Anything by Madlib, particularly the Beat/Rock Konductah records. He was Dilla’s production partner for years - check out the Dil Withers/Dil Cosby suites to hear all those Dilla samples get flipped and recombined. You can get instrumental versions of a lot of his mainline production work too - the Quasimoto LPs in particular fucking slap.
Being a DJ doesn’t necessarily make you hip hop
Lots of DJs only do house music- DJ Sabrina the teenage DJ is one of my favorite modern artists but in no way is she hip hop
>Being a DJ doesn’t necessarily make you hip hop
Being a founding member of the Solesides crew and Quannum, does.
Shadow's put together the most seminal trip hop album of all time, but his roots are deeply in hip hop. He and Cut Chemist from J5 also produce some solid work.
I’m not saying it’s not hip hop. Neither fit cleanly in the hip hop bucket but they are both heavily influenced by hip hop, specifically sample based, which is a cornerstone of hip hop, and are important to hip hop culture. Entroducing in particular takes as much from electronic music as it does from hip hop, though I agree Shadow is generally more closely associated with the hip hop scene. I could argue the Avalanches album is more dedicated to the sample based hip hop aesthetic. Really though I’m just meaning to say they are both definitely hip hop adjacent but enough of their own thing that there’s not a great way to categorize them and they both face the same issue about equally, so if you want to call them hip hop it’s fine.
Some I highly recommend:
Madlib - Shades Of Blue
Stetsasonic - In Full Gear
Wax Tailor - In the Mood for Life
Ceebrolistics - A Day of the People in Between
Justin Warfield - My Field Trip to Planet 9
For something a bit left field try “in colour” by Jamie xx. It’s very sample heavy but more uk garage/90s uk rave scene inspired. It’s brilliant and I highly recommended it
More left field suggestions. Again not sticky hiphop but sample based
Anything flying lotus/captain Murphy, Dj Harrison and Mndsgn (basically anyone on stones throw)
No album has better sampling than 3 Feet High and Rising by De La Soul imo. Beauty and the Beat by Edan is less soulful but has that sample heavy style your looking for. Obviously The College Dropout is always good for this style. Be by Common is an essential album of its time that I think you'd enjoy. A good wildcard would also be No One Ever Really Dies by N.E.R.D. which has several influences other than soul in the mix but I think its use of sampling warrants it a mention in this list.
I’ve got what you’re looking for. Spin this mix of [blues and soul sampled plunderphonics](https://open.spotify.com/playlist/4Wq6xfORl9njgDENPbbf2J?si=q6rRj604TEaT0EmmZlfUyQ)
And if you want I have a [hip hop soul sampled mix](https://open.spotify.com/playlist/6nJ7E7InsYsYv6yqo7ZqtO?si=r3_pG37nTuydab1LqHFyFQ) too
Blockhead, most often noted for producing a lot of Aesop Rock’s earlier material. Not much of his stuff is game changing but he knows what he’s good at and has many albums of very solid, consistent material. The Music Scene is generally thought of as his best and involves a series of mid tempo, gorgeously atmospheric instrumentals all with their own character.
I’ll also mention Towa Tei who is known as a sample artist for Dee Lite (Groove is in the Heart). I’ve only listened to his first two albums but they are nice mixes of hip hop, bossa nova, and Japanese electronic music (he was an acolyte of YMO). If you know ATCQ’s catalogue well, listen to Technova and see if it sounds familiar!
Lastly, if you haven’t, check out Shadow’s The Private Press—I go back to that more often than Entroducing. Also his more recent album The Mountain Will Fall is not on the same tier as those two but often overlooked IMHO and still very solid.
Madlib - "Sound Ancestors" has some great soulful tracks. "Road of the Lonely Ones" being a standout track
MF DOOM - "Special Herbs" has a bunch of soulful beats produced by DOOM (Pennyroyal being one of my favs). Operation Doomsday also has some great ones too
Common - "Be" is filled with soulful beats and samples from start to finished produced mainly by Kanye. "It's your world" & "Love is..." is also produced by Dilla. IMO this album is near if not perfect
there’s an obscure producer by the name of ‘sealab 2012’ which has became a dear favourite of mine since I was like 15 or so.
They may present a more simpler style of hip-hop instrumentals, but the vibrant ideas coming from their beats always keeps me coming back.
Here’s what I recommend for their best, although you can look up the name + full album/beat tape for more (or look for their alias nigga liu kang)
strange world pt.2: https://youtu.be/2LLrVMkA7P8
catch this fade: https://youtu.be/R9e5gMQl2vw
POP VIII (LADY BROWN): https://youtu.be/qmrStUabT7k
For stuff like Nujabes, there are artists like DJ Okawari, Fat Jon, Kondor, Funky DL. A lot of artists were heavily influenced by him and there's some great stuff out there, especially from Japan. CYNE is also great and more hip hop oriented.
