Watch: Breaking Down the 8-Second Loop Sampled on Yung Lean's 'Ginseng Strip 2002'

The loop on 'Ginseng Strip 2002'

It all started with an eight-second loop for Yung Lean's "Ginseng Strip 2002." Producer Yung Gud slowed down "Loop 61" by Japanese beatmaker DÉ DÉ MOUSE. The loop was originally released by Los Angeles-based record label Dublab as part of their open-source project called INTO INFINITY.

For that project, the forward-thinking beat label invited 108 producers to contribute 8-second loops with any ambiance, tonality, or texture they desired. The outcome: a collection of 279 loops, open to use under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial copyright license.

Other contributions to INTO INFINITY include loops by Flying Lotus, Japanese experimental beatmaker Daisuke Tanabe, The Postal Service's Dntel, Nujabes collaborator Shing02, and Brainfeeder producers like Teebs, the late great Ras G, and Matthewdavid.

Asian music samples

DÉ DÉ MOUSE's "Loop 61" was built around the Heart of Asia sample library. The pack was released in 1995 by Spectrasonics, a developer of virtual instruments and sampled sound libraries. The collection consists of 1 gigabyte worth of phrases, instruments, and utterances from the Far East. According to their website, it's "the world's first comprehensive collection of Asian instruments and phrases, digitally recorded in the heart of Asia." The samples in Heart of Asia range from Indonesian percussion to Tamil vocals, and from Chinese cymbals to Indian sitar samples.

How was 'Ginseng Strip 2002' produced?

"'Ginseng Strip 2002' was just a sound check—he was just checking to see if the microphone was working," producer Yung Gud told The New Yorker in 2014 about their recording process. "The first idea is always the best one."

That spontaneous approach fits Yung Lean’s way of writing raps, which Vibe Magazine described as "a natural progression from the freely associative, often nonsensical rhymes of Lil' B with a keener sense of melody" to review his debut mixtape, Unknown Death 2002.

Yung Lean himself agrees with his fellow Sad Boys member Yung Gud in the joint interview: "You always want to return to the first idea. The first idea is always the best."

On which DAW was 'Ginseng Strip 2002' produced?

Considering "Ginseng Strip 2002" was released on August 16th, 2013, it’s safe to bet the song was produced with Ableton Live 9, according to an interview with Yung Gud:

"I started with GarageBand," Yung Gud told Red Bull Music Academy half a year after the song was released. "Or maybe I should say phones, like the Sony Ericsson. Back then they had this music maker application where you could put together loops. I started with that. Then I got a really expensive computer from my mom because she liked to spoil me. So I started really making shit in GarageBand. Then Fruity Loops – I've been through all of the software, every program there is, basically. (...) Now I use Ableton Live 9. It stuck with me, or I stuck with it. I'm updated as f*ck."