Sp16, especially if you want to craft drum sounds. Incredibly easy to resample internally, which can’t be said for a lot of samplers these days. Plus you can put everything through an analog filter and overdrive. It’s wicked. If you sample audio through the inputs, sounds can get heavy!
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Sounds like mpc1000 + dt1 take care of it all
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I see that you are also looking for the perfect sampler.
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I’m in a similar place. I also make hip-hop. I mainly use a Digitakt. But I’ve been trying to add something else to the mix.
I’m also about ready to call it quits with my SP-404 mk2. I like a lot of things about it but I think it’s just not for me.
What I want to try is the Sonicware Liven Lofi 12 XT. It samples at 12 or 24 Hz so you get a little crunch. And it’s got 2 LFOs per track and filters and what not like the Digitakt. If and when I sell my 404, this will be what I get. It’s very small. But it’s probably worth a look.
Right now, I usually use an old Zoom Sampletrak with my Digitakt. I find it a lot easier to record things and sketch them out on my Sampletrak before recreating the idea on my Digitakt and building from there. The sequencer is very bad though. But I’m usually either just playing around on the pads or sequencing it from my Digitakt. You can also only use one effect at a time like the older SPs.
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Did you think about using a Polyend Tracker?
I bought one new when prices dropped last year, and I can’t be any happier. It is a super fun and direct sampler, includes granular and wavetable synths, sounds beautiful, and it is a great machine to finish tracks with… Besides that, it can be an amazing sequencer for other synths and drum machines 
Otherwise I will evaluate an Octatrack.
Based on OPs post I wouldn’t recommend the OT at all. I think it’s the greatest sampler of all time(for my purposes obviously it’s not doing huge multi layered samples). to bite that bullet you’ve gotta get over that you get out what you put in. I think samplers can sound marginally different but the line between “sounds amazing” and “sounds like complete shit” is being hopped a bit too loosely.
OP what sampler did you learn on? As in first really click with? Get that.
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the first one i learned and made some of my favorite tracks on was the MPC 1000. i think this might be the best thing to do since i’ve been comparing every sampler and groovebox i’ve gotten to that original MPC, and nothing’s really scratched the same itch lol.
the tracker looks beyond fun. i’ve always wanted an Amiga for proper jungle/UK garage jams and it seems like the best way to go for it lol
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I’m already finding it an amazing tool for drones, generative music, techno, industrial, and so on
Don’t ever underestimate a tracker, it is such a tremendous music creative tool on steroids!
You should definitely give it a try, I don’t think you will be disappointed.
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@J-Hz same here! Thes should be in the convo for one of the best west coast hip-hop producers of all time. my biggest influences are the DITC guys (Lord Finesse, Showbiz, Diamond D, Buckwild), Da Beatminerz, Prince Paul, El-P, a whole bunch of dudes.
@Sleepyhead yo i peeped out your Analog Rytm vids and they sold me on it almost immediately 
if i had the cash i’d buy one plus a proper mixing console to handle all the individual channels. the S2400’s step sequencer didn’t gel w/ me too much. honestly, subconsciously i was thinking, “damn JJOS really spoiled me” the whole time lmao.
@mindexpansionpuzzles back in the day i used to have a maschine mikro mk2 for the longest time, i loved working on it! it’s part of the reason i switched to strictly standalone hardware. the idea of a standalone maschine looks super attractive, i won’t front.
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You mention liking the drum side of the Digitakt, is it not an option to work on two devices, drums from the DT, and sample chops from a 404 or something else?
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i was just thinking that, i think it might just be that i need to find a good companion box to go along w/ what i’m using now. @forest made a good point about using what i learned on and going from there, but i’m not sure what to get to go alongside the MPC1000 if i do decide to get one again.
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When I was young, I mainly listened to hip-hop before I discovered electronic music.
After your influences (all of which I know) I’m surprised that you haven’t listed or considered the following devices:
Ensoniq ASR-10
Ensoniq EPS 16+
Ensoniq EPS Classic
Ensoniq Mirage
Ensoniq ASR X/PRO
There’s a ton of info about them out there, this dude made a short summary.
(Beware it is a link to reddit but I think it is still good info for your case since he lists some artists)
They all have their quirks, but Ensoniq hasn’t yet been touched from the sampling synthesis and sound design side - even though these machines are old.
I own the rack versions of the ASR-10/16+ which I discovered after trying to figure out what I liked about the sound of my most beloved hip hop and later electronic music artists.
They all used Ensoniq gear, especially the ASR-10 or the 16+
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I think the mpc1000 with jjos can record audio tracks while playing midi tracks right?
In that case you could use an sp404/303 or zoom sampletrak as an fx send unit alongside the mpc 1000 by putting it on two of the individual outs and then back into the mpc for printing the fx as an mpc audio track.
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You can mess around but when it comes down to it 
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1k jjos is a top tier midi sequencer. It’s definitely showing its age for file transfer and load times. i’d pick up something with FX too. I would have said some sort of 404 or if you like the sound of digitakt one of those plus an FX unit. If you’re looking to simplify just grab the 1k and be patient with it. Doesn’t hurt to just take a minute to do something else while your projects load. Its plenty of machine alone and it will save you a lot of money considering you can probably grab one for like £400 now
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yo i used to have a rack version of the Ensoniq EPS16+! such a cool machine, it sounded crazy silky and midrange-y. reminded me a lot of the 2000/2000XL sound. had to sell it cuz it was taking up a ton of space in the studio + i figured the money would go better towards some records. which it did 
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it can yeah! it can also do the octatrack trick of exporting individual tracks to the compactflash card or the hard drive, i never got around to using it the way i wanted to but it’s super helpful. i was considering getting an Akai S20 since i like the form factor and the character it gives to stuff recorded hot into it, maybe an analog heat for an end-of-chain FX unit?
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yo, your advice was solid man. made a decision based on what everyone else suggested and i’m currently selling off my digitakt and 404MK2 for a 1000 plus some stuff from MPCStuff to future-proof it. if only MPCStuff gear wasn’t so expensive 
on another note, if anyone’s in the market for a 404mk2 and a digitakt + some 500 series rack gear…
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Squarp Hapax best sequencer.