Endtroducing.....

DJ Shadow

1996

3.35

Rating

25045

Votes

16%

30%

28%

19%

Distribution

Genres: Hip Hop, Electronica Styles: Downtempo, Trip Hop, Instrumental, Cut Updj

Album Summary

Endtroducing..... is the debut studio album by American music producer DJ Shadow, released on September 16, 1996, by Mo' Wax. It is an instrumental hip hop work composed almost entirely of samples from vinyl records. DJ Shadow produced Endtroducing over two years, using an Akai MPC60 sampler and little other equipment. He edited and layered samples to create new tracks of varying moods and tempos. In the United Kingdom, where DJ Shadow had already established himself as a rising act, Endtroducing received praise from music journalists at the time of its release, and reached the top 20 of the UK Albums Chart. It was certified gold by the British Phonographic Industry. Mo' Wax issued four singles from the album, including the chart hits "Midnight in a Perfect World" and "Stem". It took considerably longer for Endtroducing to find success in the United States. After promoting the album and returning to his hometown of Davis, California, DJ Shadow devoted his time to creating new music. During this period, interest in Endtroducing began to build among the American music press, and it peaked at number 37 on the US Billboard Heatseekers Albums chart. Endtroducing was ranked highly on various lists of the best albums of 1996, and has been acclaimed by critics as one of the greatest albums of the 1990s. It is considered a landmark recording in instrumental hip hop, with DJ Shadow's sampling techniques and arrangements leaving a lasting influence. In 2020, Rolling Stone magazine ranked Endtroducing 329th on its list of the 500 greatest albums of all time.

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Sep 07 2021 Author

Questions of ownership. Whose property is that drum beat, this organ, that voice? Of authorship. If I use your art for my art, do I become its creator? If not, does that tune belong to the guitar maker or the composer? Of permanence. If placing that snippet next to this one, or looping it, or giving it a beat, changes its original meaning, does art ever have a final form? A man in a room filled with vinyl, exploring every groove in minute detail, sinking deeper into his musical fever dream, the answers always a fingertip away, if he'd just.....

Jun 03 2021 Author

A load of samples expertly put together to bore you to death on a Wednesday morning. 2/5

Apr 05 2022 Author

It's sort of the epitome of what this list is all about. I would argue that it's absolutely one of the albums everyone should listen to at least once before shuffling off to the great beyond. That isn't to say you'll like it. I'm not even sure if I liked it or would bother listening again. I do know there's no album like this, and was happy to hear it. Something like a hip hop DJ trying to update jazz.

Apr 29 2021 Author

Elevator music + noise

Jun 29 2021 Author

This is a beautiful album it needs to be felt, and feel it I do.

Feb 22 2021 Author

No idea about anything about this. Let's dive in. Best Foot Forward - Classic 90s rap intro. Not really music. Building Steam with a Grain of Salt - Lovely little piano line leads into a great hook. Quotes from a guy who MIGHT be JK Simmons? This track evolves into something that sounds a lot like Blockhead The Number Song - This reminds me of a Guitar Hero spinoff game called DJ Hero. Shadow has a great knack for mixing other people's melodies, drum beats, and samples. You could draw a direct line from DJ Shadow in the mid-90s to Girl Talk in the mid-2000s. Peppy with a lot of hard kicking drums. Changeling - A rainy, dreary, ethereal piece. Eventually a melody comes in that can only be described as Cyperpunk Weather Channel. What Does Your Soul Look Like (Part 4) - Jazzy AF with a nasty little bass riff. Untitled - I have to imagine that this is the stinger at the end of Side 1 on the LP (and the cassette). Just a goofy little 20 second thing. Stem/Long Stem - A long medley of melodies Mutual Slump - This one didn't make a huge impression on me Organ Donor - I think this hook was LITERALLY used by Blockhead! Why Hip Hop Sucks in '96 - Frankly, I don't think it does! Midnight in a Perfect World - This one also failed to make much of an impression on me. Napalm Brain/Scatter Brain - Chill vibes What Does Your Soul Look Like (Part 1 – Blue Sky Revisit) - Maybe the best track on the album? Overall this is excellent. You can hear the artists that influenced Shadow, as well as the artists he influenced. Excellent. Excellent. Excellent!

