hmm i have times where i'm doing straight utility sampling...i'll get like 5-7 records out of my crates that catch my eyes and then i'll go through them and just needle drop...if i find something i like, i'll sample it in logic and just throw the rough sample in my samples folder...if something sounds extra dope i'll chop it in recycle and maybe make a beat with is or just mess around with it.
when it comes time to make a beat: i usually hear a dope beat somewhere and pick out little elements such as the kick drum placement, syncopation, etc and try to re-interpret that with my sound...or i'll just have some sort of concept in my head but its usually not very concept-driven. (that's what my lyrics are for)...i'll usually fire up reason/recycle, chop the already sampled piece up the way i want for the verse, chorus, bridge, intro, etc, and then i'll export those as loops...then i'll fire up logic, my fantom and my virus and i'll throw those loops in there on an audio track, add effects, etc. then i add whatever elements i want to.
i try to keep the actual sampling and beatmaking seperate because sampling seems really draining and time-consuming...because i know i can do good things with them but i have to extract the dopeness out...