“Amen Brother” and Other Funky Breaks

Against Monopoly points to a YouTube video that tracks some of the history of the “Amen Brother” beat and sampling generally. That’s the practice of taking pieces of an existing song and weaving it into a new one.


The video reminded me again of the upwelling of creativity that occurred in the late 80’s before sampling came on the the radar screen of copyright holders. Though sampling remains possible, it is done less often because of the legal minefield one encounters when doing so.


“Amen Brother” is important, of course, but there are many other beats that contend for top honors. I went looking for James Brown’s “Funky Drummer” and came across this list of beats, calling itself “The 30 Greatest Hip Hop Drum Breaks & Samples of All Time.” Well, I’m not so sure, if it doesn’t have Funky Drummer, but listening to the beats connotes the dozens of songs that succeeded them. It’s an exciting window into our culture.


Finally, after much searching, I came across the Funky Drummer beat on this list. Enjoy the two‐​and‐​a‐​half seconds of bliss.


The point? Creative works are not just outputs of creative people — they’re also inputs to new creative works, a point made well by Greg Lastowka and Dan Hunter in their Cato Policy Analysis Amateur‐​to‐​Amateur: The Rise of a New Creative Culture.