The "Amen break" (usually pronounced /ɑːˈmɛn/) was a brief drum solo performed in 1969 by Gregory Sylvester "G. C." Coleman. The "Amen Break", "Amen", or imitations thereof, are frequently used as sampled drum loops in hip hop, jungle, breakcore and drum and bass music. It is 5.20 seconds long and consists of four bars of the drum-solo sampled from the song "Amen, Brother" as performed by the 1960s funk and soul outfit The Winstons. The song is an up-tempo instrumental rendition of an older gospel music classic. The Winstons' version was released as a B-side of the 45 RPM 7-inch vinyl single "Color Him Father" in 1969 on Metromedia (MMS-117), and is currently available on several compilations and on a 12-inch vinyl re-release together with other songs by The Winstons. The Amen Break was used extensively in early hiphop and sample-based music, and became the basis for drum-and-bass and jungle music - "a six-second clip that spawned several entire subcultures" Royalties As with many samples, neither the performer, drummer G.C. Coleman, nor the copyright owner Richard L. Spencer, the Grammy-award winning composer and performer of the hit "Color Him Father", has ever received any royalties for the sampling. [edit] Early fame The song itself achieved fame within the hip hop and subsequent electronic music communities when a former Downstairs Records employee known as Breakbeat Lenny compiled it onto his 1986 Ultimate Breaks and Beats bootleg series for DJs. Lenny hired Louis Flores to edit four bars of the drum break at much slower speed than the remainder of the song. Although it created a jarring difference in tempo in the center of the song, it allowed Hip-Hop DJ's to extend the beat by switching between two copies of the record on two separate turntables at a danceable tempo while ignoring the rest of the song (this technique was created by Kool Herc in 1974 and became a trend at large in 1977 with the efforts of Grandmaster Flash). By 1987, E-mu released the SP1200
| Source | Entry Name | Confidence | Link | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Last.fm | Amen | Derived from data | — |
This wiki is an homage to these sources. Data may be incomplete — community improvements welcome.