The Roland TR-808 Rhythm Composer, commonly known as the 808, is a drum machine manufactured by the Roland Corporation between 1980 and 1983. It was one of the first drum machines to allow users to program rhythms instead of using preset patterns. Unlike its nearest competitor at the time, the more expensive Linn LM-1, the 808 generates sounds using analog synthesis rather than by playing samples.
Planet Rock: The Album is an old school hip hop album by Afrika Bambaataa & Soulsonic Force, released in 1986 as a collection of previous singles. The song "Planet Rock" was one of the earliest hits of the hip hop music genre and remains one of its pioneering recordings. The single's liner notes include members of Kraftwerk with the songwriting credits. In creating the track, portions of Kraftwerk's "Numbers" and "Trans-Europe Express" were interpolated, along with portions of songs by Captain Sky and Ennio Morricone.
The 2 Live Crew Is What We Are is the debut studio album by hip-hop group the 2 Live Crew. It was released in 1986 on Luke Records to a great deal of controversy and promptly was certified gold by the RIAA. It includes the hits "We Want Some Pussy", "Throw the 'D'", and "Cuttin' It Up". Bob Rosenberg, a south Florida DJ who would later form the dance-pop group Will to Power, remixed and edited the song "Beat Box". In Florida, it was deemed obscene, and one store clerk was charged with felony "corruption of a minor" for selling it to a 14-year-old girl. The clerk was later acquitted.
Electro is a genre of electronic music and early hip hop directly influenced by the use of the Roland TR-808 drum machines, and funk. Records in the genre typically feature drum machines and heavy electronic sounds, usually without vocals, although if vocals are present they are delivered in a deadpan manner, often through electronic distortion such as vocoding and talkboxing. This is the main distinction between electro and previously prominent genres such as disco, in which the electronic sound was only part of the instrumentation. It also palpably deviates from its predecessor boogie for being less vocal-oriented and more focused on electronic beats produced by drum machines.
Planet Patrol is an American electro group originating in the 1980s. The members were Arthur Baker, John Robie, and a quintet of vocalists led by Herbert J. Jackson, Joseph Lites, Rodney Butler, Michael Anthony Jones, and Melvin B. Franklin. The group only produced a single album, the self-titled Planet Patrol in 1983, which peaked at #64 on the Billboard R&B Albums chart.
Hip hop production is the creation of hip hop music in a recording studio. While the term encompasses all aspects of hip hop music creation, including recording the rapping of an MC, a turntablist or DJ providing a beat, playing samples and "scratching" using record players and the creation of a rhythmic backing track, using a drum machine or sequencer, it is most commonly used to refer to recording the instrumental, non-lyrical and non-vocal aspects of hip hop.
"Control Myself" is a song by American rapper LL Cool J from his 12th album, Todd Smith (2006). The song was written by Jermaine Dupri, James Phillips, Ryan Toby, John Miller, Afrika Bambaataa, Arthur Baker and John Robie. The song was produced by Dupri, with co-production by LRoc, and features guest vocals from American entertainer Jennifer Lopez. "Control Myself" contains a sample of Bambaataa and Soulsonic Force's 1983 song "Looking for the Perfect Beat", while the vocals interpolate Grandmaster Flash and Melle Mel's 1983 song "White Lines " and Bambaataa and Soulsonic Force's 1982 song "Planet Rock".
"Renegades of Funk" is a song written by Afrika Bambaataa, Arthur Baker, John Miller & John Robie and recorded by Afrika Bambaataa & Soulsonic Force. Released in 1983 as a single on the Tommy Boy label, it was also included on the 1986 album Planet Rock: The Album. The song is an eclectic fusion of electronic music and heavy percussion, with politically fused hip hop lyrics that draw a connection between past revolutionaries and bohemians to present-day street artists. It was produced and mixed by Arthur Baker and John Robie. Mastering was by Herb Powers Jr..
Double Dee and Steinski is a duo of hip hop producers, composed of Doug "Double Dee" DiFranco and Steven "Steinski" Stein. They achieved notoriety in the early 1980s for a series of underground hip-hop sample-based collages known as the "Lessons".
Wayne "Frosty Freeze" Frost, also known as The Freeze To Please, was an American old school hip hop b-boy known as a member of the second generation of the hip hop/breakdancing group, Rock Steady Crew.
