What is breakbeat?

Breaks, short for breakbeat, is the wider family that drum & bass grew out of. Instead of house’s steady four-on-the-floor, breaks are built on sampled drum breaks from old funk, jazz, and R&B records, looped and chopped into something new. The tempo range is broad, anywhere from around 110 to 175 BPM.

It’s an older idea than dnb and a broader one. Nu skool breaks pushed it in a harder, more electronic direction around the turn of the 2000s. Proper folds breaks into the mix alongside the faster stuff, part of the full range the crew has always played.