I thought some of y'all producers, crate-diggers, DJ's, emcee/rappers and fans alike, would find this interesting.

Feel free to add on (to the thread) on any Diamond D favorite joints....favorite productions...favorite collaborations...etc.










Truth be told - Diamond D is my man, 50 grand....but brah is looking type-rough, in this video....





peace.

I like this one because Diamond is the epitome of the so many brothers and friends of mine from this particular era in which we lived.He keeps it simple and talks unassuming.He is about as real as it can get.Props.First,I have to say that he is absolutely and positively correct as far as Apache being the original,the staple and THEE breakbeat that all others are measured against.That one particular record started it all for almost all of us.I The reason that I bring this up is because over the years and at different forums people think that it was Mardi Gras.Why?Because Mardi Gras was the most played record at the schools,parks,arenas back then.This was for a couple of reasons,it was dope,it was easier to emcee too than Apache and the break was easier to mix.But...As Diamond stated and referenced Herc himself.
It was Apache.Apache IS the number 1 breakbeat of all time and it's bar none.Don't let anyone else fool ya.Mardi Gras by the above mentioned reasons will sit number two with the hardest hitting break of all time Catch a Groove at number 3.As an interesting Hip Hop note.Let there be drums on the same album will live in breakbeat infamy.It was not known as a break itself,It had a quick drum roll at the very end..this was truly an anomoly because for many it was the last thing you heard before your entire life would be changed.(by hearing the opening percussion sequence of Apache)

The When your hot youre hot break that he is mentioning on the Mother's Freedom Band album,was not a drum break in the Funky Drummer sense but rather a Choice Four type groove that the forefathers would play in their sets.

Flaming Ember's Gotta get away got alot of street play but was not on the line of staples like Juju man,Sex,Uncle Louie etc.

The Sesame Street had the classic C is for Cookie.

The Electric Prunes was more moody and psychedelic,Axelrod if I remember correctly was apart of that album.

What was interesting to me was his choices for the interview.He stated that he had seven or so crates of drum breaks,but none of the ones he mentioned outside of Apache had the classic get down break.That was puzzling.GMF in one of his interviews mentioned what a breakbeat actually was. I always give him credit for that.Many DJ's producers,Old Schoolers,New Schoolers,etc think they know but they really confuse the classic breakbeat with many different things.I had a neighbor that was a Miami Drum and Bass type of guy,go all over the place in his explanations of what he thought it was.I got tired of explaining,so I put on Fire Eater.You see Saxophonist Rusty Bryant's Fire Eater(Prestige 1971) is an interesting but tell all break.Idris Muhammad is rockin the drums on this cut he goes off beat about 2 minutes in and then entirely off tempo for the break twenty seconds or so in and then sets up the second part of the riff with the universal classic old school breakdown.If it is not in your collection yet.Get it!

Where does Impeach The President fit in for you BM??

Ladies and gentleman,we have the Honeydrippers in the house tonight...

BL,that one was always one of my favorites because of the simplicity to mix it.Along the side with breaks like God made me funky.I call them 4 bar breaks.Or slow breaks.I got Impeach round bout 30-35,if there was an all time top 100.If you are asking why so low.It's because the breakbeat or as Flash would tell us the get down part of the record was specifically designed for cats to get down in this instance breakdance.In it's original style,not the worldwide acceptance of what breakdancing would become a few years later when the latino cats literally brought it back from the dead.Another story for another day,but you couldn't really break off of Impeach.It became a significant breakbeat because of the amount of DJ usage over the years.

Right quick,BL in the streets of the Bronx back then 1975 - 1979,pre Hip Hop blow up,feel me,cats uprocked during the break set up.That was the 3 to 8 second or so intro before the break,they had to have this to set their floor moves up.So Bam,Herc,Flash,AJ,Mario would play these intros alot during thier sets when they introduced the break (switched records).With the slower breaks,they just blended them in with the break they played before.For instance,if they was going to play Star Wars,you would hear the intro first.From the homemade bass bottoms you would hear this from a half mile away.Cats would literally be running to the park,haha.. same for breaks like I Can't Stop.

So by the original(GrandMasterFlash) definition of a breakbeat.Before it morphed into ten thousand different other things.Impeach was indeed a dope ass breakbeat but used more for the DJs and crowds of head knockers rather than breakers(Zulu Kings).That is why I don't rate it as high as many people do.Unless the cultural significance outweighed the breakability status,as which we have in records like Get up and dance.Which got famous more for the ability for emcees to rock over it than cats to break off of.

Every collector has and have had their own particular styles and passion of types of records they collected.Afrika Bambaataa and the late great Disco King Mario were the most prominent DJs in my area,they used alot of stop motionbreaks.Breaks in which the music literally stopped a millisecond before the break or had a prominant set up sequence before it dropped like Work Song.When a person is young you know they gravitate to what they hear the most.Thusforth,the passion came about for these particular breakbeats more than any other type.

Peace,my brother.

The Mexican?