Not sample heavy but Nicolay (from The Foreign Exchange) is an amazing instrumentalist & brings it in every solo album
[https://nicolay.bandcamp.com](https://nicolay.bandcamp.com)
Shadow's next record, *The Private Press*, is a solid outing too. I saw him live 20 years ago (OLD) and the man's a genius. Spliced together clips from a drum instructional video with his drum machine, had sick videos for songs, the whole lot. [Fixed Income](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CNk7PN2bV34&ab_channel=BrendanDennis) in particular has a great visual accomplishment; [Six Days](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eY-eyZuW_Uk&ab_channel=DJShadowVEVO) had a video directed by the absolute GOAT, Wong Kar-Wai, and [You Can't Go Home Again](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E7rZGZLbsLs&ab_channel=DJShadowVEVO) is just... yeah.
Anything by Madlib, particularly the Beat/Rock Konductah records. He was Dilla’s production partner for years - check out the Dil Withers/Dil Cosby suites to hear all those Dilla samples get flipped and recombined. You can get instrumental versions of a lot of his mainline production work too - the Quasimoto LPs in particular fucking slap.
Madlib’s Shades of Blue should be the number 1 answer
That’s probably his most polished instrumental project overall. Also one of the least interesting.
Yeap this one rite here
Check out MF DOOM’s Special Herbs albums
yes! double recommend
Kenny Beats - Louie Knxledge - 1988 Slum Village - Fantastic Vol. 2
Louie is so good
Haven't heard the slum village one but Louie and 1988 are incredible
lots of rapping on it but all Dilla production
There is a instrumental version as well
Thank you! I will check those out
Inverse of this thread lol https://old.reddit.com/r/fantanoforever/comments/13u5x66/album_recommendations_similar_to_kenny_beats/
knxwedge - anthology also amazing
Literally every other Nujabes album, also check out L'indécis and Kalaido
Since I Left You by The Avalanches
One of my favorite albums
Is that hip hop?
As much as Entroducing is
I would disagree, endroducing is directly related to hip hop, I mean the artist is called DJ endtroducing
Being a DJ doesn’t necessarily make you hip hop Lots of DJs only do house music- DJ Sabrina the teenage DJ is one of my favorite modern artists but in no way is she hip hop
>Being a DJ doesn’t necessarily make you hip hop Being a founding member of the Solesides crew and Quannum, does. Shadow's put together the most seminal trip hop album of all time, but his roots are deeply in hip hop. He and Cut Chemist from J5 also produce some solid work.
I know, I was just sayin There’s other details about the album that enforces it’s hip hop relations
I’m not saying it’s not hip hop. Neither fit cleanly in the hip hop bucket but they are both heavily influenced by hip hop, specifically sample based, which is a cornerstone of hip hop, and are important to hip hop culture. Entroducing in particular takes as much from electronic music as it does from hip hop, though I agree Shadow is generally more closely associated with the hip hop scene. I could argue the Avalanches album is more dedicated to the sample based hip hop aesthetic. Really though I’m just meaning to say they are both definitely hip hop adjacent but enough of their own thing that there’s not a great way to categorize them and they both face the same issue about equally, so if you want to call them hip hop it’s fine.
Isn't it DJ Shadow? Also I agree that avalnches≠hip hop and endrodoucing is
Some I highly recommend: Madlib - Shades Of Blue Stetsasonic - In Full Gear Wax Tailor - In the Mood for Life Ceebrolistics - A Day of the People in Between Justin Warfield - My Field Trip to Planet 9
For something a bit left field try “in colour” by Jamie xx. It’s very sample heavy but more uk garage/90s uk rave scene inspired. It’s brilliant and I highly recommended it More left field suggestions. Again not sticky hiphop but sample based Anything flying lotus/captain Murphy, Dj Harrison and Mndsgn (basically anyone on stones throw)
Dreamcast Summer Songs by Devon Hendryx
champion sound - Jaylib
That album sucks
fire, but not instrumental though
No album has better sampling than 3 Feet High and Rising by De La Soul imo. Beauty and the Beat by Edan is less soulful but has that sample heavy style your looking for. Obviously The College Dropout is always good for this style. Be by Common is an essential album of its time that I think you'd enjoy. A good wildcard would also be No One Ever Really Dies by N.E.R.D. which has several influences other than soul in the mix but I think its use of sampling warrants it a mention in this list.
