Breakbeat Deconstruction: From hip hop to drum & bass and beyond | Loop

At the 2016 Loop summit, Dr. Jason Hockman gave a fascinating talk about the evolving role of breakbeats in electronic music, from their initial usage in hip hop into a second generation appropriation in genres including jungle and drum & bass. He also presents recent ethnographic and technological research in breakbeat oriented electronic music.
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[@manugira-gym]

2:18 The Winstons - Amen, Brother 2:56 N.W.A - Straight Outta Campton 3:14 Renegade - Terrorist 3:42 The Jungle Band - Marvellous 4:08 Icons - Third Eye Vsion 5:03 Michael Viner's Incredible Bango Band - Apache 7:59 Professor Longhair - Tipitina 9:12 James Brown - Funky Drummer 17:16 Manix - Oblivion (Head in the Clouds) 18:06 Origin Unknown - Valley of the Shadows 18:38 DJ Hype - The Trooper 19:25 D'Cruze - Lonely 20:40 Omni Trio - London Step 21:47 Alex Reece - Basic Principles (Dillinja Remix) 22:52 Chameleon - Links 23:30 Tango - Understanding 25:03 Dom & Roland - Dynamics 26:24 Head High - Hex Factor 27:10 Special Request - Mindwash 28:00 Fracture and Deft - I Just

[@karlmeadows4986]

Where's shut up and dance

[@ponchopeck]

Big up

[@nervanis]

Thank you!

[@DAMATRIX]

90s d&b is still one of the best music genres of all time 💯

[@sau7710]

I would say it's like the most awsomest but not the best since thats where it started all the popularity and jungle d&b shit. But yea its lit

[@TheWaynelds]

@Lil Yeet what’s “www no” supposed to mean?

[@concretederek8055]

Agree 💯, at the time, nothing else was pushing boundaries, wicked time to be partying ✊

[@69babilonia]

@@concretederek8055 Florida (orlando/Tampa) breaks were a good experiment back then. Great sound with vocals.

[@ansonpayne1410]

Very True, 1996-97 was the Golden Era of DnB.

[@apoplexiamusic]

That moment at 24:00 is a testament to the power of the music. Even when you’re a doctor that spent you career studying this, its power will still entrance you, no matter what

[@jdm2651]

I think that's because that particular segment has a sophisticated construction which appeals and resounds with who also know, or at least has been exposed to contemporary 'high' music. Unfortunately for their authors the latter has always miserably failed to get any popularity over multiple decades.

[@magnopere]

​@@jdm2651 could you give some examples of this so-called "high" music? What substances is it abusing?

[@Anjous]

@Numpty 1 for the money, 2 for the better green

[@Rufusdos]

Rest in peace Tango!

[@jdm2651]

​@@magnopere Contemporay classic music. They abuse high education and disdain for the masses.

[@jdstarek]

A 50-year anthology of the most iconic breaks ever. I love this.

[@benjamink7105]

Feel like I've been looking for an overview like this forever and it's been up for 5 years. Anyway, it is so insane that these little snippets of what could have been forgotten recordings ends up really creating entire music genres. I grew up loving these beats and never knew how to describe them. I remember trying to explain to my friend why I felt like I loved the band Nirvana because these beats, rhythms whatever they are sounds lot like rap beats and then years later Dave Grohl was like "yeah, I just copied a bunch of disco beats." Breakbeats!

[@skeennah1927]

All this information I already, but this was put together so well

[@R1davies]

Here today whenever that is Easter I think

[@davidreichert9392]

On the face of it I thought that the idea of a university style lecture on breakbeats was ridiculous, but then I watched it, and it was fantastic. Thanks for this.

[@matth1854]

that Tango track is sick

[@gostling]

I want to go to university to study rave music wow.

[@Milolucerox]

hahaha

[@joshuahelmeke]

Go for it lady: the scene already well documented. Black music will NEVER die. From the cultural exchange between U.S. and Europe to the Re-use of outdated tech: there’s a whole world of possibility to immerse yourself in.

[@brianvaci6213]

You can! I'm from Argentina. I'm making my final research about the electronic music (techno). You can see the work of the Dr. Mark J. Butler to see what is about.

[@touristinfo6947]

@@joshuahelmeke People now a days can learn it all on KZbin bro and the user manuals. Like you said.It is all documented on youtube anyways lol.The key is not just learning the tech.Its how you will create in it.

