Elektronauts Hip Hop Beat Battle #9: [Phase 3] Motherland edition

A thing to keep in mind for later beat battles: it’s a good practice IMO to reserve your vote for the last minute, as a host, to keep to yourself the privilege to break ties if needed. ^^

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yeah all good, i just thought if we send descriptions of process it may ruin your blindness totally. :slight_smile:

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Voted!

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Ok let’s do that. For the last 4 days, I gave the full playlist a listen and it is hard as hell to really pick from any of the 15 tracks a winner and runner-ups (15? Yes, I know mine sucks :smiley: :smiley: :D)

First :

  • Track #4: Loved the sampling (reverse chop and harmony), the brass/funk vibe, hard hitting drums, the structure of the whole tracks, evolution. The most complete tracks imho and loved it

Runners-up:

  • Track #5 : Man this would have been twice long with the same vibe and feeling, it would have totally won my heart, I just need more of all that!
  • Track #7 : This feeling of a slow tempo funk ballad with hitting drums coming at you, it was a trip.

Mention ++ (Should have been runners up if allowed):

  • Track #3 : Depending of the days I was listening this track was either the winner or a runner up or almost one. It was so hard not to pick it because it has everything between super nice chops, hard hitting drums and structure and evolution. Even know listening to it writing that, I am not sure about my choice of not having it as the winner.
  • Track #9 : A bit of the same, it was on my short-list of runners up until the end and it is a full track with a heck of nice variation, love the drums hitting and that funky guitar + brass going. Real smooth.
  • Track #16 : Those abstract hip hop vibes all around. Loving how different it sounded and that sample playing the ride, mmm jazzy feeling. Same as the two others, could have been runner up or winner depending of the day.

Mention (Everybody else and :fire: all around):

  • Track #1 : Super clean track and nice chill vibes. Full song with a nice structure and evolution.
  • Track #2 : This track has a mood and ambiance, loving it by night on a rainy and fucking bad day. Super nice
  • Track #6 : Super clean track also and that flute sample going on an on was super nice, nice drums also!
  • Track #8 : Oooh my frustration track :smiley: I loved it and the mood and the structure but until the end, I really wanted it to harder and harder. Not really the goal but I think that I wanted to layer a breakbeat under and go full jungle on it :smiley:
  • Track #10 : Man that’s a super chill vibed track, full relax the brigth sister track of the Track #2. Sunny on the grass.
  • Track #11 : This is nice, a rough arrangement made it more edgy. Samples moving everywhere are funny. Rough, rough man, love it.
  • Track #12 : That’s give me really old school down tempo hip hop vibe the all track, just chilling and funky. Really nice track.
  • Track #13 : Super chill mood, I can loop it with the #10 when summer will be back.
  • Track #14 : Rough man, love it. Nice vibes going while being on the rough side of the sampling. Really vibe with it. Really like the structure and evolution of the track. Hit hard !
  • Track #15 : Love the bass on it and the abstract hip hop chilling vibes. Seems like the little sister of #16. You should talk together :smiley:

All in all, it was super nice edition with crazy tracks out of it. I realize that my choice is highly depend on my mood. Should have decided to really select the tracks, it may have been another winner :smiley: Thanks to all, it was super nice edition from every phase.

Now, I should take the time to sent the feedback/background later :smiley:

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Voting wasn’t easy, I had no problems to choose a winner but it was harder for runners up.

First : Track 5
This one has everything I want from an hiphop beat : enough room for the vocals, a nice atmosphere, a bangin beat and makes me want to spit lyrics immediatly. It also causes serious head nod !

Runners up :

Track 1 This one sound very clean and well made. A chill vibe, all the samples fits well together. A nice one to open the playlist!

Track 4 This one also catch my ear, the sample flip at the end is amazing and I Like the evolution of the beat

Of course props to everyone for participating and thanks to @Unifono and @surfacescan for setting it up :boom:

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I’ve been listening to these tracks quite a bunch of times.
First, it shows the quality of the samples chose by the curators, congratulations.
But secondly, I am rather glad I don’t have to come up with a vote :sweat_smile: , it’s extremely hard to choose a winner, you all put the quality standard pretty high!

