As the parent of many subgenres such as big-beat, breaks, drum 'n' bass, trip-hop, and even house, the breakbeat movement can be traced back to the funk days of James Brown. The term breaks refers to a small section of a drum pattern sampled from a preexisting source. Artists such as Afrika Bambaataa and the Soul Sonic Force created entirely new songs using samples of percussive snares, vocal leads, and drum loops. Breakbeat innovators DJ Kool Herc and Grandmaster Flash spun the "breakdowns" by alternating small portions of the same record on two turntables, spawning the art of turntablism and MCing. The breakbeat movement gained popularity in the U.K. via seminal tracks such as 2 Bad Mice's "Bombscare" and "Papua New Guinea" by Future Sound of London. In the late '90s, electronic artists Prodigy, the Chemical Brothers, and Fatboy Slim (a.k.a. Norman Cook), became reliant on the "break," rearranging loops and mixing them with electronic equipment for a funky, squelchy techno sound, which helped develop other breakbeat styles such as big beat and nu-skool breaks.

Notable Artists: Grandmaster Flash, Future Sound of London, Prodigy