Often the beats have a downtempo hip-hop feel and to that end we’ll be ... To develop the feel we’re going to embellish the kick pattern across a 4 bar cycle, so copy the main beats across ...

Almost all skilled MCs use syncopation to create complex rhythmic patterns that ... in favor of beat machines like the 808 and other synthetic elements long used in hip-hop production.

In “Straight Loops, Light & Soul,” a project evoking Roy DeCarava’s Harlem jazz pictures and the music of J Dilla, Williams captures the underground beat-maker scene of Queens.