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Here we go, voting time yo!

Winner: Track #4!
This track just has that perfect vibe that I love. Super hard knockin’ drums, killer sample chops, and a sparse but effective use of effects. I really enjoyed how the samples dropped in and out, giving pieces of the track different feels while keeping the overall sound coherent. My favorite part is when the piano comes in at around the 3 minute mark.

I would guess that this track is maybe the work of @looms or @waftlord. :thinking:

Second Place: Track #11!
This was the easiest track to choose actually, since I knew it would end up on my list as soon as I first heard it. I really enjoy when beats go off the beaten path for a more experimental or creative approach, and this beat certainly did. The extreme choppiness of the drums and samples make this wonky groove that comes off as maybe a little sinister, especially with the horn stabs.

This might have been @rockpapergoat but I’m not sure.

Third Place: Track 5!
This track is just a solid track all around. Great drums, a memorable bassline, and superb chops, plus some tasteful filtering make this track roll nice n smooth. This track won out over some of the other almost runners up because of its progression from one chop to another. It felt like a (short) song instead of a loop.

If this track wasn’t made by @Doug, I will eat my hat. :joy:

Honorable Mentions:
Track 1: I love that bassline and the jazz influences in this beat. The shuffle-y groove is cool too.

Track 8: This is solid, mate. The overall sound/mix is great and it has a great groove. It ended up a bit too long/repetitive to win my heart, but it definitely deserves a mention.

Track 12: Slow and plodding. I dig it dude. Locked in kick drum and bass, and shakers in the background giving it a bit of momentum. I would like to guess that this track is from @Yabba.

To everyone else: Great job! It’s always a lot of fun to see how many different tracks can come out of the same pool of samples.

HUGE thanks to @Unifono and @surfacescan for organizing what I think has been the best battle yet!

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Here are my preferences:

Winner
Track #6 The bass!! I love how the bass is used with the guitar and the drums. Very nice feeling. Also the repeated flute creates a good vibe

Runners up

Track #14 Very creative use of the samples, it creates a minimal hip-hop beat and the flute is perfect to glue them up

Track #4 I like the way it start, with the voices and sax and then how it enter with the main beat.

Anyway congrats to all, it was difficult to choose.

And thanks to the hosts!

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i went winner #4 just cos it bit me first time and kept biting, and that last section is euphoric. if i was critical the snares are too loud for me, but that’s part of its vibe.

runners up #8, solid solid solid.
and 3rd place was hard between #6 and #10 but went with #10, just slick lopsed chills i’d keep coming back to.

#6 i can hear tupac flowing on top. flavour.

every other track was cool in it’s own way tho. #14 was a trip for me as you wrapped my childhood dog and friend around the beat nicely.
love the shuffle on #1. #9 nailed more of that 90s flavour i can’t resist.

said it earlier, but with some mild mastering to make everything balance out and some reordering (some tracks chose similar sample selections/intros etc) this is a really cool motherland compilation.

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so if i chose track #4 as my fave…:
shaggy-wasnt-me

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:scream: :thinking: oho

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Winner for me is #3. Just a wicked summery vibe. It really compliments/lets the vocals shine and is a really interesting listen rhythmically. Piano sort of reversing around is also super cool. Not to mention sonically/mix/master-wise the whole thing sounds great. Absolutely love this track. Can I have a wav/mp3 whoever made this please? :sweat_smile:

Runners up have been incredibly hard to choose and another listening session I could well flip my choices but gotta choose something! Kind of grouped 5 and 6 and then 10 and 12 together vibe wise in my shortest shortlist(!) and I massively dig them all. Argh, so hard :joy:

OK. #6 and #10 as the runners up it is!

#6 Slickly put together. Especially dig the pitched up vocals (it almost gives it a reggae type vibe for me despite the original not being reggae at all and I’ve always been a sucker for hip hop/reggae crossover), flute line and synth like tones - I’d be interested to know the technique behind this (whoever you are, haha)! The whole mix sounds great too as well as the structure keeps it interesting. Top stuff.

#10 Just. mmmmmhhh :drooling_face:. I wish I could make something like this. A great great vibe. Especially digging the panning movement and it just sounds so effortless and there’s loads of intriguing little details in there that make it shine for me. Sound selection is top and mix/master wise it’s great too. Got my suspicions on who made it and looking forward to seeing if my guess is right, haha.

