Hip Hop Battle #35 Voting & Feedback

Thanks to those that submitted samples and those that took part :slightly_smiling_face:
We got 8 beats in the end, ive only played the first parts of each one and they sound great so looking forward to listening to them all fully.

Comments for all tracks are welcome but
for the voting… as there are only 8 beats let’s vote for our top 2.
3 points for first and two points for second.

Last day for voting is Friday 22nd

Cheers :beers:

11 Likes

Thanks Yabba.
Quick first listen. Hi Quality stuff here. :headphones:

4 Likes

For me first place is number 5
Super inventive and wonky. I love it!

Second place I think number 2 and old school banger!

I love how many tracks used the ironside sample.

HM to track 8 I love the echoey tyre screeching.

6 Likes

gave these all the requisite car test, great beats everyone! i was enjoying them so much i had a wild idea to write my responses as verses to rap over each beat, quickly thought better of it but that would be a fun way to do it.

01 - this reminds me of the kind of beats that Comethazine would go crazy on. and that gurgley vocal layer around 30 seconds is menacing. i like the hard cuts on the samples

02 - nice and classic sound, real dusty. nice use of samples too, the horn stabs go hard. i like the floaty sample switchup to the twin peaks sample a whole lot

03 - this feels like some extra hype 80s hiphop, but if they were collabing with synthwave artists. the vocal chops are real fun. i like the sample switchup around 1:20 too

04 - this beat is nasty. it got me freestyling in the car, the swing in nasty, the siren is nasty, all around badass beat

05 - me

06 - this is trippy, the strummy sounding sample sounds so cool, i like the pulsing feel it brings. real nice use of the sirens

07 - this is groovy. ive been listening to the Charlie brown Christmas album recently and this gives me the same kind of cozy vibes. i’d love to listen to this on a snowy day. i really like the vocal samples in here too

08 - i like the use of vocals in here, especially with the delays, they wrap around the organ real well. feels like im eavesdropping on people at the bar. i was listening to this in my car and i thought the screeching was happening irl, nice work

1st place: Beat 04
2nd place: Beat 07
HM: 02

6 Likes

Not a long submission list but there are perls in those 8 tracks.
My votes are:

1st place: track 07
It’s the perfect track suitable for a cult series about wealthy, affluent people and cruel murderers.

2nd place: track 02
It’s the right soundtrack for an action and strategy TV show. Actually is a two episodes in one track.

3rd place: track 04
This is perfect for a series about a future ruled by sentient dark heavy polluting machines

It was difficult to select three tracks only
Thank you everybody for submitting your ideas, it’s always a pleasure to be part of these battles.

7 Likes

Enjoyed listening to all of these, well done to everyone.
I’m going for 1st place beat 02, 2nd place beat 05.

Maybe I’ll have the guts to enter next time!

6 Likes

1st #2
2nd #3

5 Likes

1st - 5.WAV :smiley:
2nd - 7

HM - 2

4 Likes

welcome to the forum!

just in case it is new info for ya, typically only votes from participants are counted in the final score, but its still fun to see outside votes! of course if you participated, thats a super dope way to join the forum

4 Likes

1st: Beat 7: First listen was with headphones. I thought: That one needs another listen. Second listen on monitors the production stood out. Love the piano, bass, harmonica(?), vocals, pad and guitar.

2nd: Beat 1: Original. Love the breaks and how the sounds fit together.

HM: Beat 3 good sound, nice space, cool arrangement, good bridge (is it a bridge?).

HM: Beat 2 good production, sweet drums.

6 Likes

Oh, nope :slight_smile: Just saw it.

2 Likes

:1st_place_medal: #4 - love the groove, wrote ‘drums have breath’ as a listening note
:2nd_place_medal: #2 - tempted to try putting some Jedi Mind Tricks vocals over the first part

3 Likes

Thanks for getting your votes in fellas.
Just myself and @Sleepyhead to vote now.
I’ll do mine when I’m home

3 Likes

Dope battle! Most tracks sounded kinds modern/abstract which is apparently what these tv show samples inspired. There’s a lot of beats with a style which I would/could never make myself but highly respect because of that!

Track 1: Love the chaotic nature and the little details here.

