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

Nope, life happened big time, and I only could spend an evening on this, so I had to withdraw unfortunately…

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Not me on 4! I’d say RPG on 1 as well. Doug for number 5. 6 I reckon is Yabba or Dr Rumble. I thought 3 might be Pineapple Dave as he voted for 11 which otherwise I def woulda thought was him. Guessing Sleepyhead is 10 or 12. Those are the guys I’m most familiar with from other battles.

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Oh I would have bet on Pineapple Dave for 11. It’s a wild and super interesting flip. But maybe he decided to be sneaky and his is one of the more conservative ones.

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This one was amazing guys! I had quite a busy few weeks at work, so I’ve just now listened to the entire playlist. Props to everyone who joined, there’s no bad tracks in there!

The clear winner for me is #5:
Great beat, I love it as a part of this battle, knowing the sample material you used, but it’s also a classic hiphop beat period. I really like the drums, and the whole thing just made me nod my head.

Runners up: #4 and #9:
#4: I like the chaos turning into a groove. Dope bassline and great buildup.
#9: Impeach the president! Love the combination of the break and the percussive stuff. This one has a very solid foundation, with all the other elements kind of floating around it.

Some guesses as to who did what based on my familiarity with some of your styles:

Yabba #5?
Drrummble #6?
Pineappledave #3 or #11?
Looms: #14 or #8?
Rockpapergoat #1 or #9?

I normally can easily distinguish Dougs style, but this one has me confused haha.

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First place: Track #4

  • This song made we feel all sorts of ways and took me on a journey. I don’t know if I’m judging the “beats” in a beat battle correctly, because there were other tracks that were more singular and perhaps stood alone - but was more than a beat, it was a mixtape. And that can backfire sometimes, but in this case, it was a journey through so many of our local samples - almost reminded me of that Avalanches LP that came out of nowhere - fusing together melodies into a new composition. It was well planned out and still took me on a soulful journey. It had me feeling all sorts of emotions. It felt like one of those “best bits of the year in review” that leaves you smiling. When the track breaks into that battle hymn vibe with backwards piano - sick! It felt like all the pieces belonged and I gave it the crown because I feel it is almost like an anthem catching the essence of what this beat battle was all about: bringing our respective local sounds, getting to know one another even better and building on some amazing African songs. Congratulations - I can really feel the labour of love in here. [My guess beatmaker: @drrumble]
    Runner Up - Track #1
  • It may be the way this track brought us out the gates and into the depth and beauty of this entire beat battle. It feels so live. The drum programming. The fat bassline. The vocals coming in at different pitches to create a sort of harmony. The the marching band to bring the whole beat home at the end. When this track reverbed out I was like “Oh my God, we’ve done something special with this beat battle here!”. Great track thbat set the trajectory for the listening experience. [My guess beatmaker: @looms]

Runner up track #10

  • I think I’m a bit biased here because of how much I already love the Hibiscus track from Manu Dibango - this particular bassline is the transition part of the song and I love how it holds together a whole new interpretation of this song. I love the subtle beeps that go along with the bass melody. Thank you for making this! [My guess beaktmaker: @Unifono]
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I guess Doug did the track five, that’s the only one I can be pretty confident, for the others I have big doubts and I change my mind everytime I listen to them.

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Nope! :joy:

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We’re down to one vote that is missing :slight_smile:

Only few people gave their track a title. Should I add the title when available, or should we just name all tracks with the respective forum member name to have it consistent??

Btw. I would offer to create a Elektronauts Radio bandcamp, where we could add this compilation as an album. We could set a new deadline for people that want to polish their beats for a release and look for someone who can do some artwork…
We could slowly add albums for all previous battles as well, but that would take some time.
Just some thoughts, I was talking with @LyingDalai about this. I will start a new thread about this topic soon…

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My winner: #16- waftlord

Runners: #6- unifono? #5- Doug

Every beat this round was a potential winner for me. You’re all very creative. If you leave my track off, this would make a great 15 track :cd:.

Great work! Thanks for putting this together @surfacescan, @Unifono

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One thing to keep in mind is that samples rights were not cleared, so pay attention to set a $0 price + maybe write a line about fair use.

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You can have the copyright settings set to various Creative Commons type licenses that should cover our beats safely. Edit: on Bandcamp.