Notes on my ‘on another day’ runner’s up…

#5 Short and sweet and plain dope. Extremely well done. Classic type of beat that I love. Underwater vibes with the low pass. Reminds me a bit of Harmonic 33 and Mark Pritchard is a bit of a hero of mine so that’s a big complement! Part of me does want it to be a tad longer and maybe add something else into the mix but it def stands up as it is. I’ve got two people in mind who made this :thinking:

#12 Neck snapper. Dilla (of a certain era that I can’t quite pin down right now) vibes to the drums and bass. Supremely well done. Great structure and sound selection again. Every listen my ears pick up something else to focus on and like #10 lots of little details make it shine.

Serious props to everyone. My initial shortlist wasn’t short at all as there’s so much quality here. Best standards of the battles I’ve been involved in so far I think.

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Hello all.

Well this wasn’t easy but in the end I went with

5~~~~~

And runners up

9~~~~~

4~~~~~

And for me personally I Love hearing the sound of the 70 year old lady who lives near me getting sampled in some sick beats playing her tambourine :grinning:

Well done everyone

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Setting up some studio monitors this weekend like

Came across this music video and reminded me of some of the tracks we’ve created so far.

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Only 4 voters missing :slightly_smiling_face:

Okay, so I’ve got it like this:

Winner - 12

I just loved the way everything was put together. I liked how it was mixed. It just sounded great. It’s a good time.

Runners up - 8, 14

8 - There were a few pretty straightforward takes on the samples and this was my favorite of them. I especially like how that drum break works with the way the sample is looped. I love the way the vocals are layered.
14. I really liked how spacy this one was. And I liked the way that those tape sounds sort of meshed thematically with the way that flute (I think) was being chopped and retriggered. It’s a really cool beat.

Honorable mention - 4

As much as I like the way this one unfolds, I’d almost prefer it if it mostly just centered on that first loop. That first loop is so hard. Still, on a different day it could have been my favorite. It’s a great piece of music.

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@all Last voting day! 3 people have to get their votes in today.

Here is my feedback:

Winner: #5
It’s very very short and quite simple. But that’s part of its charm. It’s not easy to get so much mojo, vibe and smoothness into 1 minute of music. As somebody else already said, this has everything I want from a hip hop beat. The vibe is already infectious within the first few seconds. Everything is on point. It screams for somebody to rap over it (I heard Mos Def in my head).

Second: #8
Love the vibe. Love the sample choices. Everything just fits nicely together. The mix is nice, it’s just smooth. Running over the course of about 4 minutes, I could have had a bit more variety for my taste. It has some subtle changes but it becomes a bit loopy.

Third: #9
Great vibe again. Very groovy. Nice mix. It was pretty much a tie for me between #8 and #9. Nothing not to like about this one.

Honorable mentions:
#1 - Really smooth. Nice groove. Bass and drums play really well together.
#10 - This almost made it on my winners list. I love how chilled it is. Super smooth and relaxed, great overall sound. I thought the instrument almost were a bit to much in the background though. They almost hide behind the drums. A matter of taste of course.
#16 - This one also almost made it, cause I love how much variety it has. It’s the most adventurous for me, the one that experimented most with the samples and sounds. And that bassline that comes in at the end of the track is really great. Imo it could have been a bit more compact and to the point.

I could write something about every track, I really enjoyed the whole compilation a lot!

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To add to the mystery, I guess this makes me the other guy no one remembers the name of as it wasn’t me either :face_with_monocle:

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Hey gang. I plan to get my votes and comments in today (Sunday). As soon as I started listening to the beats with headphones everything went :exploding_head:
So much goodness

@Unifono thanks for holding this space open bro

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Let’s see. If I’m going to guess, I’d say you did 4.

I’m pretty sure 11 is Pineapple Dave, 12 is Yabba, 14 is Sleepyhead, and 16 is watford. I’d also guess that 1 is rockpapergoat going from the drum work but I’m less sure about that. I’d also guess 10 is lyingdalai.

Curious to see how well I did.

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