Breakbeat

Breakbeat is both a certain type of rhythm as well as an umbrella term for a broad type of electronic music genres making use of this rhythm. The term arises from the fact that solo drum performances from breaks from early funk, r&b and soul records were sampled, looped and processed to form a beat for new tracks. During the 1970s, Jamaican-born US dj Clive Campbell aka DJ Kool Herc began mixing funky drum breaks and switching from one break to another and also MC’ing with short slang phrases, thus earning him the names »Founder of Hip Hop« and »Father of Hip Hop«.

The first drum breaks used by DJ Kool Herc were the ones from The Incredible Bongo Band’s »Bongo Rock ’73« and from 1972’s »The Mexican« by British rock band Babe Ruth but the most famous breakbeats are the »Funky Drummer break« from James Brown’s 1970s song »Funky Drummer« and the »Amen break« from 1969s »Amen, Brother« by The Winstons, both used in thousands of tracks.

The breakbeat not only laid the foundation for hip hop but became very popular in the electronic dance music scene, nowadays being the umbrella term for genres like drum’n’bass, jungle, big beat and UK garage styles. Despite having its cradle in New York City, London can be seen as the innovative center of breakbeat music.