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Making Beats: The Art of Sample-Based Hip-Hop
Based on ten years of research among hip-hop producers, Making Beats was the first work of scholarship to explore the goals, methods, and values of a surprisingly insular community. Focusing on a variety of subjects—from hip-hop artists’ pedagogical methods to the Afrodiasporic roots of the sampling process to the social significance of “digging” for rare records—Joseph G. Schloss examines the way hip-hop artists have managed to create a form of expression that reflects their creative aspirations, moral beliefs, political values, and cultural realities. This second edition of the book includes a new foreword by Jeff Chang and a new afterword by the author.
272 pages, Paperback
First published July 26, 2004
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
October 17, 2007
I've been interested in music sampling for years. Usually the first thing I do when I get a hip-hop album is read the sample list and track down the original songs. I was excited when I discovered this book a few months ago, the first book I know of on the subject.
It's not bad. The insights are interesting and the author reveals some true revelations on the sampling subculture. The challenge is that the book is steeped in academia, so a few passages feel less like a cultural analysis and more like a dissertation. However, I don't know of any book more revealing about the how, why and what behind our sample-based music today, and it was hard for me to stop reading until I finished.
It's not bad. The insights are interesting and the author reveals some true revelations on the sampling subculture. The challenge is that the book is steeped in academia, so a few passages feel less like a cultural analysis and more like a dissertation. However, I don't know of any book more revealing about the how, why and what behind our sample-based music today, and it was hard for me to stop reading until I finished.
November 27, 2007
4+
when i requested this book from ILL Services, i thought it would be a practical guide to making music, but instead it's a glimpse into the world of hip-hop producers, examining their aesthetic and ethical values when it comes to creating sample-based music. as someone who doesn't know much about this subject, i felt this was a great introduction to hip-hop production -- chopping, crate digging, script flipping, and more!
it's actually an expanded dissertation but reads more like any good non-fiction book written by an author passionate about the subject, relying much more on extensive interviews with producers (including prince paul) than on quoting other academics, who are often introduced just to be dissed...
for example, here is dj kool akiem's response to the popular notion in academic circles that hip-hop deejaying was conditioned by a poverty that limited access to other forms of music -- 'even saying that is kinda weird. Obviously, [the academics] just probably didn't think about it. The most important thing to them is, "Oh, the kids are poor," you know what i mean? Not even thinkin' about it. Just like, "Well, that must be it: they're poor!"'
in fact, i would say the best thing about this book is the respect it gives to hip-hop as an aesthetic choice not as just some inevitable result of social conditions, or as a short-cut for people not talented enough to create music with live instruments...
though in defense of academia this book also includes a hilarious quote that draws the distinction between being hip and nerdy:
'As Will Straw points out, male record collectors must work to maintain a balance between the competing tendencies toward hipness and nerdishness which are inherent in the activity:
"Hipness and nerdishness both begin with the mastery of a symbolic field; what the latter lacks is a controlled economy of revelation, a sense of when and how things are to be spoken of. Hipness maintains boundaries to entry by requiring that the possession of knowledge be made to seem less significant than the tactical sense of how and when it is made public."'
why didn't anyone tell me that, like, 15 years ago!
when i requested this book from ILL Services, i thought it would be a practical guide to making music, but instead it's a glimpse into the world of hip-hop producers, examining their aesthetic and ethical values when it comes to creating sample-based music. as someone who doesn't know much about this subject, i felt this was a great introduction to hip-hop production -- chopping, crate digging, script flipping, and more!
it's actually an expanded dissertation but reads more like any good non-fiction book written by an author passionate about the subject, relying much more on extensive interviews with producers (including prince paul) than on quoting other academics, who are often introduced just to be dissed...
for example, here is dj kool akiem's response to the popular notion in academic circles that hip-hop deejaying was conditioned by a poverty that limited access to other forms of music -- 'even saying that is kinda weird. Obviously, [the academics] just probably didn't think about it. The most important thing to them is, "Oh, the kids are poor," you know what i mean? Not even thinkin' about it. Just like, "Well, that must be it: they're poor!"'
in fact, i would say the best thing about this book is the respect it gives to hip-hop as an aesthetic choice not as just some inevitable result of social conditions, or as a short-cut for people not talented enough to create music with live instruments...
though in defense of academia this book also includes a hilarious quote that draws the distinction between being hip and nerdy:
'As Will Straw points out, male record collectors must work to maintain a balance between the competing tendencies toward hipness and nerdishness which are inherent in the activity:
"Hipness and nerdishness both begin with the mastery of a symbolic field; what the latter lacks is a controlled economy of revelation, a sense of when and how things are to be spoken of. Hipness maintains boundaries to entry by requiring that the possession of knowledge be made to seem less significant than the tactical sense of how and when it is made public."'
why didn't anyone tell me that, like, 15 years ago!
May 8, 2026
Joseph G. Schloss's "Making Beats" is a required piece of reading in hip-hop related studies, even if some of the information is no longer as holistic or relevant in retrospect to when it was written.
Schloss's structure of the text and use of ethnographic approaches creates a tangible and easily digestible history of sampling culture within the hip-hop production space. While several chapter premises bleed into one another, leading to some sections feeling less-defined than others, each portion is a great snapshot into different sampling topics. Schloss's approach and focuses are not necessarily "the first ever", as he points out in several lit-review sections, it is clearly a seminal text within the literary canon of hip-hop, providing several passages of engaging insight and intersectional analysis.