Track 2: Cool to hear Mos Def! I like the second beat best.

Track 3: Fresh is the best word to describe this. Very well produced track. Love the vocals coming in.

Track 4: Great drums, dope mix. I love the swing on this one.

Track 5: Cool fx and very dope mix. I couldn’t even begin to understand how to make something like this, much respect.

Track 6: Dope buildup, I like the swing in the drums.

Track 7: I think I recognize someones sound here. Great sample use and lovely dusty sound.

Track 8: Cool intro and spacious sound combined with the oldschool vocal bits.

1st place: 7

2nd place: 3

Hm: 4, 5

6 Likes

1- nice moody and menacing sounding beat, quite hypnotic & really nice.

2- my favourite, I preferred the second half when I first listened but now prefer the first, really great use of the samples and a timeless sound.

3- a change of mood from the first two and absolute genius incorporating the neighbours vox in there.
I really like it.

4- the swing is great and I struggle to get mine swinging like this and I have tried haha, and it’s a real head nodder, very intense sounding beat.

5- otherworldly levels of sample manipulation, always changes never gets boring, always impressive.

6- really nice! has a classic feel with updated elements, another head nodder.
Great stuff.

7- me

8- i like this one a lot, so interesting to listen to, love the vocal drop-ins and those strings weaving in and out are lovely, wish I had set the battle as top three so I could give it a point.

1st- 2
2nd-3

4 Likes

I’ll put the names on soundcloud as soon as I’ve worked out why my laptop is saying no Wi-Fi connections available.IMG_0095

But for now here’s the list

1st yabba
2nd sleepyhead.

Well done everyone I really enjoyed listening through and I hope you all along with others take part in the next one.

(Which I definitely won’t be hosting :joy:)

I’m always a bit humbled and surprised do well in the voting against beats like these so thanks guys

Would be great if everyone could reveal their workings what you used etc, I recognise some bits and some I don’t.

5 Likes

Thank you all! :slight_smile:

I am track 6, it didn’t collect many votes but I’m happy to be here and learn new ways to build a track.

Here is the list of samples that I used:

The main theme is taken from Armchair, I chopped a part, pitched down and looped. In some parts the Crockett’s Theme enters and take place as the main theme.

The siren (most of use has used it!) is from Ironside.

The bass loop is from World In Action, i cut the hi frequencies with an EQ

The distorted vocals are from the A-Team

I also used some Hihats from S.W.A.T.

So…probably too much :smiley:

I used the Digitakt to prepare the idea but most of the work was done in Ableton Live.

Bye

ema

4 Likes

Congrats @Yabba annd @Sleepyhead and well done everyone for yet another sweet and varied playlist. I can’t believe I didn’t figure out the neighbours vox on @monquixote’s track after being the one to share it! Also cool to hear the ironside sample on quite a few. RIP Quincy.

Also thanks for the nice words on mine. It’s been a little while since I tried to make anything and I wasn’t happy with some aspects of it so cool to get some positive feedback.

The backbone was from airwolf, with a bass note from knight rider as well as the lazer sound. Orchestral stab from V, vox from living single, synth from tomorrow’s world, hi hats from SWAT. Started life in Ableton but wasn’t happy with the track so sampled parts into the KO II and made a new beat then recording the various patterns into the 404mk2 adding additional samples and fx. It was a painful process tbh haha, very overcooked so some stuff kinda gets lots in the mud. All learning though :slight_smile:

3 Likes

That was the origin of my track. When you posted Neighbours I listened remembered how shitty and twee the song was and thought challenge accepted! The vocals are fairly heavily formant shifted so they do sound a bit different.

My track is the chord progression of Crockets theme at it’s core and uses the synth loop from that.

It has a brass riff from Taxi
a riser from Unsolved Mysteries
Synth lead is from a street hawk sample
Backing vocals from Living Single

The strings on the bridge are armchair thriller.

Other bits are an 808 kit and a layered bass using Dune and Diva

The track was done on Bitwig and Serato.

I am Track 3 BTW

4 Likes

Haha love that. I think for uk’ers of a certain generation it’s embedded in our minds for better or for worse!

3 Likes