Hip hop’s early evolution occurred around the time that sampling technology and drum-machines became widely available to the general public at a cost that was affordable to the average consumer—not just professional studios. Drum-machines and samplers were combined in machines that came to be known as MPC‘s or ‘Music Production Centers‘, early examples of which would include the Linn 9000. The first sampler that was broadly adopted to create this new kind of music was the Mellotron used in combination with the TR-808 drum machine. Mellotrons and Linn’s were succeeded by the AKAI, in the late 1980s.[67]
Turntablist techniques – such as rhythmic “scratching” (pushing a record back and forth while the needle is in the groove to create new sounds and sound effects, an approach attributed to Grand Wizzard Theodore[68][69]), beat mixing and/or beatmatching, and beat juggling – eventually developed along with the percussion breaks, creating a musical accompaniment or base that could be rapped over in a manner similar to signifying. As well, the art of Jamaican toasting, a style of talking or chanting into a microphone, often in a boastful style, while beats play over a sound system, was an important influence on the development of hip hop music. Toasting is another influence found in Jamaican dub music.[40][70]
