Experimental Hip Hop - Production

Production

Experimental Hip-Hop production is highly eclectic. Influence is drawn from almost every genre of music. There are elements of Electronic Music and Dub, as well as the use of rock, soul, reggae, classical, and jazz samples, among many others. Experimental hip-hip production expands on the sounds of early 1990s hip hop such as Wu-Tang Clan, A Tribe Called Quest, De La Soul, and The Pharcyde to name a few.

One of the most influential pioneers of experimental hip-hop production is James Dewitt Yancey, better known as J Dilla or Jay Dee. The two main elements of J Dilla's style included sampling and non-quantized drum rhythms. Sampling, or the use of phrases or stabs from other music, is the basis of Hip-Hop production and is a traditional technique. However, J Dilla's way of chopping samples was unique and highly innovative, mostly finding insignificant elements and small phrases in the music to turn into the main melody. Non-quantized drums are another trademark of J Dilla's style. Quantization refers to the editing technique used in programming drums, wherein each drum hit in the pattern is locked to a rhythmic value on a perfect grid. While some experimental hip-hop does use quantized rhythms, the vast majority of it does not. Dilla was a pioneer of this technique and is notorious for not using quantization. He played out his drum rhythms by hand on the pads of his Akai Music Production Center (MPC). This gives his music the effect of having a natural groove or swing, as if a real drummer had played on it. Some more recent producers who are noticeably influenced by this sound, and use similar drum programming techniques include Madlib, Flying Lotus, Karriem Riggins, and Hudson Mohawke. Other legendary producers who are often cited as influences for experimental hip hop include DJ Premier, 9th Wonder, Hi-Tek, Pete Rock, and Ali Shaheed Muhammad of A Tribe Called Quest.