Longtime EPMD member DJ Scratch announced that he’s left EPMD after finding out that Eric Sermon and Parrish Smith had been recording an album and performing without him. In an interview with All Hip Hop, Scratch cites money issues as cause for the rift. Read the interview and check the footage for a glimpse of … Read more
The Crate Kings Summer Beat Battle sponsored by Zoom-In Online is currently underway! With only 1 week left, the July 4th, 2008 entry deadline is fast approaching, but there’s still time to compete for some fantastic prizes. Visit the Crate Kings forums for official rules and the chance have your entry reviewed by Hip-Hop production … Read more
It was a tough field of competition during the Crate Kings Spring ’08 beat battle, but producer Illeagle was able to pull through and take the number one spot with clever sample flipping and programming skills. The 27 year old Illeagle hails from Fort Wayne, Indiana and has been producing & dj’ing for over a … Read more
Q-Bert and DJ Scratch (EPMD, Busta Rhymes, Redman, Wu-Tang, Jay Z) sit down to discuss past dj battles like the New Music Seminar, ITF, and DMC. They also touch on dealing with stage fright, production, and his innovations in DJ’ing.
To celebrate his latest release entitled Digi Snacks, The RZA and Koch Records are holding a remix contest for his single "Drama". The winning entry will receive $500, a 1 year subscription to Remix Magazine, and the chance to be included in a forthcoming digital release by RZS as Bobby Digital. Head on over to … Read more
Coptic (Black Rob, Notorious, B.I.G., P-Diddy, G-Dep) talks about how he became involved in production, working with Bad Boy, and networking with other producers. He touches on the concepts of producer vs. beatmaker, Hip-Hop vs. R&B, making sure a track is completely finished, qualities to look for in an engineer. Equipment favorites include Akai MPC … Read more
The selection of entry level audio interface keeps increasing. T.C. Electronic has introduced the Desktop Konnekt 6 FireWire audio interace. At an MSRP of $295, the interface offers a lot of bang for the budge and includes feature such as: High resolution meter Tracking reverb level control Direct monitor control with input/DAW control DIM … Read more
Seems like everyone is fascinated with Antares Auto-Tune lately, including The New Yorker. Author Sasha Frere-Jones quickly breaks down the history of Auto-Tune from the inventor Andy Hildebrand’s ventures in the oil indusry, to Cher’s vocal tweaking on "Believe", and finally T-Pain’s complete adoption of the technique. There’s also a little bit of sound theory … Read more
Producer Dame Grease tells the tale of how he and the LOX decided to make "We’ll Always Love Big Poppa".
Here’s your chance to snap up some soulful artifacts. On July 17th, 2008 Christie’s will be holding an auction of James Brown’s personal items. Can you imagine having The Godfather’s handwritten lyrics, Sex Machine belt, Passport, or a test pressing of a duet between James Brown and the Rev. Al Shaprton!? I’ve personally got … Read more