Geography has always been one of the means to define a hip hop beat maker. In days gone by you could pick where a beat maker was from by listening to their slang and sound.
Beat makers would use this as a source of authenticity and pride. These days you see a lot of hip hop artists moving to online beat makers and it this has lead to a lot of producers becoming known regardless of their location.
Nothing proves this better than Jay Z’s upcoming album titled “We Run This Town”. You have to wonder which town are they running when you consider he is collaborating on the album with Kanye West (Chicago) & Rihanna (Barbados) and numerous others.
Jay Z has never shied away from the fact he is from Brooklyn and one of his biggest hits displays this. Aspiring beat makers might wonder sometimes if there is a large change that is taking place in the industry.
With the hip hop movement moving on a global scale, some might argue where you’re from is not as important as it once was as a lot of artists have moved online to places like Myspace and Mp3.com. From these sites we’re seeing a distinct change in hip hop. It’s changed from “Where Brooklyn at?” to which site you represent.
If you grew up during the 1990′s you know Outkast is from Atlana, Snoop Dogg is from Long Beach and Nas from New York. Through their beats they represented their cities and their music showed this. If we research the evolution of hip hop it’s clear location was always a part of it. New York has it’s orchestra type sounds and use of drums and scratching. LA takes a laid back approach with a larger focus on gang affiliation.
Hip hop always fed on locality to define it. If you walked the neighborhood and checked out the record shops or attended concerts you realise it was no accident these hip hop producers were earning themselves a reputation locally and then taking it to a global scale. Today we find the hip hop beat maker scene flourishing on websites like Myspace and Youtube.
People with aspirations of getting into the industry have found this an invaluable way to make contacts across the world. It allows you to demo your creations to the world without the limitation of locality. Twitter is the new Atlanta. Myspace is the new NY. Facebook is LA. No-one epitomises hip hop beat making online better than Soulja Boy and his hit Tell’em. He developed a following on Myspace. That’s the focus of where Soulja Boy is from.
The Internet has allowed people with the passions to create their own unique style but on a global scale and in turn this has led to producers gaining valuable exposure from every town on the planet. Gone are the days of the East Coast vs West Coast rapper. These days it is about the type of beat you’re producing. The Internet allows anyone with the ambition to create beats to demo them to the world. With online hip hop beat maker software available to anyone cheaply, we’ve seen an all new sub-genre of hip hop spring up.
The industry has changed for the better. People with aspirations to get their start no longer have to rely on record labels to get heard. Fans make the decision whether a hip hop beat maker will gain recognition. The chain of events now sees a producer creating a beat in his bedroom, posting it on Myspace for the fan to download to his Ipod and share with his friends. The one constant that has not changed is image.
A hip hop beat maker still needs to focus on his image as much as his music. How you develop your Myspace is just as important as how you create your beats. Talib Kewli, who is a rapper from Brooklyn has said now that it’s (hip hop) based on the Internet, it allows you to be more creative. Millions agree with him and their own music proves this point
With labels having less and less influence, artists have found more freedom in the way they create their music. Gone are the days of booking studios and having to purchase expensive equipment just to get started. Many people are doing this with their own hip hop beat maker for next to nothing online and this is where the future of hip hop lies.
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