Consider the clattering, found-sound effects of DJ Premier's best mid- '90s beats, or the raw, drum machine-oriented backdrops of '80s rap, designed to shock the system. For example: How do you rank the disco instrumentals of early hip-hop with the layered samples and filtered bass lines of golden-era New York rap? How do you rank Too $hort's trunk-rattling bass against Swizz Beatz's erratic Triton keyboard swipes? There are unlimited measuring sticks by which production can be compared. One of the biggest challenges in writing a list of the best beats of all time? The genre's soundscape is so wide-ranging and incredibly diverse that it creates some difficult calculation issues to work through.

They're at the beginning and the end of the creative process that goes into each of these songs. They dictate the time-signature, the tempo, the tone of the lyrics. It's the cornerstone of every song, the foundation lyrics are built upon. It's arguably the most important element of hip-hop. The reason 'beats' comes first? Production.

Beats, Rhymes and Life: The name of the famous A Tribe Called Quest album.

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