The largest flaws of "Making Beats" are held in two places, and both are actually addressed by the author. One is the relative vacancy of critical engagement on the topic of gender and identity. While Schloss does address this at the end of the introduction by presenting the, very true, reality that the production world of the 1980's and 90's was almost entirely dominated by men, he seems to use this acknowledgement as a 'pass' to not engage further anywhere else in the book. While this might have been passable in some research circles in 2004, the original publishing year, this is not the case in 2026. Even given that excuse, contemporary writers of his time, such as Tricia Rose and Cheryl L. Keyes, were able to fruitfully engage with such topics, even with the lens of modern day applied. The second biggest flaw is related to the previous, which is the dated nature of some elements in the text. This is by no-means the fault of the author, and Schloss makes several addendums to his approach/outlook in the 2014 edition's added epilogue. Regardless, some elements have aged past the relevance of modern consideration for contemporary hip-hop. For example, when discussing the pivotal nature that danceability and real-time social response to a producer/deejay's work in a club, it is hard not to read the passage with the knowledge that the contemporary hip-hop market does not at all consider these elements in the same way, even when compared to club culture during the time of the reissue in 2014. Again, this is not Schloss's fault, but it makes the book more of a historical read, even outside of what is labeled as such in the text.
While I have presented a few pressing elements that might color "Making Beats" in a negative light, I give it 5 stars out of its importance and scope of when it was released. Even besides its status as one of the most important earlier books on hip-hop, and especially in terms of production culture, it is a fascinating historical and ethnographic engagement on what hip-hop culture was at the turn of the century. As stated before, this is required reading for hip-hop scholars, and an amazing supplement to anyone studying contemporary popular music and culture.
Schloss's structure of the text and use of ethnographic approaches creates a tangible and easily digestible history of sampling culture within the hip-hop production space. While several chapter premises bleed into one another, leading to some sections feeling less-defined than others, each portion is a great snapshot into different sampling topics. Schloss's approach and focuses are not necessarily "the first ever", as he points out in several lit-review sections, it is clearly a seminal text within the literary canon of hip-hop, providing several passages of engaging insight and intersectional analysis.
The largest flaws of "Making Beats" are held in two places, and both are actually addressed by the author. One is the relative vacancy of critical engagement on the topic of gender and identity. While Schloss does address this at the end of the introduction by presenting the, very true, reality that the production world of the 1980's and 90's was almost entirely dominated by men, he seems to use this acknowledgement as a 'pass' to not engage further anywhere else in the book. While this might have been passable in some research circles in 2004, the original publishing year, this is not the case in 2026. Even given that excuse, contemporary writers of his time, such as Tricia Rose and Cheryl L. Keyes, were able to fruitfully engage with such topics, even with the lens of modern day applied. The second biggest flaw is related to the previous, which is the dated nature of some elements in the text. This is by no-means the fault of the author, and Schloss makes several addendums to his approach/outlook in the 2014 edition's added epilogue. Regardless, some elements have aged past the relevance of modern consideration for contemporary hip-hop. For example, when discussing the pivotal nature that danceability and real-time social response to a producer/deejay's work in a club, it is hard not to read the passage with the knowledge that the contemporary hip-hop market does not at all consider these elements in the same way, even when compared to club culture during the time of the reissue in 2014. Again, this is not Schloss's fault, but it makes the book more of a historical read, even outside of what is labeled as such in the text.
While I have presented a few pressing elements that might color "Making Beats" in a negative light, I give it 5 stars out of its importance and scope of when it was released. Even besides its status as one of the most important earlier books on hip-hop, and especially in terms of production culture, it is a fascinating historical and ethnographic engagement on what hip-hop culture was at the turn of the century. As stated before, this is required reading for hip-hop scholars, and an amazing supplement to anyone studying contemporary popular music and culture.
April 8, 2020
This book is so much to me. I'm currently working on a PhD using hip hop as my dissertation and this book altered and gave more nuance to so many of my ideas and other sources. I was floundering in uncertainty, but now I'm invigorated, inspired to work.
February 22, 2024
Funny that there’s an ethnography on this subject but cool for any enthusiasts
May 22, 2013
I saw this in the stacks of the library when looking for another book. I planned to skim it, but ended up reading most of it fairly closely. I liked it. Some neat insights from the producers interviewed and the author as well. Section on ethics was interesting and some of the philosophy behind the use of samples. Was neat for me how he cited Chernoff's African Rhythms book which I'd just read coincidentally, and also cited Dave Sanjek my former camp counselor. I did find there to be more wisdom in the words of the drummers quoted by Chernoff than the dj's here, but they had their moments.
November 4, 2016
Fascinating! Really interesting interviews with practitioners that go beyond basic observations (e.g. "it sounds good") to offer actual practical insights (e.g. "Rza's drums aren't quantized so they can fall slightly of beat"). The interviewees aren't just novice producers as well, but respected veterans like Prince Paul, Domino, and Steinski. At times it can be a bit academic, but to be honest even the academic conclusions and connections he draws are pretty eye-opening and original.
July 24, 2007
Disclaimer: Schloss was a former professor of mine, which is why initially drew me to the book. Really, it's a great foray into the culture of sample-based hip-hop. Driven by DJ/producer interviewers, it counters traditional academic thinking on the aesthetic and intentions behind the beat-making process, while revealing a good chunk of the attitudes/codes/cultures behind this art.
February 3, 2008
This book was a lot of fun - found myself laughing quite often. Before I read this, I had limited knowledge about and experience with hip-hop culture. The book has definitely sold me on hip-hop as an art form and has given me a listener's entrypoint. A really solid, inspiring, and fresh ethnography...
March 16, 2007
It's good to see someone writing a serious book about sampling culture, but I wish he had interviewed bigger figures in the field. Jake One and Mr. Supreme are really quite marginal figures, well-known only for their "Conmen" mixtape compilations of sample sources.
March 8, 2009
So far Schloss's knowledge of history is impeccable. He blurs the line between the field and personal biases and has created a fascinating look into sample based music.
May 2, 2011
nothing
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews