Is traditional digging dead?

Mr. Walt ffrom the Beatminerz called digging online "Digging in your Draws"(lol). Personally I think traditional digging is the only real aunthentic way to dig. It's called Digging in the Crates for a specific reason. You have to know where to draw the line with technology. If you live in a region where you dont have access to vinyl, there's nothing wrong with ordering records onlinebut digital downloads and mp3's are a no no. I'm influenced by my pops generation. Also the sound quality of a mp3 is terrible compared to a wav file.
 
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Sometimes i sample the same as others shit because i wanna challenge myself to come up with good chopping arrangements. But mainly i do it to see if i can compliment the sample same way producers like Dr Dre or Nottz or Alchemist did.
The funny thing is, i really love to sample classic rock/progressive rock than soul to be honest. There's where my sound really lies.
Now i'm starting to sample groups like Hall & Oates for example.

Sometimes i go to the record stores and dig but sometimes i do e-digging as well. Most of the time i listen to the radio (3FM, dutch radio) and sometimes i hear a song that's begging me to get sampled.
 
To me comes down to finance I can go out buy usb turntable but records that cost from .25 to 25.00 dollars. Or search on the internet get the same mp3 for free. To quote jeru don’t have loot to waste. As far sample I always look stuff people don't mess with too much. There so many funk, jazz, souls, gospel acts with dope music that people are not up on. Stuff I find on the net .I don't sample popular songs if sample popular artist is deep album cut not a single most the time and if it is a single not joint everybody know .Pete rock said the best he's good sample because understand and enjoy the music he is sample a lot cats try sample jazz (such as myself) and it never sound Pete or premo .because to me pete enjoys the music sampling he understands it. To me you have to love the music you sample.
 
I think a lot of you missed the point of the thread. It wasn't at all about buying records but rather sampling the same shit as everyone else. Thats FP for you I guess.
 
To assume that everybody samples the same stuff would be incorrect!! Because we all dont have the same EAR or TASTE when it comes to music!!..Yes the internet has changed things tremendously and has provided another tool for for would be beat makers..(Im not going to call them lazy) Some have just come up in a different time..I mean how many people are still using 24trk 2in reels?? With that said Digging has and always will have its place in Hiphop!!You cannot seperate the two!!..Is digging dead? well did Hiphop die when NAS proclaimed it so?? well then lets get to it...As far as folks using the same styles of music to sample from i say its just easier for some to do things thats familiar.Have you ever heard the experssion to build a better mouse trap? exactly!! maybe if folks stopped trying to be like others "FAVORITE PRODUCERS" and tried being themselves then perhaps we would see and hear a diffrence in music generally not just hiphop. To that end and im sure Gilson or any serious beat digger in here can attest to that its not just about the samples!! The songs are incredible to listen to and you have to not only have an appreciation for the music or the singer but the art as well.. Including the culture of HipHop understanding where it came from and all the places it has stopped along the way!! WE have also sampled from all types of music as hiphop itself devours everything in its path!!! RUNDMC wasnt the first to rock "walk this way" maybe on record but not in HipHop itself...We have our roots steeped in multiculturalism.Funk and soul like jazz opened the door for us because thats what most of us grew up with. but once that door opened there was no going back!!..Besides some records were and are easily found so that has a lot to do with it.Once sampling became the thing to do as far as loops went in the early 80s/90s it was nothing to just find any record with a beat and loop it aah but how as back then those LInn Drums were very expensive and most of us were either running the breaks or pausing tapes(shouts to all the various beat boxes back then Roland Casio GLI etc..)...Enter new technology SAMPLERS and WALLA!! skip to present day HIPHOP.. Now its not just about the loop or the break you can chop up any part of the record and make it happen (if you have the skills) thus making it easier.. For me the need to digg will always be there because not every record is on the net!! just depends on how much of an effort youre willing to make... Sorry for the long post but i write like i digg EXTENSIVE!!!... OH yea buying records is a cost of operating expense!! stop whining about not having money to do so its quite annoying!!! really...
 
@mr.chris great post. I am not sure that everyone who e digs specifically though are flipping much more than what everyone else is. If its sitting in front of them then they take it and I am not even sure they respect the music itself but rather just sees it as a sample. People see my record collection and say oh shit you have a ton of samples i say I have a lot of good music to listen to.
 
