NOT BEATS! Compositions!

[Teewok]

to impress chicks, I gotta say compositions>beats.

in describing myself though as a Hip-Hop artist who samples music, I don't feel comfortable calling myself a composer really. Maybe a "compozer" lol but not composer.

I don't even feel comfortable calling myself a producer. I don't even think of myself as a musician really because to me it's just street music and I happen to be creative. That's why bboying graffitti djing emceeing beatboxing are all outlets for creative Hip-Hop minded people.

That's not to say that anybody in here isn't qa composer -> you're style of music may allow you to justify that for sure. Just not sample based Hip-Hop I don't see it -> it's too classical we'd have to flip it and make it our own.

[Les Braun]

don't be ridiculous
you know there's a reason why we're not all writing in big and colorful fonts, it's because we don't want to come off as retards.
a lot of us on this forum like to let our music do the talking for us.

[dollarllama d]

I hate limiting my sample based music to the term 'beats'. And to say that we are 'producers' as in 'record producers' is also a term we need to do away with because it doesnt apply to someone in their bedroom making music electronically. We are composers/arrangers, etc. and the music we write are 'compositions' and 'pieces' and we should consider them that. We are living in a new era of music and music production and need to be more intelligent about what we're doing because kids can now make full productions on their cellular phones. 'Producers' making 'beats' is a thing of the past in my opinion. I'm not hating on anyone who considers it that. I just think we need to rethink some things as electronic music makers in the 21st century is all. And why are people on this forum talkin' bout' MV's and MPC's? Isn't this an Sp-forum?!, I don't get it...

i have a question about the bedroom making music electronically??? well i dont think it matters the location u make your music as long as the end result is good. shit i make music in starbucks often. haha.

about the composer vs. producer thing it depends. for someone who actually playin live drums mic it up to a sp 202 then sample into a mpc or whatever sampler. then chop that up thats more of composing and arrangin because your actually crafty drums from scratch. if its sampled based and u chop heavily that can be arrangin as well. but when i honestly think of composer and arrangements i think of music being written and other musicians can replay it, but i have had musician hear my beats learned it and played a live version of it. so you do have a point .

i never like the label thing too much then you start overthinking stuff once it has label . does it fit in this catergory when its maybe good music regardless. but like said about flylo i think he's a composer somewhat. with the addition of the live instrumentation at his shows. while he plays from ableton the musician play drums and bass over that. so thats a form of composing.

the sp army gets rowdy sometimes. lol but they some good doods here i dont think they gangin up on you. its a good topic that makes you think without a doubt.

[springwater]

Ya, its easy to misinterpret text and thing everyone is ganging up on you. That bright ass yellow might have had something to do with it, but its all love. But, on the reals, im black, my homies call me nigga, white people refer to me as african-american, if it was 1960 id be colored. I know this is way out there but its around the same ball park. ITS THE SAME FUCKIN SPORT!
-Samuel L. Jackson

But if i even spent a moment to think about how all those terms affected me and how i wanted to be represented... id probably be pissed at the white people for callin me african american knowing that they wanna call me a NIGGA! JK

Its just not the mindset you should want to have, you should want to be original and not fall into any category. I wouldnt even try to compare myself to someone like Beethoven or Mozart. Id be playin myself from the GATE! But if you think that highly of yourself and all of us, then so be it. But be more about expression than anything else.

And no ones ganging up on you. The opposite of what you got would be no replies at all. You brought up a good point. And people are less passive when typing words. Shit, if one of us were sitting next to you and heard that bright yellow shit you wrote, we might have just nodded our head thinking " this dudes a dick". With the magical powers of interweb, we were able to be str8 up and tell you that you might be coming off as a dick, str8 through your computer screen.
Again, welcome to the forums, and enjoy the debates.

[jbl]

Bright Yellow Attitude dude
welcome aboard

[UbiquitousCanuck]

Simon Says: "just be like everyone else and think like everyone else so I keep doing the same old thing"...Thats' what I heard...

Oh wait he might not read this. I said, Simon Says: "just be like everyone else and think like everyone else so I keep doing the same old thing"...Thats' what I heard...

Whack.

You claimed you wanted a discussion then dismissed any opinion which was contrary to your own. Obviously we all get the point, beats is a general term that can easily limit what people think of your work, and may not describe your music in its highest light.

