EPISODE · Mar 20, 2025 · 3 MIN

3-Wellness Check Instrumental

from #StoriesAboutSongs · host RedefineHipHop

This is the instrumental version of a mixtape I made celebrating my time on the Lake County, IL Hip Hop scene circa '87-'95 (North Chicago, Waukegan, Zion, Etc...). All these beats were made between 1989 and 1995 for various artists I was producing then, but they never came and laid verses to the songs. So I decided to clean them up, and make a mixtape. All the beats were digitized from cassette tapes, so don't mind the tape hiss and normal wear and tear. But they were also enhanced in Pro Tools with some light studio magic, so don't sound too bad for some beats made in my various living rooms through those years using either the Roland TR-808, Casio SK-5, and a Tascam Portastudio 4-track OR the later set up; SP-12 (5 seconds sample time), Quadraverb, and Tascam MidiStudio 688 8-Track. It's possible a couple were transferred direct from the SP-12 and further developed on KBATE's MPC-60, which I did some times, but not 100% sure if any of these apply. Anyway, take it back to the 90s on this one. Vocal version to soon follow...