Articles

Guns & Hip Hop

After reading about the latest hip hop related shooting, I started to wonder about how closely connected guns are to the hip hop culture. Just this past week, Young Jeezy performed in Toronto, Ontario, then another performance in London, Ontario. In both cities, gunfire erupted at the Young Jeezy concerts and details of the two shootings are still sketchy, but mostly it points to gang activity....

Hip Hop Needs An Investment

Both Jay-Z and Kanye West were paid a total of $6 million to perform in Dubai at a 16 year old's birthday party! Normally I don't post news like this but it got me thinking; is this good for hip hop? $6 million is a lot of coin, even for hip hop music. Sure, Jay-Z and Kanye are mega-superstar rappers that are household names, but is that amount of money justified?...

Should You Use A Recording Studio?

The main thing to consider is - do you need a studio? Most of us make beats at home on our gear then dump the tracks into our favorite computer DAW, then mix down from there and call it a day. But what if you want a really good sound? Most people think they know what it takes to have a proper mix, but it still comes down to whether you're planning on releasing music to the masses, or to just a few...

Are You In A Beat Making Slump?

I've seen it countless times before, members posting in our forums about how they're at a roadblock they can't seem to pass so they get frustrated and need a time-out. Beat makers tend to hit the pads and keys when it's convenient and when there's inspiration, but nobody really takes a step back and realizes that after a while it seems like a routine....

Are Deejays a Dying Breed?

There was a time that has come and gone; a magical time that seemed to only last a few short years yet had a great impact on hip hop, from the west to east and everything in between. Deejays were in abundance, everyone seemed to know someone that scratched (or was trying to), and Technics 1200s were flying off the shelves faster than you can say "Ahhh" or "Fresh"....

5 Things Hip Hop Producers Should Do More

Producers are a special breed; making beats, guiding an emcee, and networking are common steps that are made, but some producers tend to get lost along the way and need a way to get back on track with their productions. Here are 5 things that producers should do more....

Rappers Need Beef!

One of the great things about rappers and rap music is the use of vocabulary. Words can be used to convey a message, from political uprising to telling a story about a nightclub adventure. However, lyrics as of late have drifted to a common zone, where most rappers tend to sound the same with the same content and flow, and even in some cases, the same persona....

Why There's No Feeling In Today's Rap Music

Why? Money. And I don't mean just that the music industry is ruled by money, no. I also mean that the artists today are too focused on money itself when they're rapping and telling everyone how much money they have (or would like to have)....

7 Things Hip Hop Producers Need To Stop Doing

Making music is fun. Often times being a beatmaker/producer can be quite challenging trying to come up with something fresh and at the same time stay creative enough to compete with the current musical trends. However, producers usually stick to their own formula, which is a good thing, but sometimes it's a bit over-done....

8 Things DJ's Need To Stop Doing In Battles

In the 1980's, the DMC (Disco Mix Club) first introduced the yearly DMC Mixing Championships, which quickly exploded and ushered in a wave of new DJ's ready to show their skills through scratching and beat juggling. In the mid-90's, DJ battles were popping up everywhere, in practically every city and giving local unknown DJ's a chance to prove themselves....

6 Things Rappers Need To Stop Doing Live

Rappers, emcees, MC's, lyricists, spit specialists (okay I made that one up), but whatever you want to call them, rappers are a special breed. I've seen my share of live rap performances and time after time I notice the same things that bug the hell out of me and that I think should be corrected. Note to rappers reading this article: just because everyone else does it, doesn't mean you should too....

The Lost Art of Beat Juggling

Beat Juggling has always been the favorite part of DJ'ing for me, ever since I saw famous guys like Roc Raida, Mista Sinista, and Babu tear it up on the 1's and 2's back in the 1990's during DMC competitions, exhibitions, and live on stage in front of my own eyes. Being able to take two records and manipulate them in a way that you actually recreate them, making your own break is awe-inspiring....

The Lost Art of Freestyle Battling

Freestyling is dope. To witness an emcee freestyling off the top of the dome is literally an art form among hip hop heads worldwide. Being able to spit out words on the fly while at the same time thinking of what to say next is something truly special. So where has it gone?...

Attention Hip Hop Producers: Just Make Music!

When creating music, usually us hip hop producers / beatmakers tend to find our own style, then eventually we get accustomed to doing things a certain way. For example, it's common to see producers say that they start a track with a melody first, then they add drums, then they'll find a sample to loop over everything, etc. From my experience, it's okay to do that but you must also "think outside t...

Less Is More!

One of the most overlooked aspects of today's beats is that a lot of times there's too much going on. What I mean is that when it comes to making rap music, less is always more. Most producers, including myself, will make a 4 or 8 bar loop and be happy with it, but then many times we'll ask ourselves "What's missing in this track?"....

The Art of Hip Hop Sampling

Once I started to figure out how to sample, that's when the doors opened up for me. The possibilities seemed endless. I started to sample pretty much anything I could because I was still in my experimental phase when it came to making beats, and eventually I ended up finding my comfort zone....

Production Junction

The first ever round table of IllMuzik Hip Hop producers and beat makers gather to discuss the state of music production in 2002....

Make Money With Your Beats

The ultimate goal for all producers and beatmakers - make money. Of course, a lot of you will also say that you want fame and recognition, but be honest - money is the driving force. We all love money and we all love making beats, so it's only natural that the two of them go hand in hand....

Trends Don't Lie, Hip Hop Is Dead

Hip Hop is dead. I know it's hard to hear, but it looks like Hip Hop as we know it, is dead. It's been said many times over, along with furious debates from others that state it's not dead, but statistics don't lie....

Do Your Social Media Posts Matter?

When social media first started to get really big a few years ago, and everyone jumped on it, it seemed like the ideal way to promote yourself and your beats. There were websites such as MySpace and SoundClick where you could upload your beats and tell the world about yourself. Then came Facebook and Twitter....