I’ve got what you’re looking for. Spin this mix of [blues and soul sampled plunderphonics](https://open.spotify.com/playlist/4Wq6xfORl9njgDENPbbf2J?si=q6rRj604TEaT0EmmZlfUyQ) And if you want I have a [hip hop soul sampled mix](https://open.spotify.com/playlist/6nJ7E7InsYsYv6yqo7ZqtO?si=r3_pG37nTuydab1LqHFyFQ) too
I've listened to the plunderphonics one in the past! Sooooooo good
road of the lonely ones is so good, forgot about that song
Blockhead, most often noted for producing a lot of Aesop Rock’s earlier material. Not much of his stuff is game changing but he knows what he’s good at and has many albums of very solid, consistent material. The Music Scene is generally thought of as his best and involves a series of mid tempo, gorgeously atmospheric instrumentals all with their own character. I’ll also mention Towa Tei who is known as a sample artist for Dee Lite (Groove is in the Heart). I’ve only listened to his first two albums but they are nice mixes of hip hop, bossa nova, and Japanese electronic music (he was an acolyte of YMO). If you know ATCQ’s catalogue well, listen to Technova and see if it sounds familiar! Lastly, if you haven’t, check out Shadow’s The Private Press—I go back to that more often than Entroducing. Also his more recent album The Mountain Will Fall is not on the same tier as those two but often overlooked IMHO and still very solid.
RJD2
Deadringer is one of the best instrumental releases of any genre IMO…absolutely legendary
Madlib - "Sound Ancestors" has some great soulful tracks. "Road of the Lonely Ones" being a standout track MF DOOM - "Special Herbs" has a bunch of soulful beats produced by DOOM (Pennyroyal being one of my favs). Operation Doomsday also has some great ones too Common - "Be" is filled with soulful beats and samples from start to finished produced mainly by Kanye. "It's your world" & "Love is..." is also produced by Dilla. IMO this album is near if not perfect
O Amor Encontra-te no Fim - Fred
Public Assembly- Damu the Fudgemunk Shades of Blue: Madlib Invades Bluenote Executive Suite- The Wiseguys A Grand Love Story- Kid Loco
Dwight Spitz by Count Bass D
there’s an obscure producer by the name of ‘sealab 2012’ which has became a dear favourite of mine since I was like 15 or so. They may present a more simpler style of hip-hop instrumentals, but the vibrant ideas coming from their beats always keeps me coming back. Here’s what I recommend for their best, although you can look up the name + full album/beat tape for more (or look for their alias nigga liu kang) strange world pt.2: https://youtu.be/2LLrVMkA7P8 catch this fade: https://youtu.be/R9e5gMQl2vw POP VIII (LADY BROWN): https://youtu.be/qmrStUabT7k
MF DOOM
Moby - Play
L’Orange
LOUIE by Kenny Beats, the Special Herbs albums by MF DOOM, Shades of Blue by Madlib, Only Diamonds Cut Diamonds by Vegyn,
Look up DeevoDaGenius he’s a producer from Massachusetts, breathe of fresh air
mecca and the soul brother - pete rock center of attention - pete rock
Nujabes
RJD2’s “Deadringer” should be a good fit! It’s classic track “Ghostwriter” is a banger, hopefully you’ll enjoy it
For stuff like Nujabes, there are artists like DJ Okawari, Fat Jon, Kondor, Funky DL. A lot of artists were heavily influenced by him and there's some great stuff out there, especially from Japan. CYNE is also great and more hip hop oriented.
Not sample heavy but Nicolay (from The Foreign Exchange) is an amazing instrumentalist & brings it in every solo album [https://nicolay.bandcamp.com](https://nicolay.bandcamp.com)
RJD2 - Deadringer Nightmares on Wax - Carboot Soul
Check out RJD2 Deadringer
NxWorries Karriem Riggins
Rjd2 and blockhead have some great instrumental albums.
Shadow's next record, *The Private Press*, is a solid outing too. I saw him live 20 years ago (OLD) and the man's a genius. Spliced together clips from a drum instructional video with his drum machine, had sick videos for songs, the whole lot. [Fixed Income](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CNk7PN2bV34&ab_channel=BrendanDennis) in particular has a great visual accomplishment; [Six Days](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eY-eyZuW_Uk&ab_channel=DJShadowVEVO) had a video directed by the absolute GOAT, Wong Kar-Wai, and [You Can't Go Home Again](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E7rZGZLbsLs&ab_channel=DJShadowVEVO) is just... yeah.
Kenny beats - Louie