Author Archives: DJ Kraze One

Mixmaster MSC Interview

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Planned as a new City in the 1960s and developed through the 1970s Milton Keynes was designed to be a “City in the forest” between London and Birmingham. Residents of London began migrating to Milton Keynes in the late 1960s and continued through the 1970s and 1980s. By the mid 1980s the first wave of Hip Hop crews were taking to the streets and by the end of the decade Milton Keynes like many other Towns and Cities had its own fledgling Hip Hop scene that would develop and lead to a handful of local artists and crews taking their talent on to the streets and in to the clubs. Break to the beat recently had the opportunity of catching up with and interviewing one of Milton Keynes pioneering Hip Hop DJs Mixmaster MSC.

Mixmaster MSC – Milton Keynes, 2012.

Mixmaster MSC was one of the first Hip Hop scratch DJ’s to emerge from Milton Keynes. He was also a member of break-dance crew Asiatic Soul, and pioneering Hip Hop crew Double Deff Chillers. In the below interview Mixmaster MSC elaborates on the origins of Hip Hop culture in Milton Keynes and his involvement with the local scene. Continue reading →

Overlord X Interview

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Break to the beat recently had the honer of catching up with and interviewing one of Hip Hop in the UKs godfathers Overlord X. Overlord X along with the X Possee put their home borough of Hackney, London and the entire UK on the Hip Hop map back in the late 80 and early 90s giving us 3 outstanding LPs that were not only an inspiration but for many an introduction to British rap music. Overlord X’s contributions to the UK music scene over the years have been nothing short of outstanding and has provided us with both thought provoking intellectual lessons in life as well as timeless Hip Hop classics. Any readers not familiar with Overlord X & The X Possee’s work should check the Overlord X Discography & Review article posted a few months ago on break to the beat.   

Taking things right back to the beginning. Before you started rapping and producing records please tell the readers how you discovered the Hip Hop culture?

I really started to get into Hip Hop music from Africa Bambaataa and the soul Sonic force, back then Hip Hop was in the style of Electro and they were the ones that grabbed my attention to start even thinking of making music. At that time I was a young break dancer and DJ producer just being a big fan and follower of the movement. I was looking for a rapper to spit over my beats but there were very few MC’s around so I picked up the mic and started creating rough demos at home. Continue reading →

The Amen Break

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The “Amen break” is a 5.2 second drum solo from an instrumental funk record entitled Amen brother performed by Soul/Funk band The Winstons.

Amen brother was released in 1969 on Metromedia Records. It was the B side to  7″ single entitled “Colour him farther“. The Amen break beat was first popularised by Hip Hop artists in the late 1980’s after its inclusion on the Ultimate breaks & Beats series compiled and edited by Louis Flores. In the 1990’s The Amen break beat formed one of the key elements of Jungle music that evolved via the Rave scene in the early to mid 1990’s in the United Kingdom.

To the present day the Amen break has been sampled hundreds of times by artists, producers and musicians from all different backgrounds and genres. From Jungle anthems like Super sharp shooter by DJ Zinc & The Ganga Kru to classic Hip Hop records like Straight outta Compton by N.W.A. It would appear that the music of today would sound very different if it was not for the creation of Amen brother by The Winstons.

A looped section of the Amen drum break is inserted in the below clip. Check to see if you recognise the drums:

The Amen break beat

So now you are familiar with the drum break it is time to explore the Musical DNA that went in to creating such a popular sample that has been such a prominent feature in classic Hip Hop & Dance music. Continue reading →