From Gear to Eternity

Attention all hip-hop gear nerds. Have you ever wondered about the environment Premier makes his disgusting beats in? Or what Madlib's bong looks like? Behind the Beat (Gingko Press) takes a photographic journey through hip-hop's finest labs, allowing access to the home studios of DJ Shadow, Cut Chemist, Da Beatminerz and Jay Dee. Some cats like E-Swift have thousands of dollars invested in bells and whistles, while Young Einstein uses his mother's attic, 1200s and the essential MPC, unsurprisingly the most frequent gadget here. Little treats like Kutmasta Kurt's bathroom vocal booth and Farma G's desire to use Chips comics as wallpaper make Behind the Beat hip-hop's Architectural Digest.