One question would be what to do with any potential money derived from the Bandcamp. Easiest would be to donate to charity or something like that. Or, if whoever is running it wants to, they could take any revenue from each album and split it out amongst all the artists on each album.

@Unifono if you want any help, hit me up. I’ve liked the idea of an Elektronauts “label” for a while, and I think it would be a fun challenge to take on. :grin:

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yes of course.
I‘m very careful about this stuff anyway, we should discuss this in a dedicated thread

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Nice! Sure

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trying hard to get my comments and vote in before it’s not sunday here…

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oh snap! i just saw this after being busy all week and weekend. will post some stuff soon, but don’t wait for me if voting needs to end.

  1. love the way this one starts, the bass line, the shuffling drums, the pitched down vocals in call and response with the original… i may be impressionable, but this is a solid first track in the list. you even used my marching band sample at the end!
  2. this reminds me of dr. octagon under water. it has this subterranean lope, this haze over everything, with melodic elements poking through the atmosphere, then slowing to nothing with that quicker beat engaging like a spring flying out of a clock.
  3. those housey piano stabs and booming bass really carry this. it was interesting to hear someone really lean into the Fatoumata Diawara vocals. they work really well. i dug the shifting, dropping sections in the background and rhythmic variety. this almost feels like a remix of her original song.
  4. nice transition from the horn section to guitars. the beat keeps driving. lead vocals with background vocals were dope. i also dug the bass processing on this one (is it processed?). it gets intense at the end when the kitchen sink shows up. nice work.
  5. bass is so solid here. classic style with the drums, horns, uncluttered arrangement, the phasing background elements. is this yabba? doug? this blind vote is tough.
  6. i was convinced early that this is dr. rumble’s but am not sure now. the flute is dope here. the whole thing flows really well, sounds glued together. i love the really short vocals. this sounds like a digitakt joint to me.
  7. this one did a nice job of making space for the individual elements. i was waiting for more to happen, though.
  8. that drum break is so tough. this one is rumbly, like it wants to fight my headphones. i love the “oh” in the background. all the little touches in and around the main themes are really cool. when the horns kick in half way, it gives the track a new life.
  9. percussion is awesome. this flows really well. i love the bass slide in the background. after a few people chopped the “1-2-3,” i was kicking myself for not doing the same. whoever this is, your track’s really solid. also, nice touch linking together a bunch of people’s submissions like switching channels on a radio at the end.
  10. very nice trip hop vibes here with the up front bass and horns. i appreciate the overall feel here. it’s an enjoyable track.
  11. this is a hudson mohawke track, right? this thing slams. really fun track. i didn’t expect anything like it in this battle.
  12. woo! love the beat, love the fat bass, love the swirling background and lonely woodwind.
  13. a chill walk through a field… this short and sweet track has a really nice vibe.
  14. this sounds like dollar store dub for my grandma.
  15. another short and sweet one. i think the mix could use some work here. the sample choices work well.
  16. ride cymbal’s dope. the flute takes us on a little ride as well. pretty cool track overall. where’d that bass come from?

the sources were deep. everyone should be really proud of all you shared and your track submissions. this one was possibly the best challenge yet. somehow, even though it was run really well by our hosts @surfacescan and @Unifono, i’m still scrambing at the end. thanks, all.

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Nice!
All participants have voted now.
@LyingDalai could we already reveal the polls?

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So, as in battle #1, I calculated with 3 points for every first place vote, 2 points for every second place and 1 point for every third place.
If I didn’t make any mistakes we have following results.

First #4
Second #5
Third #6

I will reveal the soundcloud list now.
I will post the track making of descriptions that I received later this day.

Thanks everyone!!! Thanks again @LyingDalai for setting up the polls

PS: @surfacescan thanks again for all your enthusiasm and ideas. It was a joy to host this battle with you.

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Hahaha thanks to all for this edition! Congrats to @Unifono, @Doug and @drrumble ! For me it was the first edition where a track got a vote and being mistaken as @PineappleDave was a great badge of honor :pray: I am discovering Hudson Mohawke thanks to @rockpapergoat.

I have not been able to provide the behind the scenes description in time but will post one later today/tomorrow.

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That’s exactly what I thought! And funnily enough linked Pineapple Dave to him a while back and was convinced this one was his for a while.

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