“Buying Old Records is a Habit”: Digging in the Crates as Archival Practice

• In Event: Digging in the Crates: Sampling as Archival Practice and Pedagogical Method

Abstract

This article examines crate digging, the search for obscure vinyl records, as a cultural, archival, and pedagogical practice within Hip Hop production. Grounded in the lived experiences of the author as both a scholar and beatmaker, it reframes the Hip Hop producer as an archivist who listens with intention, curates with care, and samples as a form of historical storytelling. Drawing on concepts from archival theory, autoethnography, and performance studies, the article explores how crate digging operates at the intersection of memory, identity, and innovation. Through embodied, interpretive listening, producers preserve overlooked sonic histories while recontextualizing them into new creative works. This practice challenges institutional definitions of archives, highlighting vernacular archives rooted in community, affect, and oral tradition. The producer’s ear emerges as a methodological tool and is relational, analytical, and intuitive, reshaping sound into meaning. Crate digging is thus positioned as a dynamic research method with pedagogical implications, offering new ways to teach, learn, and understand culture through sound.

Author

• Jason D. Rawls, The Ohio State University