Making Beats: The Art of Sample-Based Hip-Hop

by Joseph G. Schloss

Based on ten years of research among hip-hop producers, Making Beats was the first work of scholarship to explore the goals, methods, and values of a surprisingly insular community. Focusing on a variety of subjects—from hip-hop artists’ pedagogical methods to the Afrodiasporic roots of the sampling process to the social significance of “digging” for rare records—Joseph G. Schloss examines the way hip-hop artists have managed to create a form of expression that reflects their creative aspirations, moral beliefs, political values, and cultural realities. This second edition of the book includes a new foreword by Jeff Chang and a new afterword by the author.

Genres: Music, Hip Hop, Nonfiction, Art, History

272 pages, Paperback

First published July 26, 2004

Reviews

[Damon · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've been interested in music sampling for years. Usually the first thing I do when I get a hip-hop album is read the sample list and track down the original songs. I was excited when I discovered this book a few months ago, the first book I know of on the subject.

It's not bad. The insights are interesting and the author reveals some true revelations on the sampling subculture. The challenge is that the book is steeped in academia, so a few passages feel less like a cultural analysis and more like a dissertation. However, I don't know of any book more revealing about the how, why and what behind our sample-based music today, and it was hard for me to stop reading until I finished.

[Ian Mullet · Rating 4 out of 5]

4+

when i requested this book from ILL Services, i thought it would be a practical guide to making music, but instead it's a glimpse into the world of hip-hop producers, examining their aesthetic and ethical values when it comes to creating sample-based music. as someone who doesn't know much about this subject, i felt this was a great introduction to hip-hop production -- chopping, crate digging, script flipping, and more!
it's actually an expanded dissertation but reads more like any good non-fiction book written by an author passionate about the subject, relying much more on extensive interviews with producers (including prince paul) than on quoting other academics, who are often introduced just to be dissed...
for example, here is dj kool akiem's response to the popular notion in academic circles that hip-hop deejaying was conditioned by a poverty that limited access to other forms of music -- 'even saying that is kinda weird. Obviously, [the academics] just probably didn't think about it. The most important thing to them is, "Oh, the kids are poor," you know what i mean? Not even thinkin' about it. Just like, "Well, that must be it: they're poor!"'

in fact, i would say the best thing about this book is the respect it gives to hip-hop as an aesthetic choice not as just some inevitable result of social conditions, or as a short-cut for people not talented enough to create music with live instruments...

though in defense of academia this book also includes a hilarious quote that draws the distinction between being hip and nerdy:

'As Will Straw points out, male record collectors must work to maintain a balance between the competing tendencies toward hipness and nerdishness which are inherent in the activity:

"Hipness and nerdishness both begin with the mastery of a symbolic field; what the latter lacks is a controlled economy of revelation, a sense of when and how things are to be spoken of. Hipness maintains boundaries to entry by requiring that the possession of knowledge be made to seem less significant than the tactical sense of how and when it is made public."'

why didn't anyone tell me that, like, 15 years ago!

[Kriss Larkin · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is so much to me. I'm currently working on a PhD using hip hop as my dissertation and this book altered and gave more nuance to so many of my ideas and other sources. I was floundering in uncertainty, but now I'm invigorated, inspired to work.

[Jalen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Funny that there’s an ethnography on this subject but cool for any enthusiasts

[Ian · Rating 3 out of 5]

I saw this in the stacks of the library when looking for another book. I planned to skim it, but ended up reading most of it fairly closely. I liked it. Some neat insights from the producers interviewed and the author as well. Section on ethics was interesting and some of the philosophy behind the use of samples. Was neat for me how he cited Chernoff's African Rhythms book which I'd just read coincidentally, and also cited Dave Sanjek my former camp counselor. I did find there to be more wisdom in the words of the drummers quoted by Chernoff than the dj's here, but they had their moments.

[Justin H · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fascinating! Really interesting interviews with practitioners that go beyond basic observations (e.g. "it sounds good") to offer actual practical insights (e.g. "Rza's drums aren't quantized so they can fall slightly of beat"). The interviewees aren't just novice producers as well, but respected veterans like Prince Paul, Domino, and Steinski. At times it can be a bit academic, but to be honest even the academic conclusions and connections he draws are pretty eye-opening and original.

[Justin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Disclaimer: Schloss was a former professor of mine, which is why initially drew me to the book. Really, it's a great foray into the culture of sample-based hip-hop. Driven by DJ/producer interviewers, it counters traditional academic thinking on the aesthetic and intentions behind the beat-making process, while revealing a good chunk of the attitudes/codes/cultures behind this art.

[An IncandescentFirefly · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was a lot of fun - found myself laughing quite often. Before I read this, I had limited knowledge about and experience with hip-hop culture. The book has definitely sold me on hip-hop as an art form and has given me a listener's entrypoint. A really solid, inspiring, and fresh ethnography...

[Zedder · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's good to see someone writing a serious book about sampling culture, but I wish he had interviewed bigger figures in the field. Jake One and Mr. Supreme are really quite marginal figures, well-known only for their "Conmen" mixtape compilations of sample sources.

[Steven · Rating 4 out of 5]

So far Schloss's knowledge of history is impeccable. He blurs the line between the field and personal biases and has created a fascinating look into sample based music.

[Stan · Rating 5 out of 5]

nothing