Hey Kev...I think why some people sample the same stuff is they are not being exposed to NEW stuff. Good record stores are becoming a thing of the past (at least around here), so you are forced to dig at thrift stores and garage sales. One of the dope parts about diggin was that you could hit up a store and they would be playing something, so you ask the dude, hey what is that your playing? Now you are hip to something you knew nothing about. Remember 2nd Time Around? That place was dope because all the people that worked there were into different stuff, so your exposed to different genres of music on every visit. I use to hit the U district all day Saturday and came away with at least 2 or 3 albums I knew nothing about that morning..all because I heard them. I think its just about exposing ones self to more, rather digging online or on the real.
 
see i knew i was not alone....Those of us who do this do it for the love..Of course the money and the fame is good to but thats not what your main motivation should come from!! Hell some folks will never achieve that and may end up selling thier equipment and records as well when that reality kicks in..as Jay Z said "this aint for everybody"..Some of whats missing is that some of these "New Producers" have not paid thier dues(although some have been sucessful)..there is something to be said about pre internet hiphop "IT WAS DOPE" nothing like looking for that perfect beat and then recreating something out of that... Thats what distinguished everyones "FAVORITE" producers!!! Cause you gotta know that nobody really creates anything!! all the Tritons/Motifs/_____ "insert your favorite Keys or module" are all samples!! there is a difference between manipulating sound and creating it!!.. Me Im gonna digg till theyre digging for me!! ya dig because no matter how deep your crates are no one not even the dude with a million records has everything!! so there is always gonna be something out there!! True you can only use Funky Drummer/Impeach the president/subsitution etc.. so many times no matter how dope they are QUICK... Name Ten joints that used these songs... IM waiting hahahaha... Im a music fan first cause there was no HIP HOP when i was a kid so we learned the songs by listening to them so when HIP HOP came to be we were already familiar with the beats or breaks as they were.needle droping on your moms turntable with the 8trk on it trying to be like Flash/Bam/Herc/ and all the rest...thats how you developed your ear... We didnt have the luxury or clicking a mouse and downloading you had to figure out what was being used and then where to get it from...Those docs you've watched were true djs scratching off names and soaking off labels so you couldnt read them..Man you really had to be on your hustle again developing your ear!! So dont get us wrong noboby is bitter or hating were just saying that its much easier to make beats these days..As for me I would never give up my wax or stop digging because its so much a part of who I am and what i do.. Those that think its played out or dead guess again its alive and still breathing all around you!! Please dont be fooled by todays trends cause as we know everything old is new again!!!

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Agan im sorry for the long post but as you can tell we tend to take this CULTURE REAL SERIOUS and love to share info...I see where folks are saying that the spots are drying up well thats true so you have to branch out a little more..Hit some new areas stop going to the same places everybody else goes believe me there are gold mines out there.true that also depends on what your looking for and what part of the WORLD your in...IOh sure the NET shrinks that but trust me when catts come thru they want to know your official!! Its okay when you do stuff on your own but when you work with other producers its nice to pull out a fresh joint and watch thier reaction!! cant do that on the Net everybody knows where it came from.. anyway back to the beats good luck to all you guys and girls and happy digging...
 
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I think some do it for the love and some do it for the dollars or because it is cool I guess. Back in the day the dollars was short and it wasn't cool everywhere for hip hop. I grew up in philly listening to Red Alert & Jocko, so hip hop was all around me. Then we moved out to Seattle and I remember my first day of school. I thought I was looking fresh..LOL. I had on my shirt I got made a shirt kings with my name on it, white adidas with no laces, man I was ready. Man I walked into that school and they thought I was a joke. Hip Hop had not dropped in the northwest yet so I looked stupid to everybody. This was before BET and MTV. But you know that is when you know you love something. Cause I didn't care. I dressed the way I wanted. I wonder how many cats now-a-days would be into it if it wasn't so popular. You gotta do it for the love for it to last.
 
see now you starting some stuff hahaha as far as jocko goes "jocko jocko what ya got'' hey I lived in NY and only moved to Jersey where i was fresh in my British walkers/Mocknecks/Ajays and overlaps/ rocking my adidas Prokeds Icebox and teardrops..Listening to my tapes on them old school tape players( not even a box) and braek dancing... They all thought i was crazy spinning on my head and dirtying up my clothes or so they thought...By that time we wasnt even breaking no more in the City except for the hard core b boys..like Rocksteady etc.. Fast forward to the early 80s HIPHOP blows up Save the overtime video comes out Roseland /the Fever/Rooftop/Fun House etc..Billy Joels uptown girl comes out (with the popping) Wild Style 1982 and there you have have it... Now you go from being that crazy guy to what some folks consider a legend.... so thats how it went down and so whos crazy now??..(theres more but thats another story) But seriously folks We love this Culture Lifestyle etc.. nothing like it and digging for beats has always been a part of that... by the way my moms had madd records but CATCH A GROOVE was the first joint i bought....Seattle I Feel you ..
 
