Beats to the Rhyme

Author Al Patterson started collecting vinyl in elementary school. He's since amassed a serious collection and deep knowledge of instrumental-only hip hop records. Some are 'performance' records that were pressed in very small numbers for use exclusively by the MC or group's DJ during live shows, while others were commercially released. These instrumental records, whether from the obscure depths of the underground or well-known hip hop acts, are cataloged alphabetically by artists and accompanied by a photograph of the record's label. Each entry specifies the artist, title, format, producer, label, year, and catalog number as well as notes and anecdotes about the disc.