This video contains an expose by Nate Harrisson about the “Amen Break”. I did not know about the “Amen Break” as a concept and this video is an eyeopener. A good piece of music history and theory that, when you are only remotely interested in the history of modern music, you should listen to.

Nate Wilson uses the history of the Amen Break to make an elloquentargument about “innovation” in arts and culture being stiffled by tostrict copyright rules.

Well worth 18 minutes of your time. One remark: this YouTube content is radio, not video.

For those who do not know what the Amen Break is here follows the first paragraph of the Wikipedia lemma:

(usually pronounced //ɑ:’mmɛn/) was a drum-solo performed by Gregory Sylvester “G.C.” Coleman. The “Amen Break”, “Amen” or imitations thereof, are frequently used as sampled drum loops in hip hop, jungle and drum and bassmusic. It is 5.20 seconds long and consists of 4 bars of the drum-solosampled from the song “Amen, Brother” as performed by the 1960s funk and soul outfit The Winstons. The song is an up-tempo instrumental rendition of an older gospel music classic. The Winstons’ version was released as a B-side of the 45 RPM 7-inch vinyl single “Color Him Father” in 1969 on Metromedia (MMS-117), and is currently available on several compilations and on a 12-inch vinyl re-release together with other songs by The Winstons.