The Micro-Chop Daily X #26–90s Edition Vol. 2
A Micro-Chop playlist featuring 10 hand-picked instrumentals — every single day for an entire year.
Just over two weeks ago I posted my first Micro-Chop Daily X playlist dedicated solely to 90s instrumentals on Spotify. Based on recent trends, it seems like record labels are starting to see the value digging through their archives and getting single releases from back in the day up on the platform. Spotify’s selection of digitized 12" singles with instrumental versions grows every single day and I’m constantly stumbling upon new additions that weren’t there a week or two ago. Though they have a long way to go in completing the backlists of many artists, the progress appears steady.
During a recent round of exploring, I stumbled upon Bas Blasta’s Beatnuts-produced “Ain’t Whatcha Do” — a rather obscure and forgotten number from 1994 with a killer instrumental. Though I’m guessing only hardcore hip-hop heads and record collectors remember this one, it’s well worth revisiting. The Beatnuts really flex their production chops here with some perfectly placed horns, a nice filtered bassline, and a clutch vocal sample to add a bit of extra punch.
I was also happy to see Shaq’s Erick Sermon-produced single “I’m Outstanding” up on Spotify. Erick Sermon has a deep catalog with many classics and many slept-on cuts, but this beat might be one of his most under-appreciated. It still sounds incredible — nothing too crazy in terms of chops or anything — just perfectly placed and EQd loops from The Gap Band’s “Outstanding” and James Browns “The Payback” working together in tandem to make a neck-snapping backdrop for one of Shaq’s first singles.
Beyond these two noteworthy additions, I continue to be wowed by Nick Wiz’s very deep catalog of instrumentals on Spotify. Nick has produced for an impressive resume of artists during his career, including Rakim, Cella Dwellas, Mad Skillz, Chubb Rock, Pudgee Tha Phat Bastard, and Chino XL. I’ll be honest though — he wasn’t really on my radar until the last year or so. I’m still working my way through all of his instrumental collections, but he has some incredibly beautiful work that’s well worth your time. I’m partial to his Cellar Instrumentals Volume 7, especially the “Ran’s Verse” beat that I included here.
With the trend of more people getting their back catalog of beats up on Spotify, I’d love to see groups like Diggin’ In The Crates, A Tribe Called Quest, De La Soul, etc. take advantage of the growing popularity of all-beat playlists and upload more of their archives. I’m hopeful that with time they will. In the meantime, here are 10 more choice beats from the 90s presented here for your enjoyment.
The twenty-sixth playlist in The Micro-Chop Daily X series features the following artists, with each name hyperlinked to bring you directly to their Bandcamp, SoundCloud, or website: Mark Sparks, Tone Capone, Nick Wiz, The Beatminerz, Prince Paul, The Beatnuts, Dug Infinite, KutMasta Kurt, Erick Sermon, Showbiz.
Be on the lookout for The Micro-Chop Daily X #27 dropping tomorrow.
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