Drumless beats

[mbewane]

RZA is the GOAT

Rza at the forefront once again

Always liked this one from Muggs. Kind of haunting

 

[Heavy_Handz]

Damn, this was my shyt when it first dropped!!!!

 

[TheDarceKnight]

Question: who made it popular?

RZA really pioneered it, and Roc Marci brought it around heavy for the 2010’s

 

[Yoda]

Roc Marci started this wave. the god of modern day underground rap.

 

[KingsOfKings]

I know Estee Nack uses alot of these.

 

[KingsOfKings]

 

[keepitrealprk]

unsurprisingly, everybody in this thread forgot about k-os. dude legit has the best drum-less raps out, we all forget his influence on kayne etc.

 

[LevelUp]

Heard a song from Sauce Walka where he's using the drumless beats. It doesn't bother me but some of them songs couldve did with drums.

 

[Wepa Man]

1997

 

[TripleAgent]

 

[jensyao]

early jay electronica loosies, some alchemist beats (we made it has a clap instead), recent curren$y beats, non-southern beats

 

[TheDarceKnight]

1997

Fire ass song

 

[L&HH]

I’m sure this was mentioned but

 

[L&HH]

Drumless Beats in Rap?

A lot of drumless beats are samples that producer forgot to lay drums over top. Also sometimes the sample may have had drums but after sample sound quality loss and filtering the drums are faint and sometimes they forget to lay drums back over or sometimes they take creative license and leave as is

 

[TheDarceKnight]

A lot of drumless beats are samples that producer forgot to lay drums over top. Also sometimes the sample may have had drums but after sample sound quality loss and filtering the drums are faint and sometimes they forget to lay drums back over or sometimes they take creative license and leave as is

I listened to an Alchemist interview in 2021 where he said some of his beats that are drumless weren't intended to be that way, but that some of the rappers that he works with will start writing their verses quickly as he's going through samples (looping or chopping) and they'll want to lay their verses before he even gets a chance to add the drums and finish the beat. He mentioned Roc Marci, Freddie Gibbs, and Earl specifically on this. He said some of his drumless beats are literally unfinished beats.

He said sometimes he'll leave the track without drums, and he said other times he said he's gone in and added drums afterwards. Boldy James said that Alc sprinkled a fair amount of production into The Price of Tea in China after they had recorded the entire album.