Dan the Automator Explains the 2 Most Important Breakbeats in Rap History

Even as vinyl has exploded as a collector's item, very few people own original copies of what legendary rap producer Dan the Automator dubs the "two most important breaks in hip hop history." In this week's episode of Crate Diggers, he explains the significance of both: "Impeach the President" by the Honey Drippers and "Synthetic Substitution" by Melvin Bliss.

"These two records are the most important breaks in hip hop history. Probably more records have been made off these two records [than any other]," he says, holding a side-by-side framed copy of each record. "The thing about it is, everyone probably gets it off the Ultimate Beats and Breaks or something like that, but very few people have both of these records. I've seen a few [versions of "Impeach"] around, and I don't know if I've ever seen "Synthetic Substitution" around, but I know of a couple people who have it. But it's just a combo—it doesn't say 'hip hop history', it says 'beat guy history.'"