There's a reason Kenny Beats is one of the great young producers in hip-hop, because he

does his homework.

Kenny has a vast understanding of the regional sounds and histories of cities to pull from

when making beats for an artist.

This allows him to find a common musical language with rappers, which gives him a leg

up in an art form as hyper-local as rap.

Everything from the popular local dances to the type of crime most prevalent in different

cities can inform the sound of a local scene and influences how Kenny might approach making

a beat.

Today, we're kicking off a two-part series of interviews with Kenny Beats.

In the one-year battle here, which was taped a while back, Kenny maps out the evolution

of regional sounds in hip-hop, drawing parallels between disparate cities.

And now hip-hop has evolved from creating beats out of old drum samples known as breakbeats

to sampling and referencing itself.

I should also say that Kenny produced her theme song, The One You About To Here, as if

he were Rick Rubin in 1985.

Seafing gets with Specy Boy's song, it's based on.

This is Broken Record, line of notes for the digital age.

I'm Justin Richmond.

Here's Rick Rubin in Kenny Beats at Shangri-La.

What's a good place to start?

Well, really, like, first off, everything that you and I have talked about when it comes

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