The problem is, like I stated in my last post, which you dismissed, is that changing the vocabulary in reality will change nothing about the perception of your music. If you call your ish a composition, I'll call my ish a composition, as will every idiot who thinks theyre the worlds greatest thing since the last greatest thing came and went. Pretty soon composition is the new blanket word to describe anyone making a similar style of music, whether they're good, bad or otherwise.

ps. Anyone know a solid spot to copp new mpc pads- other than mpc-stuff...Thanks.

[Teewok]

jc throw in sum sp pads on the mp and make it a mpcsp 2404 xlsx

[a.D.]

A point I haven't seen anybody touch on:

Composers are overrated....

Mozart composed his first peice at 5-6 years old. I'd like to see a 5 year old jump on an sp-1200 and "compose" T.R.O.Y.

Bottom line is though- anybody creating an original piece of music- even if it's a 5 second loop pulled from a 4 minute song- is "composing".
Like many have said-you wanna call yourself a composer, that's fine- But when it comes to Hip Hop at least, most producers/beatmakers choose to stick to tradition and the roots of the music..which is a huge part of what makes hip hop what it is.

If you feel some sense of shame expaining to people that don't know about beat making what it is you do, and feel the need to put some kind of different title on it- then you yourself might be one of the people that actually looks down on beatmaking and a lot of the people that do it. Making good beats in any form is every bit as much of an art as ANY other kind of music.

Also, I actually find it kinda sad that there's so many people on this thread saying what they and others do with beats doesn't deserve such an "esteemed" title as composing.Writing music on paper with notes is in no way above digging & chopping up records, or playing/creating melodies w/ samples or synths,etc...a lot of the greatest musicians to ever live never read or wrote a note of sheet music in their lives.And in another 20-30 years,in many circles a lot of hip hop producers will be thought of as some of those greatest musicians of all time.

[keal]

why cant i write like i want? geez. why do you care so much?

[jbl]

You can go to the corner and preach about the divine powers of yoga but that doesnt mean people will listen.
A.d. We agree. WTF, maybe it is the end of world.
Yellow tude, you never answered my q.
What kind of music do u compose?

[meager prophit]

being fussy about what you/other people define you as only makes what you do seem less than credible...

there is a great Thatcher quote that this discussion brings to mind.

'being powerful is the same as being a woman. if you have to tell people you are then you are not.'

i just cant see why is it important at all? work hard, make the music you want to make, how you want to make it, dont be lame and everything else is should be irrelevant. right?

[Les Braun]

Bottom line is though- anybody creating an original piece of music- even if it's a 5 second loop pulled from a 4 minute song- is "composing".

Can you really call a looped sample an original piece of music?

[keal]

[keal]

being fussy about what you/other people define you as only makes what you do seem less than credible...

there is a great Thatcher quote that this discussion brings to mind.

'being powerful is the same as being a woman. if you have to tell people you are then you are not.'

i just cant see why is it important at all? work hard, make the music you want to make, how you want to make it, dont be lame and everything else is should be irrelevant. right?

yes but, nevermind. im done.

[a.D.]

@ Akedemik--Of course you can- there's much more to it than just grabbing a random record, looping up 2-4 bars and putting some drums behind it. Loops are the foundation that Hip-Hop and all sample based music is built upon. Just finding a dope loop is an art within itself-(and I'm not reffering to 90's puffy style of just looping the main melody up of already well known songs)you're talking about digging through dozens and dozens of records just to find that perfect sample with the perfect feel for what you're looking for. Then taking a very small peice of a full song and putting it in a completely different context than the original musician(s) intended, or even thought of themselves...then maybe adding some filters & other efx,bass,an extra layer or 2 or a few one shots, finding the perfect drums and programming the right drum pattern...When done right, a completely new peice of music is created.

Listen to something like "Who Got the Props" by the Beatminerz, and the original sample by Ronnie Laws,- "The World is Yours"by Pete Rock & the original by Ahmad Jammal- or almost the enire Diamond D "Stunts Blunts & Hip Hop" album (I could go on and on and on : ) and tell me these producers didn't create Beats with an entirely different & original sound and feel than the songs they pulled the loops from.