Video on the History of the Amen Break

Nate Harrison produced this great 18 minute documentary about the history of the “Amen break“, a 6 second drum loop that has been used in everything from N.W.A. songs to Jeep commercials and forms the basis of entire music genres like jungle and drum ‘n bass. The documentary also touches on the political issues surrounding copyright laws and sample-based music, with quotes by Lawrence Lessig.

This was originally part of a 2004 art installation called Can I Get An Amen?. Nate Harrison also has another interesting piece called Bassline Baseline that traces the history of the Ronald TB-303 bass synthesizer.

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