"Heavy Sifting: Broke Hop
Posted by Sasha Frere-Jones
The Australian DJ Broke just posted “Butter 4.0,” a retrospective mixtape of nineties hip-hop. If you wonder why some folks think all has been lost in hip-hop, this tape might explain it. (If you want more historical perspective, try “The History of Hip-Hop,” a series of mixtapes created by the Brooklyn d.j. collective, The Rub. Every year between 1979 and 1999 gets its own comprehensive mix. I hope the aughts aren’t being held up by some Y2K crap.)
The nineties were hardly perfect. Tempos tended to a clubfooted thump, and a handful of drum samples were caned to death. But beats built from fragments of vinyl sound great, and before changes in law made sampling too expensive for anyone who isn’t named Kanye West, a lot of work got done with old soul and funk records." (cont.)
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