[@juStb4u]

Brian Vaci amazing, and Argentina has such a rich electronic culture so I’m sure it’s very supported there.

[@_ls6772]

Please more of this. I've been waiting years to hear someone talk like this about the breakbeat.

[@ElisandroDeLeon]

"With limited technology comes amazing technique:" . I feel like this is what Uncle Ben shouldve told Peter Parker .

[@gostling]

I freaked out when he mentioned happy hardcore.

[@StephenCoorlas]

Feeling you on Tango's "Understanding" - Never heard it. Instant new fav. Thank you for this presentation. It looks like many others on this thread agree that this topic needs to be better shared with the music community to reinforce the importance of the evolution of sampling, sequencing, and genres of music. 🤘

[@Jiepers]

I would say that upload more from this guy if you can.

[@Disco_Breakin]

I used to run the AKAI sample library back in the day. You'd order your discs, i'd duplicate the sets you wanted and mail them out to you. In that job I got a tricked out S1100 with 16MB of ram and 500MB HDD

[@mattierenton701]

23:30 Tango was a an absolute legend in the game along with Ratty it was unstoppable, but Tango in his own right was an insanely talented producer, and you can see how much respect Dr. Hockman has for him, RIP Jamie Giltrap (Tango) you were a huuuge influence

[@PUSH4LIFE]

I have been waiting for this since I saw it last November live in Berlin... I LOVED this talk.... so insightful!

[@jeremylavallee9154]

This was amazing!!!! HUGE MERCI for your work Jason !!!!

[@noahsamuelsen]

Who else was admiring the theatre he was giving the talk? Looks super comfy

[@kamsandhu7772]

This is great all the way through - Fabulous.

[@qebo_a.retsis]

Great lecture and video! One note about the loop resequencing techniques that was left out: There is also the sample offset technique, that was heavily used in Amiga / Protracker breakbeats since the software was introduced, where you could specify a different start - trigger position of the loop sample, thus adding variation and resequencing. With this approach no slicing / chopping / editing was required. You figured out the offset points for let's say the snare or the hihat etc, and just trigger the sample starting from that specific sample offset.

[@Jthe5th]

Awesome compilation of songs, loving to see these get their shine.

[@minerfreak88]

love this talk, he did a great job!

[@dpalaoro]

That Tango cut....damn...🎉🎉🎉

[@juStb4u]

Love hearing this history. I’ve always loved breaks and play them often in my sets. Particularly loving the atmospheric breaks & dub/d&b. Super cool talk 👌🏻

[@Markel_A]

This was a really cool talk. I happened upon this video when trying to look for people playing breakbeats on drums so I could see what was going on, and found this and ended up watching the whole thing, very fascinating and well presented stuff!

[@xisotopex]

shobaleader one

[@Grumptr0nix]

Amazing Dr Hockman!!

[@DjNikGnashers]

So glad I was around and old enough to enjoy the start of HipHop in the Uk, the Acid House scene, and then the Hardcore Jungle / Rave scene.

[@wyldcardmusic]

Thank you, this is one of the best things I've ever seen.

[@ClouthIsKite]

How does one have a history of breakbeats and not mention Venetian Snares. I had a contemporary music composition class spend a lecture on the likes of Aaron Funk and modern break use. Still, more history like this is amazing to have access too. Really appreciation Ableton for uploading this.

[@kurokurokuro9152]

is that course/class publicly available? id be interested to read the accompanying material

[@keithklassen5320]

Nobody from Winnipeg deserves to be mentioned, lol.

[@natiezclement4400]

Because for some reason he only focused on Jungle and Drum & Bass side, without looking at the Breakcore side which is a whole universe in itself so it would probably have required his talk to be 3 times longer if he did :^)

[@nsg23]

i was confused by the "genres" here. nothing sounded like drum and bass to me. maybe its just me.

[@enijize1234]

@@nsg23 21:47 Dillinja and Metalheadz is to DnB what Snoop Dogg and Death Row is to Hip Hop. If you don't hear it you're colour blind.

[@jennifernorman9655]

A masterpiece of work. Really enjoyed this, thank you 😊

[@stuad70]

Big respect to Dr Jason Hockman and his published works within music informatics, machine listening and computational musicology. Moreover this presentation is very well researched and for me personally touches on the era I was lucky enough live within and I'm currently revisiting whilst locked down during my 2nd mid life crisis of "unknown origins" ;-) Allways look to the light at the end of any dark tunnel but watch out for trains behind you ;-) Stay safe

[@shineshowreels263]

thanks for all of this. Very useful and comprehensive.

