On a casual listen, tracks by Jay-Z, Tupac, or KRS-One might seem simple in construction – charismatic rhymes riding a driving, repeating drum groove. But if you’ve ever tried building hip hop beats on your own from the ground up, you probably already know that producing something propulsive, gutsy, fresh, and original is not such a simple science – so where do you begin? We brought in one of the genre’s founding experts to offer some advice.

Multi-platinum producer Johnny “Jui...