Where would Rap be without Marley? Found this thought provokin`piece...." Once upon a time, around 1985 at Unique recording studio in New York city, Marley Marl accidentally sampled a snare drum. It was a mistake, initially, as he’d instructed the engineer to grab a vocal snippet for the Captain Rock song he was remixing at the time. When he played the sound on the keyboard and heard that snare come through, it dawned on him – no more shitty DMX and Linn Drum sounds! Once he realized that he could program drums using real drum sounds, he loaded up the kick, snare and hat from ‘Impeach The President’ and started making history. ‘Eric B. For President’, ‘The Bridge’, ‘Make The Music With Your Mouth, and ‘Stunt of The Block’ were all produced using that drum kit.
It’s impossible to imagine how hip-hop would have sounded without that break-through, although it’s a fair bet that after a few more years of drum machines over replayed TV show themes somebody would have figured out that sampling drums was a good idea. But beyond this innovation, the other major contribution to the hip-hop cannon was the collection of great albums that Marley was involved in (regardless of whether or not he had co-producers). Long Live The Kane, Road To The Riches, Goin’ Off, Take A Look Around, Down By Law, Mama Said Knock You Out…the list goes on. The only other producer who can approach that kind of track record at the time is The 45 King. Many will make a case for Dr. Dre since he’s made so many careers happen, but he’s been more about making hits and artists than great albums. Pretty much every great Dre album has a fair amount of bullshit on there, with the exception of The Chronic. Even Efil4zggin had a fair amount of filler in terms of skits.Marl?
![:\](https://bluelight.org/xf/BL_Images/Orig_Emoji/wrygrin.gif "wry grin :\")