Am I the only one in constant struggle to find where I want to be musically. I grew up with hip hop, its all I really ever listened to (being born in the early 90s). But digging in the crates, chopping breaks, and exploring all the dope music I sampled blurred where I wanted to take music.

I know I've told myself a million times its not black and white, one or the other- but at the same time I find myself sitting motionless in front of samplers. In the last year or so I've been playing a lot of lap steel and acoustic, and even blew the dust off my old drum kit.
Am I the only one who ever gets down on this shit, and wishes they could be doing something completely different musically?

And I don't mean this in a distasteful way. Hip hop is and always will be my love. It's not because I think I'm better than hip hop, because any one who has heard my shit knows I've done nothing..

Also, been a minute since I posted. Hope all is well with those I haven't spoken with lately.

Peace!

To me, the sprit of original hip hop is what is still fun. The originality and collage aspect of it. Obviously, the mainstream hip hop doesn't value this, but that is what caught my ear to begin with...and imo, that is the "art" part of it that has legitimacy.

I'm still very active with sampling/etc, but I play guitar every day (also drums, bass, keys and a lap steel). Feed whatever part of you feels inspiration and don't worry about how it is labeled. Sample that lap steel and chop that up, too.

i know what your saying mate. last year i stopped making beats for a while and learnt keys and bass (abit of 6string) to make my own music with a drum machine and vocals. I was coming from the same state of mind as yourself. again, no diss to sampling as i fcking love it but i got so inspired by all the ish i was listening to, i felt i wanted to make ish people would want to sample on Mars in 2050. i now make beats like people play video games, just quick microwave resamples as it really keeps me sane and relaxed, plus i love digging and finding new ish. then when the inspiration strikes and my ideas are rolling i can go to create my own original music and sound.. heavy drums, synths, bass/guitar, distortion, reverb and lots of delay feedback, still very hiphop inspired. i find writting and create your own music gives a huge sense of accomplishment. also, learning instruments has actually made my beat making even more organic. i look forward to hearing opinions on my ish all when it's done, sp fam speak real.

p.s apologies for the babble

Totally relate to the subject line in this thread, not so much the discussion.

Also play a bit of bass & others on the side but that was because I'm also a huge fan of other kinds of music for different reasons to beats & hip hop, plus I was into them first (Post-rock, stoner metal & IDM especially). If it weren't for sampling I would never have found all kinds of non-standard music & wouldn't appreciate anywhere near as much as I do now. Middle eastern music is amazingly underrated!

Plus being able to play actual instruments opens up new ways of phrasing musical ideas that you won't necessarily get in sampling. Things like playing the same riff twice with differently accented notes.

I basically come from a black metal /post hardcore background lol.

Never was really into hip hop besides the mandatory wu-tang of my teen years and very few other hip hop records during that time.

As time passed and became more and more interested in so many different stuff (krautrock, noise, surf rock, drone, ambient, etc.) that I ended up making beats because a friend of mine who also shared many if not all of my music tastes was doing it and he showed me Lord Beatjitsu and Mujo and a bunch of other people doing similar stuff. That was like 3 or 4 months ago.

Today, 3 or 4 months later I have a SP404

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@Unfolding and Hooded Menace
i came from indie rock/crossover/idm/grind (...the90s...) etc some hiphop too...let's make a weird band!!!

it (in thread)
many times i play different kind on music, muzak or musica. sometimes is very bad, but even in this case i try to teach myself what do/don't do...and sometimes shit music (produced by you) could be a secret to sample and to rebring in life.

Yo.
Try doing different projects concurrently. I'm in a new wave/ shoegazer band (well, duo) where I play bass, sing lead vocals, and control the drum machine.i also do the sp404, making abstract beats and ambient music.
Do whatever you want, but the trick is to just DO it. I spent a ton of time second guessing myself and trying to "find myself", then i realized I'm really into many different styles and want to do it all.
Great topic btw.