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Xabiton said:
I think a lot of you missed the point of the thread. It wasn't at all about buying records but rather sampling the same shit as everyone else. Thats FP for you I guess.
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The heading "Is traditional digging dead is misleading. " Do you use the same samples as everyone else" would be a better choice of words in the heading.
 
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hey, good posts Mr. Chris, nice to hear from someone who was into hiphop from the beginning. Like you said, it's definitely expanded and melded with lots of other cultures and styles and influenced everything it's touched and consumed lots of new elements on the way.

on the other hand it's really interesting how whole cultures and styles of music have evolved from a single sample - sampling the same record over and over and over but creating something slightly different each time like drum and bass (amen break), baile funk (808 volt) and reggaeton (dem bow) - nothing wrong with rehashing the old samples and putting them in a new context I think.
 
okay thats true but hold up lets not get too testy this should be a fun topic as well as informative.. i think we all get it well most of us do but digging is never gonna end its a basic element of HIP Hop and be easy dude some of us here have CREDENTIALS...IE we are HIPHOP...Its too bad people are so spread out and we cant come together for some sort of summit (or maybe we can).. Because this is a great subject with a lot of emotional attachment to it...True there are some that will e digg because its easy but like i said there is nothing like having the actual records... Its sort of like a rite to passage almost like a ceremonial part of being inducted into the Producers circle... theres Something mystical about digging and yes getting dirty uncovering some un used joint...Sure not everybody shares this obsession and an obsession it is but this is whats its been all about.. To this day catts are not giving up where they buy thier records from and you would be hard pressed to find a dj or producer that will let you get near thier stacks!!! See its not about some elusive 500 record that some folks think is dope but more about how you flip those dollar bin joints (and or 50 cent/quater joints ) if you know where to look..

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Oh yea one last thing in the early days of HIPHOP we used what we had on hand for djaying there was no need to be digging for beats thats why You had a good times/daisylady/apache/to be real/dance to the drummers beat/funky drummer/president/ rock it in the pocket/freedom etc.. It was a dj thing...Later as it grew then you had the covering of popular songs ie rescue me/genius of love/another one bites the dust etc.. Remember most of the songs were drum machine driven and samplers were really expensive and were not intended for HIPHOP!!( hey remember the CASIO SK1) that was like 84/85 side note: gave that one to my daughter and copped me another one for 10 bucks...Thats why the early hip hop songs sounded alike same kicks and snares but re arranged to make new songs.. serious Diggin didnt start til a little later.. And Yes that AMEN break is still dope and used in everything...
 
HIMbeats said:
Hey Kev...I think why some people sample the same stuff is they are not being exposed to NEW stuff. Good record stores are becoming a thing of the past (at least around here), so you are forced to dig at thrift stores and garage sales. One of the dope parts about diggin was that you could hit up a store and they would be playing something, so you ask the dude, hey what is that your playing? Now you are hip to something you knew nothing about. Remember 2nd Time Around? That place was dope because all the people that worked there were into different stuff, so your exposed to different genres of music on every visit. I use to hit the U district all day Saturday and came away with at least 2 or 3 albums I knew nothing about that morning..all because I heard them. I think its just about exposing ones self to more, rather digging online or on the real.
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I never hit 2nd time around or even heard of them. i hate missing out on record stores. I live in tacoma and do most of my digging in Tacoma Federal Way and seldomly Olympia (actually havent been to Olympia for a dig in 2 years) I used to hit Everyday Records every so often in Capital Hill are they still open?
 
Yeah, it went through a couple of names..LOL..he would change it depending on his girlfriend at the time, but it was called 2nd time and AL's the longest. They had one in Tacoma by the mall and one in Federal Way. There was also a joint on Pacific in Tacoma. I think it was called audio to digital something. That dude used to work for AL back in the day and then opened his own joint, but he got robbed, I think he got shot a few times, so he closed up shop. But yeah Everyday Records is still open. They just moved I heard, but I know they are still up on Capital Hill somewhere. The one in Portland is bigger though. Sometimes my wife heads to Portland for some tax free shopping and I head to Everyday. Tacoma had some dope spots to dig on 6th ave.
 
benji2 said:
The heading "Is traditional digging dead is misleading. " Do you use the same samples as everyone else" would be a better choice of words in the heading.
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i disagree.

