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Beatmaking in Hip-Hop has never been revolutionized greater by any other technique than sampling. The act in and of itself is an art and a skill, but often it’s pre-cursor; crate diggin’ AKA record collecting, is severely overlooked when Hip-Hoppers get together and hand out kudos. The regimen I speak of called crate diggin’ by it’s disciples involves one having the willingness to consistently venture out and pluck records from just about anywhere they can in pursuit of musical tools to interweave in their production. Those long forgotten vinyl LP’s that most children of the MP3 age now gaze at with complete dumbfoundedness, can and have provided the best sounds, loops and inspiration in the arena of production, definitively shaping the golden age of Hip-Hop.
Out of some old, decrepit crate in some random attic or basement you might find the perfect drum break off some obscure 60′s 12 inch…hell, you might find a few. By spending thousands of tedious man hours sifting through the inventory at local and not so local record spots you may come across a pristine horn or flute solo to layer over one of those breaks. By wandering around at some swap meet or flea market you may run into some lovely import record that boasts rare sounds that you can interplay with your break, your horns, your flutes and viola! Your beginning to see just what kind of sound being a dedicated digger can yield, what kid of sound sampling can yield, what kind of sound that a Japanese producer and true student of record collecting, production and Hip-Hop has been yielding for the past 20+ years.
Southpaw Chop is the type of producer who’s music encompasses what Hip-Hop used to be all about. The DJ/producer started his career in the latter part of the 80′s alongside houshold and internationally known Japanese names like DJ Honda and DJ Krush. After years of grinding, collecting and crafting, he’s finally been given the opportunity to release a record on a worldwide scale. International underground distributor Crosstalk Chicago got wind of Chop’s considerable talent and promptly released Never Stop Sampling; Chop’s latest project, on Febuary 28th. Since I got my copy I haven’t listned to a different instrumental album yet. Kind of reminds me of when I first heard DJ Shadow’s 1996 instrumental landmark Endtroducing for the first time. Un-surprisingly the two records share the same care for detail and the same kind of rin-depth, layered musical soundscapes, Chop just doesn’t delve into the whole trip hop thing the way Shadow did…
Chop’s masterful use of sampling only records on this album is astounding. One by one, your thrilled with his re-interpretation of old records into new avenues of Funky grooviness. He plays no instruments himself, but his ear is undeniably sharp, as evidenced by the sonically perfected, head nodding tracks that incorporate all types of samples and even at times a bit of his DJing.
Although mostly an instrumental effort, Chop couldn’t resist letting one of Hip-Hop’s all time great’s go ahead and bust a few lines over one of his rich arrangements. None other than Queens legend and fellow longtime beat purveyor himself, Large Professor, climbs on board the Never Stop Sampling star ship and over a bubbly sax and cut laden beat creates “Here We Go”. Now why can’t that song be the type of thing kids hear when they turn on their radios, er, uh, I mean online radios. Pro’s satisfying performance is placed perfectly dead center in the middle of this grand opus and while it’s a heavy force that makes you wish Southpaw would link up with more heady talent to rhyme on his joints (if not just move to NYC and drop a whole compilation album that features some of Pro’s peers) nothing overpowers the actual meat of this release which is the impeccably picked and manipulated samples.
From the thudding kicks and sizzling snares to the greased keys and ominous sound fragments littered throughout it, Never Stop Sampling is a true experience, not unlike what taking a glimpse into a fond photo album from one of your most triumphant years. Southpaw Chop gives us “old heads” that ever so sweet hindsight at the glory our Hip-Hop culture once exuded en masse through his music. It’s almost tragic that due to copyright laws, intellectual property BS and just plain laziness and alienation on the part of the new Hip-Hop generation that the motto Southpaw lives by, and also chose to name this wondrous collection of music after is simply dying off here in America.
$18.75 out of $20
-Dominick “BIG D O” Ledezma
July 14th, 2011 at 4:48 am
They Should This Groovy Rhythms. Actually eastern Fusion Music is allways has more percussions and Dance Patterns. While most musician They call Dholak as a percussion Instruments But in south asian music, dholak supposed to be the main rhythm Instrument along with Carnatic Percussions. Love this kind of music.