If you’ve found yourself groovin’ along to any type of sample-based music over the past 20 years, whether it be hip-hop or electro or drum & bass or jungle or pretty much anything else that’s not strictly guitar + bass + drums, then you’ve got to check out this 20 minute clip on the history of the infamous “Amen Break” 6-second drum sample. Amazingly insightful stuff, and a damn good history lesson to boot.
From the clip post:
This fascinating, brilliant 20-minute video narrates the history of the “Amen Break,” a six-second drum sample from the b-side of a chart-topping single from 1969. This sample was used extensively in early hiphop and sample-based music, and became the basis for drum-and-bass and jungle music — a six-second clip that spawned several entire subcultures. Nate Harrison’s 2004 video is a meditation on the ownership of culture, the nature of art and creativity, and the history of a remarkable music clip.
You can thank my pal Satya for hookin’ this one up. Nice one.