i went to every website i could, grabbed every sample i could find (back in the 56k days) then made a million shitty beats.
This. crawl before you walk.
I think its important to make a bunch of learning/mediocre/complete crap beats to learn what makes thing good and bad. I don't see the fun in taking other people's massaged-and-hard-work-samples (only) and making beats with it, rather than creating something original and thought out.
Not against using other peoples samples, drum packs, etc but I think the core of your samples should say something about you and not the online store/artist you grabbed them from.
