As controversial as Reddit can be, some of the subforums are a treasure trove for hobbyists and enthusiasts of any discipline. While browsing the /r/makinghiphop subreddit, I stumbled upon this an album by New York producer Blake Frederick.
The beatmaker is currently studying music technology in the city, a subject I have a degree in myself, and he shows his talents profusely in Rhythm N’ Beats Vol. 2. A complaint among the casual music listening crowd is that hip hop instrumentals (especially those involving samples) are often repetitive and lack any originality. Blake shoots those misconceptions right out of the water with some fine rhythmic and compositional variation, as well as additional riffs and interludes of his own.
For the most part, Rhythm N’ Beats Vol. 2 contains the standard sped-up soul samples we’ve grown to love from people like Kanye and 9th Wonder but there are some woozy numbers interspersed amongst the pack, including World Full of Dilla, a sultry homage to the late hip hop legend.
Stream/download it below and if you do, you also get Rhythm N’ Beats Vol. 1.5 containing scrapped beats that didn’t make the other two volumes.