Off Topic 5 Artists That Changed My Life and Approach to Music

As in the title, below you can find five artists that changed my perspective, life and approach to music. The aim of this article is to share some of my views on music and maybe artists I'm about to describe will inspire you in some way.

In my case the majority of them are not even associated with rap music.

1. Buckethead

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It was a summer vacation of 2010. I was sitting in the library as 15 year old kid and surfing the Internet. As always I was looking for some exercises that would help me improve my guitar playing. I visited some forum for guitarists and I found a cover of one of Buckethead's song "Electronic Slight Of Hand". At that time I wasn't even aware who Buckethead was. I hadn't heard of him before. I clicked the thumbnail and I experienced an absolute shock. I was blown up. I was sitting there with my mouth wide open. It must have looked creepy and funny as hell at the same time but I couldn't help myself really. Neither had I ever seen nor heard anybody using the guitar in a way he was doing it. I listened to a lot of shredders at that time and neither of them seemed to have a technique even remotely comparable to Buckethead.

It was a time when I said to myself "Either you are serious about it or you're just playing around." And from that moment I started practicing my guitar playing seriously.

I also started discovering Buckethead's discography but to be honest it is impossible to listen to it entirely. According to the Wikipedia a discography of works by Buckethead currently consists of 313 studio albums (including 283 in the Pike Series), 1 live album, 4 special releases, 1 extended play, 5 demo tapes, 3 solo DVD video releases, 2 DVD video releases with Cornbugs, 3 music videos, 3 unreleased albums, 3 solo videography releases, and 16 videography releases with other artists.

Most of these albums are pure experiments that are even hard to listen to but anyway the number of albums he recorded is mind blowing. I have to say that this tall, skinny, creepy looking dude with a bucket on his head remains the most enigmatic and also creative persona on a world's music stage.

2. Frédéric Chopin

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It's not a joke I swear. :D Chopin who is one of the greatest Polish composers of all time (if not the greatest) is my favourite composer of classical music. Of course I admire works by Beethoven, Mozart and others but Chopin's music is very original and in my opinion it stands out in the world of classical music. It can also move me as nothing else. Chopin's music opened me for the classical music and although I don't listen to this stuff often Chopin is the composer I always come back to. My favourite works of him are "Ballade No. 1 in G-Minor Op. 23"; "Ballade No. 4 in F-Minor Op. 52" and "Piano Concerto in E-Minor Op. 11".


3. Steve Jablonsky

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Steve Jablonsky is one of my favourite composers of music for the purpose of movies and video games. As I'm a big fan of soundtracks sooner or later I had to listen to his works. This guy is mostly known from making music for Transformers series and Gears Of War series. He also collaborated with Hans Zimmer and Harry Gregson-Williams who are also my most favourite composers. However, Steve Jablonsky music is the one I come back to most frequently. Especially, Gears Of War 2 OST. Maybe his music did not have as big impact on me as that of Buckethead but I decided to include him in this list.

4. 9th Wonder

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I think I don't have to introduce this guy to you. His smooth and soulful production style can be heard in music of such artists like Jay-Z, Murs, Drake, Buckshot, Chris Brown, J. Cole, Kendrick Lamar, Erykah Badu, Ludacris, Mac Miller, David Banner, 2 Chainz, and many more. He was the first person whose work convinced me that sampling is really a form of art. At first when I discovered that most of the rap beats were made of samples I was frustrated because I perceived it as a theft. However, when I saw 9th Wonder in one of the episodes of Rhythm Roulette by Mass Appeal my perception changed. Also when I first tried to sample something it turned out it was not an easy thing to do and although I don't sample much now as it is too time consuming for me, 9th Wonder music has a special place on my own musical Olympus.

5. Hopex

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This one is the most recent. I found this guy on Spotify and his music really helped me find my way when it comes to beatmaking. His high quality trap instrumental tracks are big inspiration for me. Although I don't try to rip off his style I noticed that I incorporated some of his elements in my most recent beats. Especially when it comes to the structure of song.

Which artists influenced you the most? Post your replies below ;)

Further Reading About Beat Making
 
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Fade

The Beat Strangler
Administrator
illest o.g.
Solid list! I love seeing how music outside of Hip Hop has influenced people. This is why it's important to listen to all kinds of music because you never know what will have an affect on your beat making.

The first time I heard of Buckethead was through one of Q-Bert's VHS tapes years ago where he had him in there. I couldn't believe how insane he was on the guitar.
 
Solid list! I love seeing how music outside of Hip Hop has influenced people. This is why it's important to listen to all kinds of music because you never know what will have an affect on your beat making.

Couldn't agree more. :D

The first time I heard of Buckethead was through one of Q-Bert's VHS tapes years ago where he had him in there. I couldn't believe how insane he was on the guitar.

Yes, I agree. He really stands out on the world's guitar scene and what's best about him is that he uses everything a guitarist can have in their arsenal in a totally different way. :)
 

Fade

The Beat Strangler
Administrator
illest o.g.
I thought there was an earlier one of him doing Rhythm Roulette? I was thinking it was that. Anyway, yeah this one is sick.
 

