When does an extract best approximate the whole? When it’s a chunk of instrumental hip-hop. Hip-hop’s take on studio composition, for all its love of noise, still tends to rotate through chorus and verse. Ergo, the minute-or-less samples you can download free at fatbeats.com, a fine purveyor of hip-hop with and without the rap, can easily be looped forever.
Recent recommendations include the syrupy bass lines of Shawn J. Period‘s “The Come Back” (MP3). With the track’s casually skipped beats, it’s tailor-made for the jerky seam that cycles through every 45 seconds, when your MP3 player set on repeat turns the end into the beginning. And if you like what you hear, set up an account with fatbeats.com and order yourself a copy.