[@loopmong]

R.i.p tango .. genius ..

[@mcgruffmo]

Great talk, put up more like this!

[@izzytorres6217]

I've expanded my music library, thanks.

[@joshuahelmeke]

THE ILLIST VLOG ON KZbin TO DATE. So much love for this video.

[@timcooper140]

Would love to see/hear an updated talk by Jason / Dr Hockman, deconstucting the influence(s) on newer and evolving genres including trap and its UK progeny, grime and drill.

[@sarasvatinath3527]

thanks! great workshop and also the music examples are mindblowing

[@richardwilliams4669]

Phenomenal presentation.

[@erinalexandra3983]

what a talk!! so good

[@brijnich]

Great lecture surely goldie worth a mention for time stretching breaks

[@Tracks777]

Lovely content! Keep it up!

[@davidjackson4843]

I have to take my hat off to the og pioneers. Thanks for all your incredible work! And Dr Hockman this lecture helped me understand the key characteristics and techniques they used. The moment you highlighted the Propellar Heads innovative midi sampler, I knew all I needed to do was open Ableton, load a funky breakbeat sample in simpler, slice it up and convert it to midi. After making a few adjustments I felt the joy that these pioneering producers must have felt when they were breaking new ground! 🙏

[@bobbell3989]

V. Interesting 👍 Got me even more excited for the new Special Request too. Cheers :)

[@AFRoSHEENT3ARCMICHAEL69]

This was a great presentation. I wish there was more stuff about electronic music's history and how sound designers approach sounds and how electronic music producers approach songs. There's too many amateurs teaching like they know what they're doing. Wish Skrillex handlers would let him make tutorials.

[@MrSyNRG]

Theres never been as many top level producers making production content on youtube as right now, you just have to find them but yeah Disclosure for example …

[@waynewalker6314]

Don't want to hear from skrillex about any of this kind of stuff he's a baby when it comes to this thing even this guy and his lame generic research he need to research and come again thicker and heavier than this.

[@ekoofficial3298]

Top lecture and really enjoyed this 10/10

[@ElisandroDeLeon]

As a music creator / musician who loves all EDM genres including house and techno, this is mindblowing stuff . I didnt know how essential sampling was to the whole 90's sound.

[@AutPen38]

Every music genre arises because of the availability of (cheap) technology. Rock n' roll arose because of electric guitars and amps, heavy metal because of louder amps and guitar pedals, hip hop because of turntables and the 808, synth pop from analogue synths, house/acid/techno because of the 909 and 303, jungle/DnB because of Akai samplers, Dubstep because of Massive, Trap and modern hip hop and pop from Autotune and FL Studio, and EDM because of DAWs like Ableton, VSTs and KZbin. The next big genre will come from the use of AI.

[@okbrown]

Ahhh maaan... I was in school tuned in to Kool FM listening to this same evolution in real-time. Such a dope time!!

[@AP-Design]

My takeaways: -Very nice presentation. I'm floored by the influence of the Amen Break, breakbeats, and sampling in general. -That "Understanding" track was great. It got me just like it got the presenter. -The cutting of the Amen Break at the end was both endlessly fascinating and sad at the same time.

[@GK-pm5sf]

Can you elaborate on why you might have felt sad?

[@AutPen38]

All of music is being reduced to ones and zeroes. That research project that used machine learning to separate out the constituent parts of the Amen break led to stem-splitting tools that mean any song can be broken into its constituent parts and reassembled by a computer as a kind of pastiche of what music used to be.

[@davebroughton73]

this was great! so interesting (and dope).

[@OrganicBeats1]

Top notch stuff

[@mrmustard1633]

love this love this love this

[@sdn1528]

By any means necessary. Dj trace . Wicked breakbeat tune from back in the day. The birth of intelligence

[@Captivatebeats]

Really good!!

[@spacetaco048]

Breakbeat is 100% my favorite kind of beat. I can't wait to learn this on FL studio :D

[@tobinakatarx]

That was so good

[@Cylonatreides1975]

I looked up Tango off the back of this and found that he sadly died in 2018 :(, He was clearly a genius though. R.I.P. sir! your music will live on.

[@praestantia1]

The bit at 32m28s where he removes elements from the amen. Mind blown!!

