boom bap beat. But it’s also got this cinematic layer on top of it. And they work together really well. I really like the drum programming too.

Second Place - Number 16. The chops on this one feel really weird. In a good way. The change up in the back half is cool too but I would have liked to stay with the first variation a bit longer. It just sounds odd in a way that I really like. I’m looking forward to hearing the explanation for this one in particular.

Third place - Number 14. This is another one with some odd and interesting sounding chops. Everything is just really well put together. And I like that filter effect.

Honorable Mention

Number 1. Like track number 9 this one has a cinematic feel to it while at its core it was a nice boom bap beat. This is one very narrowly didn’t make my top 3. I really liked it.

10 Likes
#15

Thanks for all votes so far. :slightly_smiling_face:
still quite a few to go, I’ve had a couple of run throughs with the beats and it’s a really strong selection, in fact I wish I’d done a top 5 instead of top 3
I’ll vote last as host usually does.
Tomorrow is the last day GMT also including part of Thursday due to time zones so you can still vote early Thursday

I’ll @ those who haven’t voted later, once I recheck those who’ve submitted but are yet to vote

8 Likes
#16

#1=9
#2=1
#3=4

Great work all!

7 Likes
#17

Amazing quality again. Overall a slightly darker vibe as usual, which I really liked.

#1 Track 4
#2 Track 9
#3 Track 1

HM: honestly most of them. 2, 3, 11 in particular

6 Likes
#18

1->13
2->15
3->11

7 Likes
#19

1 -> 2 - Smokey soul, vibe, vocals slot in really nicely, nice horns in the pocket, good breakdown

2 -> 11 - Nice funky groove, made me nod my head, very nicely mixed. Sounds very pro and everything absolutely on point - Very nearly took the top spot

3 -> 14 - Beat hits hard, lots of space in the mix love the little vocal chops, hypnotic, head nodding, like the dropdown

HM 4 - Great chunky sub bass, pocket groove, other elements sitting nicely underneath, good progression, not enough elements to keep interest all the way through, or it would be in top 3

HM 9 - Like the sudden jump and change in energy, liked the water pour sample, some nice cinematic vibes

Spectacular quality as always on these. :heart_eyes:

7 Likes
#20

1 -> 14
2 -> 9
3 -> 3

6 Likes