Instrumental: https://soundcloud.com/tapeheadloops/ojays-crooklyn-instrumental

Beat, mixing and mastering by Tapehead
Vocals and scratches from ‘Crooklyn Acapella’ by The Crooklyn Dodgers (Special Ed, Buckshot, Masta Ace)

Visuals: https://youtu.be/XfAU77At4aw

This is a rework of the first beat I ever made back in 2016. I made it the day I got my hands on an MPC2000, which I had to collect from Angel tube station in London. I remember sitting on the train with the MPC on my lap, getting looks from strangers, and just being so excited to even own one. I was a month away from starting university, and wanted to learn how to produce in my free time whilst away from home. For the past 5 years I had completely immersed myself in old school hip hop (particularly east coast), listening to every artist I could find, educating myself with Stretch and Bobbito shows I found on tape and youtube, and my heart was completely set on learning how to make beats in this style.

I'd prepared myself for weeks by watching hours and hours of MPC2000 tutorial videos on youtube, so I knew exactly how to use its basic functions to chop samples and sequence them. I knew that hip hop beats were made by sampling genres like jazz and soul, so in the weeks before actually buying an MPC, I went around charity shops looking for records from these genres, and found a few, but none stood out to me. My Nan was kind enough to lend me some of her old soul 45s, which was such a blessing. It was her copy of 'A Prayer' by the O'Jays that I ended up using for my first beat: I made the whole thing using this one record, I didn’t know much about breaks records back then, and manged to find drums in this song that I chopped to sequence myself. 

I remember how much I enjoyed the whole experience, from the excitement and anticipation of chopping up the sample, to the creative joy of actually sequencing it all and putting the beat together. It really was different and I'd never enjoyed anything as much before in my life, and at the time I was just excited to keep doing it, and to keep progressing.

Im too excited to finally have reworked this beat, I’ve tried doing it a few times but was never happy with the new drums I added, but this week I had another go and finally had something I was happy with. I was always happy with how the Crooklyn acapella flowed over the beat, so I kept that mostly the same, and just focused on mixing and mastering it better. 

Hope people enjoy this one, the beat means a lot to me and I’m glad to finally share an improved version. Peace!

Original upload: https://soundcloud.com/tapeheadloops/crooklyn-kids

Brooklyn's The Borough

Beatmaker / Emcee
Contact: tapeheadloops@gmail.com

<--MPC2000 Classic                     

Underground Airplay

Trying to give something back to Hip Hop - really appreciate any comments or feedback.

Peace

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