Listennn... the Album is the debut studio album by American hip hop artist DJ Khaled. It was released on June 6, 2006. by Terror Squad Entertainment and Koch Records. The album features guest appearances from Young Jeezy, Bun B, Birdman, Juelz Santana, Slim Thug, Krayzie Bone, Chamillionaire, Trina, Twista, Freeway, Jadakiss, Beanie Sigel, Styles P and Lil Scrappy, among others. Reviews for the record were generally positive but divided over the production, lyrical content and Khaled as an artist. Listennn... the Album debuted at number 12 on the Billboard 200, selling 44,000 copies in its first week in the United States. The album was supported by three singles: "Holla at Me" featuring Lil Wayne, Paul Wall, Fat Joe, Rick Ross and Pitbull, "Grammy Family" featuring Kanye West, John Legend and Consequence, and "Born-N-Raised" featuring Pitbull, Trick Daddy and Rick Ross.
"Planet Rock" is a song by the American hip hop artists Afrika Bambaataa and the Soul Sonic Force. The song was produced by Arthur Baker and released by Tommy Boy Records in 1982. The recording came together after DJ and producer Baker met with Bambaataa and the two bonded over the idea of creating a song about their mutual appreciation for the band Kraftwerk. Baker and Bambaataa had worked together previously on the song "Jazzy Sensation," and decided to compose a more electronic based version of the hip hop song, as opposed to the more disco-oriented work popular at the time. Along with musician John Robie, the group recorded the single at Intergalactic Studios in New York. Robie duplicated the sound on the record and had Bambaataa's rappers in the Soul Sonic Force rap over it. To create the raps, the lyricist of the group, Emcee G.L.O.B.E., had to develop a style he called "mc popping", which involved rapping off time, an unusual style at the time.
Soulsonic Force is an American electro-funk and hip hop ensemble led by Afrika Bambaataa who helped establish hip-hop in the early 1980s with songs such as "Planet Rock." They were also influential in the birth of the electro movement in America and helped pave the way for modern dance music styles such as electro-funk as well as the entire Miami bass scene.
Next Friday is the soundtrack album to Steve Carr's 2000 comedy film Next Friday. It was released on December 14, 1999 through Priority Records and consisted of hip hop and R&B music.
"Looking for the Perfect Beat" is a song by Afrika Bambaataa & the Soulsonic Force. The song was produced by Arthur Baker and John Robie and was the follow-up track for the group following "Planet Rock". The track took much longer to develop than "Planet Rock" with Baker using cocaine and the pressure involved with creating a follow-up single. The group was developed for months in Robie's apartment while Afrika Bambaataa and the Soul Sonic Force were touring.
"Holla at Me" is the debut single by DJ Khaled, released in 2006 from his debut album Listennn... the Album. The song features Lil Wayne, Paul Wall, Fat Joe, Rick Ross and Pitbull, and was produced by Cool & Dre. It samples Afrika Bambaataa & the Soulsonic Force's 1983 song "Looking for the Perfect Beat". The song peaked at number 15 on the US Hot Rap Tracks chart in June 2006.
Hip hop music or hip-hop music, also known as rap music, is a genre of popular music developed in the United States by inner-city African Americans, Caribbean Americans and Latino Americans in the Bronx borough of New York City in the 1970s. It consists of stylized rhythmic music that commonly accompanies rapping, a rhythmic and rhyming speech that is chanted. It developed as part of hip hop culture, a subculture defined by four key stylistic elements: MCing/rapping, DJing/scratching with turntables, break dancing, and graffiti writing. Other elements include sampling beats or bass lines from records, and rhythmic beatboxing. While often used to refer solely to rapping, "hip hop" more properly denotes the practice of the entire subculture. The term hip hop music is sometimes used synonymously with the term rap music, though rapping is not a required component of hip hop music; the genre may also incorporate other elements of hip hop culture, including DJing, turntablism, scratching, beatboxing, and instrumental tracks.
Lance Taylor, also known as Afrika Bambaataa, is an American DJ, rapper, and producer from the South Bronx, New York. He is notable for releasing a series of genre-defining electro tracks in the 1980s that influenced the development of hip hop culture. Afrika Bambaataa is one of the originators of breakbeat DJing.
Looking for the Perfect Beat: 1980–1985 is a compilation album by hip hop musician Afrika Bambaataa.
Monica Lynch is a music business executive, record producer, and former President of hip-hop/dance music label Tommy Boy Records. She has hosted radio programs on free-form WFMU since 1997, and worked as an A&R consultant for Queen Latifah and Martina McBride.