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HIMbeats said:
Yeah, it went through a couple of names..LOL..he would change it depending on his girlfriend at the time, but it was called 2nd time and AL's the longest. They had one in Tacoma by the mall and one in Federal Way. There was also a joint on Pacific in Tacoma. I think it was called audio to digital something. That dude used to work for AL back in the day and then opened his own joint, but he got robbed, I think he got shot a few times, so he closed up shop. But yeah Everyday Records is still open. They just moved I heard, but I know they are still up on Capital Hill somewhere. The one in Portland is bigger though. Sometimes my wife heads to Portland for some tax free shopping and I head to Everyday. Tacoma had some dope spots to dig on 6th ave.
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I know Als I was there yesterday actually both locations. the one in Tacoma was moved next to the subway by guitar center on 38th the one in federal way is next to the Dennys on 320th. A/D idk what ever happened to them but that guy had the nerve to charge $10 for $1 bin records not even in good condition.

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HIMbeats said:
Yeah, it went through a couple of names..LOL..he would change it depending on his girlfriend at the time, but it was called 2nd time and AL's the longest. They had one in Tacoma by the mall and one in Federal Way. There was also a joint on Pacific in Tacoma. I think it was called audio to digital something. That dude used to work for AL back in the day and then opened his own joint, but he got robbed, I think he got shot a few times, so he closed up shop. But yeah Everyday Records is still open. They just moved I heard, but I know they are still up on Capital Hill somewhere. The one in Portland is bigger though. Sometimes my wife heads to Portland for some tax free shopping and I head to Everyday. Tacoma had some dope spots to dig on 6th ave.
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i just left 6th ave
 
Are serious! Al's is still open? Man I didn't even know. I drove by there and didn't see it so I thought it was gone. Man that used to be my spot. Every Saturday you could find me going through all that two for a dollar stuff he had all along the bottom shelves. Yeah I gonna have to get over there for sure. As for the A/D yeah that guy was whack. I would see him buying stuff in Al's and then reselling it for more in his spot. Both him and buzzard records were the two biggest rip offs in T-Towne..lol. Man I am jealous 6th ave is the dope spot for sure. Rocket, House of Records, Hi Voltage, Golden Oldies, Drastic Plastics, all right there. Hey another good place is Disc Connection..it's over by PLU.
 
HIMbeats said:
Are serious! Al's is still open? Man I didn't even know. I drove by there and didn't see it so I thought it was gone. Man that used to be my spot. Every Saturday you could find me going through all that two for a dollar stuff he had all along the bottom shelves. Yeah I gonna have to get over there for sure. As for the A/D yeah that guy was whack. I would see him buying stuff in Al's and then reselling it for more in his spot. Both him and buzzard records were the two biggest rip offs in T-Towne..lol. Man I am jealous 6th ave is the dope spot for sure. Rocket, House of Records, Hi Voltage, Golden Oldies, Drastic Plastics, all right there. Hey another good place is Disc Connection..it's over by PLU.
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They moved Buzzards at the end of the year and I can't find the new spot I used to really like their $1 bins though. I always felt Hi Voltage was the biggest rip off in town. Golden Oldies is my favorite record store in town though and I got a few records at Rocket today. The guy in Drastic Plastics is weird I've only been in there twice I didn't like how he priced records as u brought them to him. He tried to charge me $30 once for a copy of Bob James One lol. Ain't nothing he got in there worth more than maybe $5 and I told him that. Never went back. I love House Of Records also imo its the best spot in town but you gotta pay for it but if i need something I can usually find it between Rocket, Golden Oldies and House of Records. Then again I just got a copy of People Hold On By Eddie Kendricks in the $1 bin at half priced books on 38th of all places. Glad my girl wanted to hit the $1 tree that day or I would never have stopped in. And yeah Thom from A to D was a dick. I've cussed him out more than once but I did not know he was buying from Al's and reshelving it at his spot. Thats probably what got him cut. You can't do that in east Tacoma niggas will find out what you are doing and get at you. Thats probably why he went out of business. I've been by Disc Connection they are actually the only place around that celebrates national record day. They're stacks suck to be honest though. I have never found anything worth having there. Then again I think a lot of places in Tacoma suck just for their pricing alone. They don't price records based on their actual worth but instead on who the artist/band is. There is no way a copy of the White Album should be worth $100 but I saw that 2 days ago at House Of Records. It made me regret selling the original copy I had of the White Album that I got from Golden Oldies when they were on South Tacoma Way for $10. Golden Oldies new location sucks too have you seen it? Its up about 3 blocks down from Rocket now
 
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