Feb 15 2021 Author

Still do not see what people see in this album. I can appreciate the samples, but not the resulting sound, I guess.

Dec 14 2023 Author

Some of the tracks are nice and chill, others are annoying af. Not my cup of tea.

Sep 30 2021 Author

Already knew it well. Classic. Bit depressing to be reminded it came out 25 years ago though!

Oct 22 2021 Author

Painful.

Nov 01 2021 Author

Absolute classic of hip-hop. I have so many nostalgic memories tied to this album. The sampling game here is just unparalleled.

Mar 19 2021 Author

What a waste of time! Not my music genre at all. Did not like a single track of that album

Jul 29 2022 Author

This album defined so much of my late teenage years, it was epic back then and it's still epic now. I give this 4 blazed years of PlayStation in your mates garage and a long walk home in the rain with your cans on.

Sep 13 2021 Author

Wow! Wasn't expecting to love this so much.

Dec 23 2022 Author

Feb 21 2021 Author

A classic. Great

Jan 26 2021 Author

I know it is only samples and not songs, but it was amazing :D

Jan 25 2021 Author

Great! Chill, and good to work to

Jul 30 2024 Author

Background music. Not much else to say about this one, it faded into the background and I could not identify any individual songs. Wasn't bad music but definitely not something that stood out to me. I know DJ Shadow is one of the original producers who brought this music to the forefront but it will never be more than working background music for me.

Oct 05 2021 Author

Boring. Sampling is just such an uninteresting act. I don’t care for it.

Jan 23 2022 Author

I got this album when I was 15 or so. I've loved it ever since. Moody, atmospheric, with beats that sounded like nothing else ever at the time. It introduced me to the concept of crate digging for which I am so grateful. Dig out the extended mix of Organ Donor if you can. The 90 seconds you get on here almost feels cruel - like here is the best song ever but you can only play for a moment. I forgive it, because Building Steam, The Number Song, Midnight and What Does Your Soul Look Like also deliver at that level, and I suppose he had to make it all fit on wax somehow (hint, drop Why Hip Hop Sucks in 96 - while it remains true in any year, the joke wastes 40 seconds!) Before Timbaland and Dilla, there was this, and damn it was good - a real shame his tracks are almost too distinct to be rhymed over (though RTJ do a great job).

Jan 18 2021 Author

Fantastic album, very awesome discovery

Jan 18 2021 Author

Conhecia já. Amo. Perfeito. Sampling at its best. Um dos meus álbuns preferidos, queria morar dentro dele. Músicas preferidas: Changeling, Stem/Long Stem, e principalmente Midnight in a Perfect World

Sep 17 2020 Author

Absolutely loved some of it. Some of it made me feel completely uneasy.

Mar 10 2024 Author

I'll tell you want I did like...the use of an organ on a song titled "organ donor"

Jul 04 2021 Author

Not my cup of tea.

Nov 30 2020 Author

Couldn't listen to it all.

Sep 15 2025 Author

An insane artistic achievement to have created something that sounds so organic purely from vinyl samples with basic gear. Blends rhythm and texture seamlessly to create a sound that’s constantly interesting.

Jan 07 2025 Author

Shadows masterpiece. Still such an amazing soundscape of trip hop and down tempo hip hop. Too good.

Dec 10 2021 Author

A hypnotizing cinematic sound and a masterpiece of reinvention by way of ingenious layering. Amazing dynamics along the way on this head-bobbing ride. I could stay inside this postmodern collage all night.

Dec 29 2020 Author

hello

Dec 21 2024 Author

Godamn. This album is pretty damn immaculate. Nothing that really blew me out of the water per se, but the mixing is incredible. I feel like I'm saying this every review but instrumental hip-hop is new to me. The samples of interviews are also a nice touch. Just great.

Mar 29 2021 Author

Really enjoying this album. Definitely one to come back to while riding my bike, chilling in the tub, or to have echoing through the house. Cool find!

