How to Become a Beat Making Machine (in 7 Steps)
Making world-class beats doesn’t just mean having or developing talent. Speed, quantity, and an optimized workflow are common amongst all the greats!
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Our 10 Favorite Rap Beats of 2018 and Why We Still Love Them
We count down and break down our ten favorite hip-hop beats of 2018 to find out what’s going on inside them and why they’re still so good.
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The 11 Best Music-Themed Coloring Books for Kids (and, Sure, Adults Too)
We don’t care if you’re 5 or 55, if you want to color your favorite artists in to show your fan dedication, that’s awesome. Here are some of our faves.
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10 Cover Versions That Creatively Transform the Original Song
No classic song is safe from the cover treatment… but how many cover versions are actually interesting to listen to? We delve in and pick out our top 10.
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Social Media Has Made Hip-Hop About Rapping Again – Not Making Songs
Direct-to-fan social platforms allow rappers to communicate their art immediately and directly, no middlemen and no waiting. Here’s how they’re doing it.
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On Kanye’s ‘MP’ Format and the Future of Albums as We Know It
Kanye West released 5 albums this summer, all of them feature exactly 7 songs. What’s the deal with this new format, and what does it say about our future?
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How the EP Killed the LP Star
A look at some of the milestones of the “extended play” format, and its journey from an obscure in-between gimmick to a legitimate musical release vessel.
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How Rap Ushered the Piano Into Its Next Developmental Phase
Hip-hop is officially pop music. With Bruno Mars and Kendrick Lamar’s sweep of the Grammy Awards earlier this year, it’s evident that hip-hop has officially shed its status as “that controversial music genre” that prompted the Grammys’ organizers to refuse to air any rap categories back in 1989, which subsequently prompted some to boycott the event.…
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Does Music Theory Still Matter?
Last year, Rihanna’s hit single “Work” started an argument here at Soundfly. We come from an array of different musical backgrounds, styles, training, and instruments, and the question that kicked us off was: What key is “Work” actually in? It’s got that super repetitive synth bass line that returns to C# every time, giving the…
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“Black Panther” Turned Kendrick Lamar into a Superhero Producer
+ Learn the nuances of producing beats, arranging tracks, and creative sampling, drawing on the rich history and influence of hip-hop in Soundfly’s acclaimed online course, The Art of Hip-Hop Production. Just like Kanye West, Kendrick Lamar is a rapper whose succession of albums shows off a clear yet non-obvious arc of creative development — moving…