[@AutPen38]

That must have been done with an early form of the stem-splitting tools that are now used quite commonly. I think the technology started off as part of some AI/machine learning research. It's kind of fitting that that kind of tech is now being used to reinvent sampling, as producers can now sample parts of tracks that weren't isolated, like the Amen drum break itself. Using AI you can sample sounds that are buried in the mix.

[@neildunford241]

"With limited technology, comes amazing technique" - ain't that the truth. I can remember using Octamed for my Amiga - squeezing as much as you could out of the limited sample time, was part of the fun!

[@matthawes4395]

Wow brilliant stuff

[@devilzelink]

Very insightful!

[@gremiis4083]

SEMPER FI BRO THAT WAS AWESOME SEE IN THE NEXT 1. GOD BLESS .

[@alanladdseinekatze859]

What a great overview on the history of break beat sampling, but a few things to argue about. 1. the transitional era, letting Marley Marl defined editing of the break beat evolve into the Jungle years is missing completely. The UK Rap scene in the late 90s lead to artists like Silver Bullet, Hijack, and the true originator (and I know some of you would never admit) Rebel MC. Those were influenced by the street riots during carnival, thus inventing a radical, faster approach to the movement, making them figure out ways of a higher paced usage of breaks without pitching. Especially Rebel MCs second album is to be considered the spark on Jungle music. 2. the late 90s and 2000s are missing. Grounbreaking artist, such as Photek and Squarepusher should have been mentioned. 3. the influence of Alec Empire on usage of the Amen as the signature break in Hardcore/Jungle should have been mentioned.

[@darrenrozier7000]

Definitely agree on the first point regarding Marley Marl, I was literally waiting to hear the name mentioned during the one second sample time section as it was Marley who thought to separate the kick and drum. I think UK Rap quickly morphed towards the rave scene as it was homegrown and supported and thus basically follows the path of early hip hop/electro to hardcore. Some specific things are not necessarily relevant in the context of what he was saying, though of course important in themselves. I agree that Rebel MC could be called the Godfather of Jungle. I think more mention should have been made regarding the huge effect that Recycle had, the timestretching/pitchshifting example should have of course been Goldie's Terminator. :) This was the first track to use it as a prominent effect. However, count me completely puzzled about your mentioning of Alec Empire, I am not sure what influence he had, if any. You will have to educate me on that one, but in late '91 everyone was chasing Amen from signature appearances in a) Lenny Dee Ice's We Are IE & 2) Carl Cox's Let The Bass Kick (sampling of Success 'n' Effect) and 3) I want You (Forever) among others. Amen usage over '92 increased exponentially (after everyone got over recycling Run DMC's - Run's House courtesy of Urban Shakedown's Some Justice in the spring/early summer of '92), culminating in the spring/summer of '93 literally being an Amen fest which only carried on into jungle, which took Amen, Think, Sesame Street & Soul Pride as its staple breaks (later additions being Kurtis Blow's Do the Do & Paris' Make Way For A Panther). Amen also remained a staple in Happy Hardcore until that genre shed breakbeats completely.

[@AutPen38]

I'd forgotten how early it was that Rebel MC brought out 'Comin on Strong' and 'The Wickedest Sound'. I bought those but was more invested in the house/ravier stuff of the same time being put out by Shut Up and Dance and the Ragga Twins, 4hero, and Rob Playford's label. I kind of drifted away when it started going above 135bpm though, never mind the 170bpm is seemed to settle on. FWIW, I thought it was a bit weird that Goldie, LTJ Bukem, Doc Scott, and Fabio & Grooverider didn't get mentioned in this lecture.

[@steppinrzr8396]

Excellent

[@NonBinary_Star]

29:07 wOw 👌🏿 this automated analysis is super cool! i didnt know such a thing existed, at least in a visual assembly line tree like this!

[@ianrohrback]

Man you really know your shit. Was excited to see an Exit Records track on there, Darren has been pushing DnB in such interesting directions for years now.

[@kadiummusic]

Miss hearing new songs with intricate melodies, different tempos, different rhythms, solos, lyrics with depth that are akin to poetry.... and so on. ☹

[@forfold]

they still exist, you're just not looking hard enough

[@gamblemadman]

On his little diagram of the various breaks genres evolving into/influencing later genres (10:47) it doesn't show a direct connection between UK Garage and Dubstep. There was a definite connection there.

[@echosoul8696]

a lot of drum and bass heads tend to lean towards thinking dubstep is just slow drum and bass when it actually came directly from weird garage producers. obviously there is jungle influence in the early stuff and drum and bass influence in the later hardcore american bro sound. but yeah it came from garage.

