Friday, May 1, 2009

Hip-Hop Fridays: Main Source "Breaking Atoms" (1991)


Quite possibly one of the most influential, yet largely ignored, hip-hop records of all time. 1991 saw the release of Main Source's "Breaking Atoms", which introduced Large Professor and Nas to the world. Nas would obviously go on to become one of the most well known MCs of all time, but it was the Large Professor who would tinker away in the shadows, producing some well loved tracks from the early 90s. In fact, Large Professor went on to produce three tracks on Nas' "Illmatic", including 'Halftime' and 'It Ain't Hard To Tell', with the latter being my favorite beat on the record. Large Professor went on to produce tracks by Kool G Rap, Tribe Called Quest, Mobb Deep, Common, and Organized Konfusion among many others. Compared to his mid 90s production, which was definitely during his peak, the tracks on "Breaking Atoms" are fairly simplistic: drum break, jazz/soul loop, and a few other odd samples layered atop taught beatwork. Easily digestable now, but it was rather groundbreaking at the time and influenced many up and coming DJs and producers.


Download "Breaking Atoms" here.


'Live At The Barbeque' (feat. Nas)



'Just A Friendly Game Of Baseball'


'Fakin' The Funk' (not on the original release)



'Lookin' At The Front Door' (personal favorite track)


Snatch up all the Main Source 12"s here. (via Nation Of Millions)

'Fakin' The Funk' video



'Lookin' At The Front Door'



'Just Hangin' Out'

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