Mahlhavoc

Freedom Seed Spreader
Battle Points: 360
That is a nice set of folks who inspired you. I am afraid mine are not as.. tasty shall we say.

One of the first ones I ever heard that I was like, dayamn, was Too Short. Of course I grew up on stuff like like Nucleus or Kraftwerk or Slick Rick or Cold Crush Brothers and you had to hold your finger on record when the radio DJs were throwing out nasty mixes.

Now with all the trap, while I enjoy the bass lines and music, it sound quite a bit the same. Then you have folks like my man RL Grimes (Inspired by him now pretty big) do some crazy things with his music, while it has trap elements they have more of a party type beat for a rave or some shit which can turn me off quickly if I listen to the wrong one. But their subtleties, the things you only hear if you listen close but really change their music and feel and I really want those aspects. If you can look past some of the lameness in some of their tracks, but listen to what they are doing to get the sounds / transitions / drops / the little things.... very very inspiring. He is also quite a mix artist

So I guess my musical is somewhere between Trap, DJ Quick, RL Grimes and Too Short. As Too Short says "Dope Fiend Beats" I like it when I can nod my head on the track like a heroin addict lol. Memento / 2Good have a few of those on their tracks I checked out on spotify.

While I am newer to producing music, 6 months and mainly weekends, I think I am learning quickly and I now have a couple bangers I hope to surprise y'all with.

Awesome thread though, I guess I am just ... OLD :confused:
 
That is a nice set of folks who inspired you. I am afraid mine are not as.. tasty shall we say.

One of the first ones I ever heard that I was like, dayamn, was Too Short. Of course I grew up on stuff like like Nucleus or Kraftwerk or Slick Rick or Cold Crush Brothers and you had to hold your finger on record when the radio DJs were throwing out nasty mixes.

Now with all the trap, while I enjoy the bass lines and music, it sound quite a bit the same. Then you have folks like my man RL Grimes (Inspired by him now pretty big) do some crazy things with his music, while it has trap elements they have more of a party type beat for a rave or some shit which can turn me off quickly if I listen to the wrong one. But their subtleties, the things you only hear if you listen close but really change their music and feel and I really want those aspects. If you can look past some of the lameness in some of their tracks, but listen to what they are doing to get the sounds / transitions / drops / the little things.... very very inspiring. He is also quite a mix artist

So I guess my musical is somewhere between Trap, DJ Quick, RL Grimes and Too Short. As Too Short says "Dope Fiend Beats" I like it when I can nod my head on the track like a heroin addict lol. Memento / 2Good have a few of those on their tracks I checked out on spotify.

While I am newer to producing music, 6 months and mainly weekends, I think I am learning quickly and I now have a couple bangers I hope to surprise y'all with.

Awesome thread though, I guess I am just ... OLD :confused:

Wooooooow! This mix is awesome! :D It sounds like a mix of trap with Prodigy. :) Amazing. I've just listened to the whole song and I have to say that I mostly enjoyed the first 20 minutes of it. I think it contains the best joints. And indeed their transitions are great. I think I found the next inspiration to better myself. :p

And thanks for checking our album. ;)
 

YannFer

The Mr Bernard Who Laughs
Battle Points: 166
Ok I'll post my list of life changing artists here with one album each if some of you guys don't know some of them and want to dig. It's a chronological order of when they came into my life if my mind is not playing tricks on me.

IAM - l'école du micro d'argent
Classic french rap with solid beats. A very consistent album. I discovered rap with it.

Dire Straits - Dire Straits
From my parents. Been a die hard Knopfler fan ever since. This guy is the most elegant musician to me personally. He plays what needs to be played when needed. Nothing more. I should remember that.

Dr Dre - 2001
Yes. I know. You know. We all know.

The Last Shadow Puppets - The age of the understatement
There is something about these two guys that just work. And the strings arrangements on this album is pure genius.

Leonard Cohen - Thanks for the dance
Recently been blown away by this album. Best lyricist ever if you ask me.

... I wanted to find a recent one and I come up with Leonard Cohen. Seriously dudes.
 
Ok I'll post my list of life changing artists here with one album each if some of you guys don't know some of them and want to dig. It's a chronological order of when they came into my life if my mind is not playing tricks on me.

IAM - l'école du micro d'argent
Classic french rap with solid beats. A very consistent album. I discovered rap with it.

Dire Straits - Dire Straits
From my parents. Been a die hard Knopfler fan ever since. This guy is the most elegant musician to me personally. He plays what needs to be played when needed. Nothing more. I should remember that.

Dr Dre - 2001
Yes. I know. You know. We all know.

The Last Shadow Puppets - The age of the understatement
There is something about these two guys that just work. And the strings arrangements on this album is pure genius.

Leonard Cohen - Thanks for the dance
Recently been blown away by this album. Best lyricist ever if you ask me.

... I wanted to find a recent one and I come up with Leonard Cohen. Seriously dudes.

IAM is very good. I like their music a lot. :)
 
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