[@AutPen38]

It's also amusing that if you follow the line from disco to house to hardcore to jungle to drum n' bass to dubstep, you can't help but notice that with each evolution, the music gets less and less melodic and more like random noise made by computers. I can't wait for the unlistenable genre that gets made with AI.

[@funnythings4u]

​@@AutPen38dubstep has so many melodic tracks

[@moagnor]

I wonder if any of those producers still have midi files and sample disks for old samplers lying around their bedrooms. Would be amazing to see them fire up old A950s and Amiga 500s and play from the original equipment!

[@iron_buddha]

very cool

[@beatsbyfrugi]

Thanks for this

[@alexandermccarthy]

Where was this class when I was in school? Amazing presentation by someone who obviously loves the subject matter!

[@py_a_thon]

On internet forums and comment sections and books and documentaries.

[@rossnoble6364]

Great documentary. What a label moving shadow is by the way

[@NN-vs2eg]

Brilliant.

[@hart3172]

Man I got so freaked out when Christmas adverts started playing with breakbeat midway through wtf Google

[@harrisonbrooks7451]

This was a fun watch. I was under the impression that a lot of the edits and processing done to breaks in old school jungle and drum and bass was in large part due to the use of the amiga / tracker programs that were used for sequencing?

[@3jesus3christ3]

yes exactly

[@rickthomson7740]

Amen to the amen break 🙏🏻 this is decent thank you 👏🏻👏🏻

[@DRAMENSY]

thx for this video

[@terrywilliams3741]

Very much informal...

[@francisbiloo1955]

Intéressant tout ça.

[@stuartsmith5146]

Left out of this breakbeat demo is Grateful Dead “Eyes of the World” and nearly every other song of theirs as well as most all songs of the jam band era from ‘69-‘99

[@tutorsurrey]

fascinating

[@UnoDat]

Tango made some damn fine tracks throughout the 90s RIP

[@bebenzomusic]

sounds from 90s,20s are still hard to redesign. So machine and real ;)

[@skbevila]

How many folks have sampled a section of this talk in 2023?

[@andresfuentes9545]

thank!

[@bewhereyouareimhere6425]

sweet, a list of the tracks played would be good:P

[@hanselmansell7555]

That prof longhair is amazing for 53 😮 thanks mate 👍 🇬🇧

[@hammondified]

Nope ... Can't continue without finding understand and waxing out... Boss tune 👍

[@hammondified]

*ing...

[@lordflatworm]

Dope

[@Clubberize]

wicked!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[@ChristopherCricketWallace]

Tango. And Dom and Rowland... Takes me back.

[@gabrielpline7490]

Would have loved to see a side-road into jungle raga and it’s development. I know very little of electronic music but, as a drummer, jungle/dnb has always made my booty wiggle.

[@soeneido443]

Tango - ‘Understanding’ is such massive banger. Haha he wanted to jam out to that one so bad

[@Noises1444]

I can imagine now with all the ai developments recently the stuff he was talking about at the end will drastically improve

[@jdm2651]

Seems like there is a subtle administration of gradual levels of enjoyment and education in YT's algo. Best of a subject (as in this case) is almost always not presented first, you have to keep going at it for a while before it appears. Be persistent, browse and skip as needed, then you'll be given the nutrients that are so good for you.

[@z_yt_96]

Its a shame there was no example of neurofunk or halftime, those sounds are really interesting for the future drum and bass sound

[@KH_1]

I think Neurofunk are focus on the complex bass sculpting, the drum part is not that interesting.

[@mg9261]

holy shit that amen break is sooooo good ohh shit

[@bobeyes3284]

I grew up on this. Good time to party.

[@bojanstromboli1306]

Very nice history, just the guy forgot to mention BIGBEAT it was one of the most popular genres back then Fatboy slim, The Prodigy they were the best. :) the drums were based off of breakbeats.

[@jdstarek]

Bojan Tanasic You forgot Aphrodite. But I completely agree.

[@FluidITGuy]

The Crystal Method >>>>> Fatboy & Prodigy

[@tobinakatarx]

Yeah altho the prodigy turned demonic after their first couple of lighthearted albums,like the rest of the all seeing eye crew ,wonder what happened to keith ?just watch their videos in order and u can see how it unfolds

[@creedpowell]

@@tobinakatarx You are kidding right?

[@sau7710]

@@tobinakatarx bro gimme a break sounds like a Boomer statement to me like cmon