Kenny Beats on the Regional Sounds of Hip-Hop | Broken Record (Hosted by Rick Rubin)

PART 2: There’s a reason Kenny Beats is one of the great young producers in hip-hop: 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 is super important 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 you’re about to hear, which was taped a while back, Kenny maps out the evolution of regional sounds in hip-hop ... drawing parallels between disparate cities. I should also say that Kenny produced our theme song. He approached it as if he were Rick Rubin in 1985. See if you can guess which Beastie Boys song