A little over a year ago, I picked up the mixtape 100 Breaks, a collection of break beats and samples compiled by Boston's DJ Semantik. Break mixes aren't always the easiest things to listen to for the average fan of hip hop, as the DJs behind them sometimes value the obscurity of the record over the quality of the music itself. On 100 Breaks, though, Semantik managed to put together 100 (actually 96, but close enough) tracks that sound great from start to finish, and you should be able to identify most of the hip hop songs that used the samples. For the mix, which covers everything from Group Home to G-Unit to O.C., Semantik used only the original vinyl, foregoing any reprints or compilations. Here's a brief sample from the mixtape, using original songs that were sampled by Peter Gunz and Lord Tariq, Rakim, Jay-Z, Black Moon, Group Home, Wu-Tang and a few others:
Semantik is also dropping some serious knowledge on the subject of crate digging over at his site Crate Kings. There's some great reading over there for any fan of hip hop, even if you're not the type to get your fingers dusty picking through old records. Go check it out.
11/14/2006 8:48:01 AM posted by Fresh
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