This is straight up the formula. Bonus points if you can combine two or more loops into something coherent.
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This is all very inspiring and motivating. Gonna try to make some stuff tonight!
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there’s a thread about this dude elsewhere, but check out jake one’s videos for some classic techniques:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCslonn5c5wO25RrXAMtfvcQ/videos
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Here’s a great playlist by DJ Premier explaining how he made some of his biggest hits:
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Hell yeah, some good stuff here. I actually banged out something half-decent today 
Didn’t have the chance to record it yet, but will def. share it here.
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One thing to consider when listening to what you are considering a standard, is that the MC is occupying most of the space. If you remove them the beat will be rather simple with space left for the MC. Arrangement wise sections(intros, verse, chorus) are kept to 8 bar increments. Use accent/sample hits on turnarounds etc.
If you are making an instrumental than most of that goes out the window. You can then pursue whatever you like but if you stray too far you will loose the essence of the boombap you’re aiming for.
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I’m glad I dug out that Mike Adamo book. It’s a gem.
I used it to program some breaks in the DAW last year, which was definitely interesting as a mental exercise, but I’m finding that since the SP404MKII has no step sequencer it’s the incentive I need to actually internalize the grooves and get some of them under my fingers.
Limitations can be a wonderful thing. You can definitely achieve much more realistic results in the DAW with all the deep sampling and multiple round robins, but because you can just program them (and essentially be on autopilot doing it - paint by numbers style) it’s not easy to force yourself to actually learn how to play them, and get them really into your repertoire. For me, playing the groove is the only way to feel it, so the SP is once again proving to be a great investment.
Definitely a slow process. I spent a bunch of time this morning learning to play this break. It’s made a bit more complicated by the fact that you need to make ghost notes versions of your kicks and snares and have those on different pads since there are no velocity layers like on the MPC. Thankfully the SP has lots of pads and sample time.
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This thread actually inspired me to write some stuff myself and this also gives me inspiration for laying down a specific type of beat. Hope i can make it soon because I guess that the magic for me in most of the tracks I love is in the synergy between instrumentals and flow/voice. Remove either one, and it immediately feels kind of boring to me. This is good for me to keep in mind when I find my own beats too boring (although it is fair to say that is probably also true in these early stages 
)
.
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That sounds like a very inspiring challenge. For the same reasons you mentioned, especially the limitations, the SP404mk2 is definitely on my wishlist. However, I am into NGNY so I’m going to work with what I got for now.
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Soooo many good tips and perspectives in this thread, really great!!!
I second everything that’s been said here, being a hip hop head myself and having struggled with the same issues mentioned by OP.
I want to reiterate the importance of the MC to a hip hop track, especially boom bap. The vocals bring variation, interest and add to the flow. You’ll notice that many modern “LoFi study beats” would be hard to rap over (I recommend you try to really see what I mean! :)) — since those beats are meant to stand on their own, their purpose is different and thus they have elements in them that do what the vocals would do plus they tend to have more song structure & variation than a 90s boom bap beat.
EDIT: The songwriter Ralph Murphy insists that, as listeners, we can only pay attention to either lyrics OR melody, never both in equal measure/with equal awareness. That’s why, in his book, hip hop doesn’t have lead melodies, because what is being said is supposed to be front and centre.
That’s where recreating the songs you love comes in. It will teach you what sort of sounds were used (usually: sample loop or chops, sampled bassline or chromatically played bass chop, drum loop or individual drum hits played in, the occasional FX/filler sample), how they were processed, and crucially, how the track sounds without the MC flowing over it. You’ll be surprised how “boring” (in the sense of monotonous or lacking variation) many of these beats were — but if you’ve ever rapped, you’ll know that that’s actually what an MC will look for…a beat that is fairly steady (read: monotonous) so that the MC can direct the flow of things.
I give you an example: A Tribe Called Quest - The Hop. Listen to that tune…it’s one of those 90s classics. Listening to the tune, it’s vibey, interesting, good movement forward…I could listen to it on loop for a long time. Then focus just on the beat — it consists of a 4-bar looped sample, bassline included…the only variation comes from the occasional scratch sample, the rest is all on the MCs
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For that reason, I’ve been enjoying some of the “golden age” of SP beat tapes shared on the SP thread. Interesting offshoot of boom bap, but not as “muzac” as what lofi became.
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Yeah, definitely use what you have.
The guy that has the SPvidz channel actually posted a Vlog today about how buying a new sampler definitely won’t make you a better beatmaker and how it’s best to stick to and master one machine. I totally agree.
For me, it’s more about changing circumstances and what not that I ended up with a new hardware sampler. If anything, it’s made me into a worse beatmaker at the moment, as I’m having to figure out a different workflow from scratch, but that’s part of the fun for me right now. Getting the creative juices flowing again and having a new goal of mastering a different machine and it’s eccentricities. Keeping it light and fun at the moment.
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I’ve made a playlist of the remakes I’ve done so far, will add some more I did on the AR!
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLCwSo9JjkisWruycnWNbVut7xLMZkYddW
If you guys have any remakes done on elektron machines let me know, I’ll add them!
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These are so good man.
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Yeah, I absolutely love these, they are so well done.
Unfortunately, I didn’t have time to record the stuff I made yet, but it’s getting there
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nowdays im kinda bored of mc-ing (there is always ofc the exceptions)
in general i will listen to beats and i also love to listen to beats with scratches on instead of mc.
i got friends that scratch and always admired them and at lives i get more amped when they scratch than when the mcs rap
also on my sp404og i would sometimes put a sound on each beat that gets masked by the other sounds, then use the looper fx to make it “sing”, so as to have variations that sound organic, like scratching… just giving of ideas
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Interesting technique. I’ll have to try this.
Thank you for the book recommendation - got a copy yesterday and it’s incredible!
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Cool. Glad you like it!
I started producing music mainly with Boom Bap, and really focussed on this style of music for a few years. I‘m a 90s Wu-Tang Skateboard kid 
Anyway, I learned most listening to a lot of original sample vs sample flip youtube videos and by watching guys like this one doing beats from scratch. Just watch how other people chop and also very important choose specific samples helped a lot. I tried to recreate something similar and just learned my own ways of approaching flipping samples.
Good beat making videos also always me a lot of inspiration. I couldn’t wait to get to my Mpc and do my own beats.
Listening carefully to each simple detail of your favorite beats is key. And reading threads like this of course 
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