6 secs – the world’s most important drum loop

Posted on August 20th, 2010 at 3:34 pm by Syaheed

6 secs – the world’s most important drum loop

One of those sleepless nights saw me stumbling upon this…

I agree this could very well be a TED talk – or a blinkBL_NK talk for that matter.

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This fascinating, brilliant 20-minute video narrates the history of the “Amen Break,” a six-second drum sample from the b-side of a chart-topping single from 1969. This sample was used extensively in early hiphop and sample-based music, and became the basis for drum-and-bass and jungle music — a six-second clip that spawned several entire subcultures. Nate Harrison’s 2004 video is a meditation on the ownership of culture, the nature of art and creativity, and the history of a remarkable music clip.