Are there any distinct styles?

[Iron Keys]

Looking back you can go, I really love Primo beats or Alchemist beats, or you can go 2000s and say Scott Storch or Timbaland style production.

Is there even any distinction today?

I don't know the last time I've heard a producers style (within vocalled hiphop) and gone, damn this is the vibe.


Is everyone just still copying the one style trap youtube tutorial?

This is one of the reasons I feel music success needed to stay gatekept with quality control. Because now everyone can just release anything and think they're a star. So you just got a million people downloading fl watching the same yt tutorial to make the same beats, do that back in the day, none of that music gets heard just the one person good at it.


Anyway... back to the point.

Any distinctions today? Or any new emerging styles?

Show me something.

 

[OGBama]

Tony Dofat tried to bite Pete Rock’s style during Pete’s early 90’s heyday, guess who won, no contest

Quality Control was the 1 thing major labels did right. Second to Artist Development and A&R.

 

[Iron Keys]

Quality Control was the 1 thing major labels did right. Second to Artist Development and A&R.

Well, artist development is A&R and that also is the quality control!

But yeah, as gatekept and cutthroat as some of that stuff was. I do love the romance of those times and I actually think it was a necessity.

I think music being more accessible is a positive. But it needed that with the quality control.

its currently about churning out quantitity of nothing random stuff anyone makes with no revenue.

Anyway... back on topic... styles.

 

[Fade]

Looking back you can go, I really love Primo beats or Alchemist beats, or you can go 2000s and say Scott Storch or Timbaland style production.

Is there even any distinction today?

I don't know the last time I've heard a producers style (within vocalled hiphop) and gone, damn this is the vibe.


Is everyone just still copying the one style trap youtube tutorial?

This is one of the reasons I feel music success needed to stay gatekept with quality control. Because now everyone can just release anything and think they're a star. So you just got a million people downloading fl watching the same yt tutorial to make the same beats, do that back in the day, none of that music gets heard just the one person good at it.


Anyway... back to the point.

Any distinctions today? Or any new emerging styles?

Show me something.

I would say no.

As I've mentioned in the past, it's the technology that has changed everything from making beats to jacking off. We've been blessed with an amazing invention with the internet but it's also ruined things because everything is there, and I mean everything. If you want to know how to make beats you just have to watch a Youtube video, and even then you can just ask questions anywhere online, and now you can even get AI to answer some of those questions.

And with all the tech we now have for making beats, it's just too easy. I'm not saying everyone does the easy stuff, but it's there if you want to. If you look at something like FL Studio which is really popular - let's say there's 10,000 people using it to make beats. Well, what does that mean? It means there's possibly 10,000 people looking up the same tutorials on YT, and more importantly, using the same built-in sounds, loops, and virtual instruments. What do you think is going to happen? We'll end up with possibly 10,000 beats sounding the same.

Whereas before all this advanced tech you had to either know someone that made beats and could explain it to you, or most likely you had to read the fucking manual and learn from trial and error. In a way, this weeded out the ones that weren't serious so only the serious ones would be left. Plus, you had to actually spend thousands of dollars to get a decent setup with a bunch of gear, unlike today where you can literally download an app on your phone for $5.99 and make beats while on the toilet.

I love all the tools we now have for making beats because it makes SOME things much easier to do (like mixing) but it comes at a cost. When I was using Maschine it was great and I do miss it at times because it was very flexible to make beats and was a great controller. But when I went with the MPC 2500, it was great because I didn't really have any tutorials to show me so I had to figure it out like I used to in the 90s. Then I ended up being the one making MPC 2500 tutorials lol. Even today, I still get people asking me how to do this and that with JJOS.

Anyway, that's my 2 cents.

 

[Iron Keys]

where you can literally download an app on your phone for $5.99 and make beats while on the toilet.

I downloaded one for free. The rest is accurate.

 

[Fade]

I downloaded one for free. The rest is accurate.

You downloaded a toilet?

 

[Iron Keys]

Whereas before all this advanced tech you had to either know someone that made beats and could explain it to you, or most likely you had to read the fucking manual and learn from trial and error. In a way, this weeded out the ones that weren't serious so only the serious ones would be left. Plus, you had to actually spend thousands of dollars to get a decent setup

Seen so many of these new kids joining like (literally...)

"Getitng into beats to get this bag" they literally think "I got to download FL watch a YouTube tutorial. Make type beats and I'll become a famous YouTube millionaire"

That's their concept and intent behind making music.

Not because, like most of us you hear a DJ Premier or Scott Storch or Kanye beat and think "fuck, this is how music should sound. I need to put my own twist on this." It's a calling, an obsession, a passion, a need.

Could be that for others too.

This whole 'content creator' shit is fucking corny too. In terms of people creating content to be a content creator. Just push out shit for no reason. With all the gimmicks. And even there everyone is copying the same aesthetic.

Maybe I'm getting old early and turning into 2Good. Fuck knows. But its all wack. I think I had more to say but even got fed up of typing this!

 

[Iron Keys]

You downloaded a toilet?

