Hip-hop beat-makers are usually unseen. Not all sample-based producers are as reclusive as the torch-bearing loop artist Madlib, but even the most prominent among them are part of the backdrop. After ...

Kenny Beats wants to make 100 songs before he leaves Atlanta. Not beats — songs. The word choice, as well as the self-imposed assignment, reflect not only his dedication but the seriousness with which ...

In the past few years, gaming and creator culture have become an increasingly prominent part of the rap world. Think of the growing presence of Twitch streamers, or Ericdoa’s viral “Ninja Taper Fade” ...

The FADER's longstanding series Beat Construction interviews crucial music producers. 16yrold earned his producer tag when he was — you guessed it — 16 years old. “I'll probably just shorten it to 16, ...

Artificial intelligence is quietly shifting how rap and beatmaking happen. Generative tools are speeding up experimentation, lowering barriers to entry, and raising new questions about authorship, ...

High school sophomore Vikas Prasad has one main goal: score a production placement with a major rap artist before the end of the school year. When he’s not in class, the 16-year-old spends most of his ...

The emergence of the type beats community as a legitimate force in rap music was initially met with resistance from veteran producers like 9th Wonder, who, in a since-deleted tweet from 2016, said, ...

I’m sitting in the basement of a low-rise corner building in Bushwick with 23-year-old rapper/producer Cash Cobain, and it’s finally time to throw on the Spice Girls. The basement is a converted ...

Producer: A-Trak Album: N/A Label: Fools Gold Fool's Gold head honcho A-Trak recently wrote a candid editorial about how rap's preoccupation with drugs worries him as a non-user, but his reservations ...