The Instruments of Hip-Hop — the Tools That Build the Beat
Unlike jazz or rock, hip-hop's "instruments" are a little different. Most of them aren't things you play so much as tools you use to build the beat. Chopping up other people's records (sampling), programming drums on a machine, treating the turntable like an instrument — that's how hip-hop is "played." Add the voice on top at the end, and hip-hop is complete. Hit ▶ to see how each tool actually works.
The tools that build the beat
The skeleton of the hip-hop sound. How these four get combined is what splits eras and regions apart.
Turntables
The "first instrument," present at the very birth of hip-hop. By pushing and pulling a vinyl record by hand, the DJ makes that "chk-chk" scratch, and by cutting between two copies to loop the same break, turned the turntable into a playable instrument.
Drum Machine — the Roland TR-808
Synonymous with the sound of hip-hop drums. The booming kick and sizzling hi-hats of this 1980s Roland machine became the standard for hip-hop and trap beats. The word "808" itself has come to mean that deep low-end kick.
Sampler — the AKAI MPC
A machine that slices a fragment of an old soul or jazz record (sampling) and, by tapping the pads, reassembles it into a brand-new beat. In the hands of producers like J Dilla and Kanye West, it was the beating heart of hip-hop's golden age. Its gritty forebear, the SP-1200, deserves a mention too.
Synthesizer
A keyboard instrument that generates electronic sound. From the laid-back "G-funk" lead melodies of the West Coast to the dark, cavernous low-end of trap — when a sound is sculpted from scratch instead of sampled, the synth steps in.
What goes on top
No matter how good the beat, without the final piece it isn't hip-hop.
The Mic — the voice as an instrument
The single most important instrument in hip-hop is actually the human voice. Rapping isn't just talking fast — it's riding the beat (flow) and stacking rhymes, treating the voice like a rhythm instrument. The same beat becomes a completely different song depending on who's on the mic.
Once you know the tools, you start to hear it in your favorite songs — "oh, that's an 808," "that part's a sample." If you're curious how these tools built forty years of culture, here's the story.
→ History of Hip-Hop ① Born in the Bronx
We laid out the jazz lineup the same way, too.