Sep 11 2025 Author

I love DJ shadow, but perhaps controversially not this album so much. Some tracks are too long/meandering, but no one else was making beats like this at the time, at least in America, hence all the mid -90s hype for Entroducing. I continued to follow his career to this day, and he's also awesome live, where every track is manipulated/remixed uniquely for each show. Midnight in a Perfect World is my favorite on this album. Made with 2 turntables and a sampler, no computer, pretty impressive.

Apr 15 2021 Author

Didn't like the beginning but by the middle it was getting interesting

Mar 02 2021 Author

I love plunderphonics but its just drawn out too much

Mar 29 2024 Author

Definitely not for me.

Mar 09 2024 Author

Horrible

Feb 19 2021 Author

dont really like it

Mar 31 2026 Author

I was curious to see how this one would hold up. I got really into it as a young'un without that much prior knowledge or experience with instrumental hip hop and thought it was ace, but was wondering whether with hindsight I might realise that this was quite entry level. Luckily I found it if anything to be even better than first time around. I have a theory cooking that maybe it's because in an age of AI generating anything you want, when an artist has gone to the amount of care and craft with assembling music entirely from vinyl samples you can feel that attention really deeply. But then again this isn't a pitch meeting. FIVE STARS! BEATS GO BRRRR!

Jan 29 2026 Author

Sounding a bit dated now? Or maybe just overlistening back in the late 90s/early 00s as a stoner student. Going with 5 still for old times sake

Jan 27 2026 Author

10/10 fresh

Dec 03 2025 Author

The holy scripture of sample-based music. The album that walks out of the shadows wearing a hoodie and carrying 40 years of vinyl dust. Rating: 5/5 Short Review: A hypnotic, cinematic, fully-realized world built entirely out of other people’s sounds — yet somehow more original than 99% of music made with actual instruments. It’s moody, sprawling, echoey, surreal. Listening to it feels like wandering through an abandoned record store at midnight while your memories rearrange themselves. Favorite Track: Building Steam With a Grain of Salt — delicate, haunting, melancholy, and quietly explosive. It’s the whole album’s soul in one track.

Aug 04 2025 Author

This record is perfect, and Shadow has made some decent records since, but nothing comes close to this. I love that the second track has a sample of a guy talking about learning to play the drums, then the beat kicks in, and following a sample describing Cancer, DJ Shadow shows you how well HE can drum. This is one of the pinnacles of sampling/using other artists music as an art form. He does such a good job of creating his own world within this record, that you forget that he’s sampling anything. It all fits together flawlessly.

Dec 22 2024 Author

Amazing album, absolute top of the feeling/atmospheric records of all time. For a long time I was only listening to Midnight In the Perfect World, and the song is great for sure, but in comparison to the rest of the album it doesn't really stand out. Every track is like a short, slightly melancholic story that creates an overarching theme, and MITPW is just one of those stories. Easily one of the top records on this list, in my opinion, and probably one of my favourite trip hop album, maybe even better than Massive Attack. Absolutely great stuff.

Dec 11 2024 Author

Piękny eksperyment, piękny chaos. Z jednej strony słyszę, jak prostymi środkami ten album został stworzony, z drugiej strony to wciąż jest kawał świetnej muzyki stworzonej przez jednego człowieka gdzieś w garażu. Współczesna oda do muzyki, bez rozróżniania na gatunki. Mam wrażenie, że na tej płycie wykorzystał wszystko - klasykę, jazz, synthy, funk, drum machine, hip-hop, wywiady, wycinki z filmów, co tylko chcecie. I gość sprawia, że to się łączy w jedną, spójną całość. "Stem" to absolutna perełka dla mnie. Słuchając tego mam wrażenie, jakbym dosłownie słuchał esencji wczesnych lat 90-tych. Ta płyta jest przede wszystkim intrygująca, zachęca do odkrywania i poszukiwań, a jednocześnie pozwala się w niej totalnie pogubić i po prostu porwać zmiennemu nurtowi. Jakbym miał czas na kolejne hobby, to po przesłuchaniu tego albumu kupiłbym sampler. Wahałem się długo między 4 a 5, ale chyba w ramach uznania za samo to, ile pracy i pasji musiało zająć samo zbieranie tych dźwięków pójdę w pięć.

