wit tha flava

Instrumental for: https://soundcloud.com/tapeheadloops/ways-of-the-world

I flipped this sample early March 2018, I’d just finished writing an essay for university about the Black Star track ‘Thieves In The Night’, and was just gassed in general. I’d chosen this module where I knew I’d be able to write about Hip Hop, and in my free time I was always making beats or listening to Hip Hop, so I felt completely immersed in the culture, and that feeling is definitely where this beat came from. I really felt like I’d gained a new understanding of the Black Star track which has always meant so much to me and makes me bug out every time hearing it, and I just felt like expressing that musically. The song is one of the maddest reflections on society and negative states of mind that trap people, so it was the introspective/melancholy vibe of the sample that made me know I wanted to flip it. I was also pretty set on putting this verse over it, there aren’t many Black Star verses out there, and at the time I didn’t have many 12” acapellas, and Deck’s lyrics fit perfectly with the mood.

I definitely rushed the original mix for this beat, at the time I made it the floppy drive on my MPC wasn’t working, so I couldn’t save beats and had to record a final mix out into audacity the same day I made them. The sample sounds nice but the drums aren’t layered very well and don’t really fit in the mix. Also the vocal is a bit quiet, so since I dropped it I’ve been a bit disappointed with it and wanted to rework it ( https://soundcloud.com/tapeheadloops/life-is-hectic-2 ). It was such a nice sample that I got multiple flips out of it, I originally picked two for when I uploaded this remix, bringing the alternate flip in for the outro after Deck’s verse. For this rework I decided to try and combine them both together, using the main loop for the highs, and filtering the second loop as a bassline to layer under it, giving the track more variation without drastically changing the loop throughout Deck’s verse, which I tried when originally remixing this but it was too jarring. I think the two melodies work well together, it gives the beat an interesting vibe, and I think it works in adding subtle variation to the track. One night while I was working on this my brother was watching an episode of the Sopranos in another room, and I had soloed the beat without the C.R.E.A.M. verse to see how the bass levels sounded on speakers, and the dialogue of the scene was fitting mad well with the beat. I had to ask him what episode it was from, and ripped the audio from a clip on youtube to use as an outro at the end of the track, chopping out the dialogue which I thought was relevant to the track.

Peace and thank you to everyone who listens.

Ways Of The World (Instrumental)

Ayoo

Feeling this one, it's also available to stream on youtube: https://youtu.be/1x69ARwW9wo 

You can now buy me a coffee if you would like to make a small donation <3 
https://www.buymeacoffee.com/MrTrEEzMusic

Enjoy folks

E q u i n o x

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

Photo by: Photo by <a href="https://unsplash.com/@weirick?utm_source=unsplash&utm_medium=referral&utm_content=creditCopyText">Jake Weirick</a> on <a href="https://unsplash.com/s/photos/new-world?utm_source=unsplash&utm_medium=referral&utm_content=creditCopyText">Unsplash</a>

t h e  w o r l d  w e  k n e w

wild cats in space.

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/track/41IFWwfQmazoGRI0Uok0Fl?si=388814988411445d
Apple Music: https://music.apple.com/us/album/lifetime-impression-instrumental/1585999527?i=1585999528

Instrumental for: https://soundcloud.com/tapeheadloops/lifetime-impression

I had to go all out when I mixed this beat. The drums are all layered so thick, there’s about 4 hi hats, 6 kicks, and 6 snares which are all mixed together to give the drums weight. The way I chopped this sample left some vocals in for split seconds, which sounded like scratches because of them being right at the end of a chop and cut off, like how a fader cuts out a scratch when the DJ spins a record back. I thought this sounded cool but it only happened once in each 2 bar loop of the sample, so I decided to add some of my own scratches from a few break records I have. I used ‘Super Seal’, and recorded some scratches of snares and the famous ‘yo’ sample at the BPM of the beat. Layered with the drums this sounded crazy to me, it gave the beat a different vibe, I’ve definitely said before how much I love how scratching sounds, and it was cool to incorporate it into this beat in a more permanent, less obvious way, not just something for the hook. I also layered the sample 3 times, 2 filters, one high one low, and a standard mix, which I layered, soloed etc throughout the track. This was unbelievably long to do without quantization (which is how I flipped the sample originally), so all 3 had to perfectly match each other, which took hours to sequence. I fully kept giving up but knew the beat needed the layers on the sample to really do it justice (especially the groove that’s added by filtering the lows), so I just stuck by it, and sequenced each chop individually, so I was hitting the pad at the exact right time, which ended up with the beat sequence being 30 tracks on the MPC (they’re usually 15 or so). It was definitely necessary to do this, because the contrast of the smooth flows of the low end to the scratches and samples really gives the track variation, and gives it a lot more presence throughout, definitely was worth the time and effort.

Peace!

Lifetime Impression (Instrumental)

Instrumental: https://soundcloud.com/tapeheadloops/stop-fakin-instrumental

Beat, mixing and mastering by Tapehead
Vocals from 'Fakin' Jax Acapella' by Pete Rock and INI

Visuals: https://youtu.be/KVoufTJXd1M

When I originally came up with the concept for this remix I called it 'deceiving, achieving nothing', which I still think is the hardest hitting line for sure. This might be my favourite verse Pete Rock has done as an emcee to be honest, his lines are just mad creative here. 

I switched the name up to Stop Faking just cause it sums up the whole vibe of the track better, this track never feels like an angry one to me, INI always have that laid back style which fits Pete Rock's jazz heavy production, and on this track they sound more fed up then anything with all the artists faking, but again not in an annoyed way, more like they're saying it's plain to see, why even front and fake when it's that obvious. That's the aspect of this track which I rate the most personally, and wanted to bring that out in this remix. 

Peace!!

Original version: https://soundcloud.com/tapeheadloops/deceiving-achieving-nothing

Stop Fakin'

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wun 4 u

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