I downloaded something into it.




Absolute TBs of it.

 

[Fade]

Seen so many of these new kids joining like (literally...)

"Getitng into beats to get this bag" they literally think "I got to download FL watch a YouTube tutorial. Make type beats and I'll become a famous YouTube millionaire"

That's their concept and intent behind making music.

Not because, like most of us you hear a DJ Premier or Scott Storch or Kanye beat and think "fuck, this is how music should sound. I need to put my own twist on this." It's a calling, an obsession, a passion, a need.

Could be that for others too.

This whole 'content creator' shit is fucking corny too. In terms of people creating content to be a content creator. Just push out shit for no reason. With all the gimmicks. And even there everyone is copying the same aesthetic.

Maybe I'm getting old early and turning into 2Good. Fuck knows. But its all wack. I think I had more to say but even got fed up of typing this!

It's true though, but it's just how things are now. If I were to buy some new piece of gear I would read the manual (if there is one) and just mess around with it and figure it out. But that's the old way of doing it. Youtube is great for learning but you still have to just put the work in. The same thing with programming. I can watch a tutorial but nothing beats reading the manual and just DOING it.

It's a really interesting subject because even though Rap music can be whatever, it literally started by using music from others. It doesn't mean we have to JUST sample, but it shows you how much things have changed. If you use a DAW with plugins and compose your own melody, of course that's amazing but it really changes the sound, which is what leads us down this path.

So nowadays it's pretty much compose your own stuff using the same tools everyone else has, or sample. Now, you could have 10,000 people all using an MPC 2000 and sampling from vinyl, but the sound will be different. The style might be similar, but because of the use of sampling, the sound will be different.

 

[Leopard Cohen]

I'm still a relative noob to making beats but I've been listening to hiphop for a long-ass time.

The internet (and tech in general) is a double-edged sword.

On the one hand, as consumers we've got access to more music than ever. We can pay for it, we can pirate it, we can stream it.
It's not like in the day when everyone was passing around an X Clan bootleg 'cause the local music store only had a handful of rap albums.
As a listener and a producer, the game done changed. It's been democratized.
Everyone has a voice now, for better or worse. You gotta sort through a lot of bad shit to find the good shit.

What works for me is to start in a comfortable place and then start working outwards from there.
I got turned onto Billy Woods and Rob Sonic by listening to Aesop Rock.
I got into some of the old French rappers out of Marseille then followed what they've been doing since their golden age.
You gotta put in the work - if you rely on the algorithms of course you'll keep hearing the same garbage.

Same for producing. Maybe there are tons of copycat of FL Studio trap beats out there. So what, they're having fun.
It's not my bag but not gonna hate on 'em.
I appreciate that I'm getting into producing at a time when there is such a wealth of information out there.
I take what I need, get out, and do my thing.

 

[Iron Keys]

I'm still a relative noob to making beats but I've been listening to hiphop for a long-ass time.

The internet (and tech in general) is a double-edged sword.

On the one hand, as consumers we've got access to more music than ever. We can pay for it, we can pirate it, we can stream it.
It's not like in the day when everyone was passing around an X Clan bootleg 'cause the local music store only had a handful of rap albums.
As a listener and a producer, the game done changed. It's been democratized.
Everyone has a voice now, for better or worse. You gotta sort through a lot of bad shit to find the good shit.

What works for me is to start in a comfortable place and then start working outwards from there.
I got turned onto Billy Woods and Rob Sonic by listening to Aesop Rock.
I got into some of the old French rappers out of Marseille then followed what they've been doing since their golden age.
You gotta put in the work - if you rely on the algorithms of course you'll keep hearing the same garbage.

Same for producing. Maybe there are tons of copycat of FL Studio trap beats out there. So what, they're having fun.
It's not my bag but not gonna hate on 'em.
I appreciate that I'm getting into producing at a time when there is such a wealth of information out there.
I take what I need, get out, and do my thing.

My point is what new is made.

What distinct new style.

I don't see it. I'd like to tho if it's there.

Thats why I got quite excited by Phonk initially.

 

[OGBama]

I appreciate that I'm getting into producing at a time when there is such a wealth of information out there.

That's the second reason I'm learning to do so. First reason is I'm not in close proximity to producers as I lack a social circle. Third reason is vibe freedom.

 

[Leopard Cohen]

My point is what new is made.

What distinct new style.

I don't see it. I'd like to tho if it's there.

Thats why I got quite excited by Phonk initially.

Yeah, I get what you're asking.
But does it matter if the joint that you're into was made this year?
Or last year? Or 60 years ago?
Every form of music during the past 40 years has been influenced by hiphop and hiphop is influenced by everything else.
Does it matter that it's called crunk or trap or drill?

If you want specifics, check out the new Shabazz Palaces album - I think folks like Ishmael (or Tyler the Creator, Aes, Action Bronson, etc.) have managed to stay relevant and interesting without chasing trends.

On the flipside, even though I dig the stuff coming out of Griselda or whenever Nas drops something new, I dunno, it all kinda sounds the same as their old shit.