Staying off topic & @ Hooded Menace & Ellaguru:
A while back I was going to start a political hardcore/crust/cybergrind band with a mate who's a radical feminist. Seeing I can sympathise with her politics & she's a fan of rediculous overstatements it felt natural. I made this demo for her to try & scream over: http://ainslieapocalypse.bandcamp.com...

But then she moved cities. Pity. It'd be awesome playing some gnarly riffs again!

Oi Hooded- did you know you share a pseudonym with a death-doom band?

Back on topic: It seems a genuine love of music & interest in sound is universal among beatmakers. We're probably some of the least picky music fans out there (after John Peel, natch).

I totally get where your coming from.

I have hard drives full of old projects, ranging from Drum and Bass, Indie Dance, Industrial, electronica, folk etc.

It's taken me 10 years to find out where I am musically, and I'm a lot happier. I've tried to change my style so many times, but have kinda come to terms with the fact that "this is the music I make." If I end up making a beat and I don't like it, I delete it instantly and work on something else.

I find when I'm really in the flow, the sample guides me rather than the other way round.

I've also just totally changed up how I make beats too. My bandcamp stuff is a 404 and Ableton. chops on the 404 played over drums on Ableton. But I find it very stale and I was becoming to formulaic. I've now been experimenting with Reaper when I've got a few mins at work and it's opened my mind so much. I've started chopping samples in a way I've never thought of. I've been using filtering so much more to layer 3 or more different parts from the sample record, extracting the bass, the vox etc.

Maybe try changing things up a bit or stop trying to force your music too much. I think most of us here just love making music for ourselves rather than thinking it will ever go anywhere. I love it when I play back something I've made from nothing and really dig it!

@Unfolding: Yeah I even rip off their logo once in a while

On topic, I think rather than finding out where I musically am during all these years, I have been having and still am having fun.

I had a post hardcore band in the vein of Cult of Luna, then I did some psychadelic stoner stuff kinda like Earthless, I did a lot of drone sessions with a mate and I had a drone/post rock band once. Oh and a noise band when I was young, something kinda like Lightning Bolt and Locust. I've been all over the place, really, and hopefully I'll continue to be.

Settling down musically becomes boring after a while and someone mentioned somewhere in these forums that's healthy completely erase all your iPod once in a while and fill it with whatever is pulling you at the moment. Music genres should be appreciated in waves, I think.

i really understand your thing man! My musical taste went bigger by crate diggin through the years.

I caught myself one day .
I was searching for a sample , that would match the feelin inside my soul.
Couldnt find it, my feelin went from inspired to ''lame''.
Then a Progressive Funk record took my attention because of the image on it.
I put it on and listen to it...
I heard alot of samples that matched my soul again, but this time i let it play, because there were 2many samples on it and it all sounded like a ''DONE BEAT'',
The music was already playing.....(with me).
Then a decided to do my housecleaning,while the record plays and made a beat after cleaning with a whole other feelin and a other record.

MUSIC TOUCHES THE SOUL FIRST , THE BRAIN 2nd.
If a piece of music touches your soul, then that piece of music is a piece of YOU.
Music is one of the things to feel our own soul and its emotions and 2nd thoughts.
Think of the music your parents or grandparents used to play when we were little, those records made a piece of your soul ,while growing up.
Those are the records that make you smile, when you see them while crate diggin.
And ''Musical Taste'' is always a discussion, because there are alot of different souls.(spbeatbattle)
Sampling music is easy, but Sampling the soul not.
Listen to music is easy, but listen to the soul not.
Music = E.Q. + I.Q. (dont let I.Q. get too much space, while makin beats,thats for the engineer/mastering part).
Peace...

(PS: sorry if my english is a little broken- i am from holland)

its simple make whatever you like. As long as you dig it. you can even create a whole new genre if you like.

But people/listeners.. are weird, most people will follow names, and not the music. 1000 listeners, will add another thousand and so on.

so do what you want to do, shit you got a drumset, used that shit homes!
We can even start a new psychedelic undergound band together, virtual band haha.