The History Of The Amen break | Mixmag Originals

Watch our brief history of one of the most sampled breaks of all time. An essential part of Jungle's history.

[marcuswalters]

This story has the saddest damn ending ever.

The man who created the amen break died homeless and penniless. That's messed up.

[Leon-Noir]

The guy should be remembered as a true legend of music. Possibly one of the greatest influences in music ever. One sample changed the world. Just mindblowing.

[BugattiFan]

“More than 2000 times” my ass. It’s in the MILLIONS if you include little known and not on label/ amateur producers’ songs. I have five songs just on my channel I produced that feature the amen heavily.And there has to be at least 10, 000 jungle songs that have it. You really can’t underestimate this break’s importance in the development of drum’n’bass.

[adamedmundson]

Man I bet when he laid that beat down he had absolutely no idea that it would reverberate through the rest of time, moving so many rooms of people over the years. Iconic.

[krasky]

The amen break is the „Wilhelm scream“ of music.

[mzkiki]

Broke my heart he died penniless. That talent that skill pioneered so many underground sounds that made millions for them😥 why was this never brought to light years before he died.

Legends
❤

[Breakbeats.]

I was a hip hop/jazz/r&b guy growing up, and oddly enough, I moved in with my cousin somewhere in the 2000's. The only thing he listened to, from the time he woke up, until he went to sleep was drum and bass and jungle. It wasn't really my style but over time I noticed that the bpm's of the beats I made started to increase lol!

[darthcheeseburger]

The amen break is the true GOAT of drum breaks. I can listen to oldschool jungle for hours and hours and still somehow never get bored of hearing it. It's fucking perfect.

[snsecrruptr]

Learning such an influential person in music died homeless... it's shaking my world

[ADreamingTraveler]

There's even examples of the amen break in video games like bomberman hero in 1998. it has a very dnb influenced soundtrack while working with the limitations of the console it was made for. that was probably the first time i ever heard the amen break sampled lol

[wc]

Unfortunately, this is the story of America, so many contributions, unknown, unrecognized and uncompensated. At least, he and his band are being acknowledged now, so much and many never do.

[davidaroberts]

I've had the pleasure of working with Rodney Mills who recorded the original Amen Break by the Winstons. He's actually worked with bands who sampled it without even knowing he was the one who recorded the original.

[jaseboon]

Hip Hop, DnB, Jungle all born of this beat LEGENDARY!!!

[dacoup]

Let me tell you as a huge DNB fanatic that drum break has been sampled a shit ton more than just 2000 times, i just copped some new tunes from Hoax and Makoto that had it blaring none stop, every time i hear the amen break a smile comes on my face and my head gets bobbing, i can't stop the beat from moving my feet ... its just a banger of a break and it never gets old, 172 is the sweet spot imo. All hail the amen break!!

[AsydTrip]

This video just changed my life. I didn’t know this until now. Yet I’m someone who’s listened to and been a huge fan of this break my whole entire life (I’m 33)

[Male_Parent]

It's been sampled not enough times.

By that I mean it's been sampled a metric crap ton but it never gets old. Love me some D&B, Breakcore, and Jungle. It's the same thing as the lick, never gets old.

[karabinjr]

"the birth of sampling was born"

[FeralKimchi]

Very interesting but also terribly sad that the drummer didn't receive more compensation for his contributions to music.

[ablackgoliath]

Well fck me, I didn't know that here in 2019. Been killing that riff for YEARS! Sad how a brother got ripped though. Big up mix mag for this one.

[famousfriend]

"the birth of sampling was born", damn