Oct 24 2024 Author

surprisingly great all the way through

Dec 14 2021 Author

Still love this album. The beats, the bass, the samples, the soul. Especially noticed the sample from Bjork's Possibly Maybe on Mutual Slump, which made me very happy.

Dec 02 2021 Author

I'm very happy this album popped up, as it is already one of my favorite albums of all-time. It may be popular/over-rated in music circles on the internet, but I don't care about that. It's such an interesting, beautiful album with immense atmosphere. It captivates me like no other record has before, and that's just with samples and drums. Definitely has high replay value and is very memorable.

Jul 16 2021 Author

One of my favorite albums ever. For me, this is where electronic music began.

Jan 13 2021 Author

Elemental

Mar 31 2026 Author

forgot to type while listening but i liked this. it was nice.

Mar 24 2026 Author

This album is so impressive when you consider that DJ Shadow composed each track with nothing but turntables and a sampler. His compositions are textured with samples from multiple genres and art forms, including film and interviews. The result is an album that’s completely unique, organic, and ambient with heavy vibes and artistry. This was a great listen and obviously hugely influential.

Dec 23 2024 Author

I should like Endtroducing more than I do. It ticks pretty much every single box that I look for in music. But there has always been something about it that I find a bit … cold. It’s good, but it has never engendered any affection in me. But everyone else seems to think it’s amazing. I can appreciate the dusty crate driven craftsmanship.

Dec 18 2024 Author

2/1001. Beautiful record, had already listened to it a few times before. Took a while to click (listens with proper headphones, for starters). Its highs are sensational (Steam, Stem, Midnight). Only knocks I can see is that otherwise its repetition can get a bit stale, and I value lyricism a lot so its absence limits the upside of becoming a phenomenal album to me. Either way this album sits firmly in 8/10 territory and I could see it ascending just by virtue of more exposure to its deeper cuts and associating it with other life events.

Oct 28 2024 Author

Definitely not beating the lo-fi chill weed vibe allegations here. This whole album just feels easy to unwind to or have on in the back during a quiet/lazy day of work. I can see where someone could find this monotonous but this whole thing just flows together so easily. if I had to pick a specific part that stood out to me as a favourite it would be Midnight in a Perfect World

Feb 12 2024 Author

When this came out I avoided it for lost ideological reasons that would’ve been fed by the era’s wash of tepid trip-hop. Big beats, soft beats, dead beats, sugar beats, ubiquitous in every other stoner’s college latte lounge, utterly vile. A couple of years on, Simon and I attended an UNKLE set for free, and had a lovely conversation, only mentioning the music when I asked if the gig had started and was told Lavelle sans Shadow had been playing for half an hour. Thank goodness we had seats and each other’s sparkling company, otherwise blood would’ve been glugged by the goblet. 26 years later, I like this! Thoughtful splashes of big drums Pollock’d with drama and intent, the best tracks reminiscent of Morricone and Carpenter soundtracks. I also belong to the same vintage cycle club as the The Herbaliser. What was the prime of your youth like?

Dec 25 2024 Author

I am a fan of hip-hop and respect the context of this record and DJ Shadow's meticulous sampling. Many of the songs just aren't clicking for me, especially Organ Donor. Overall, I'd give this a 3.5, just barely rounded down to a 3 on this scale.

Apr 15 2024 Author

I initially came across DJ Shadow on various compilations, especially cover CDs from British music monthlies like Mojo, and some remixes. And I read about this album long before I ever heard it. This is the ur-text for instrumental hip hop, re-inventing the album patchworked out of samples. Less frenetic than its forebears (Three Ft High and Rising, Paul's Boutique, Nation of Millions, etc), it showed that trawling through the crates could yield atmospheric and open soundtracks. It established the blueprint for Dilla and the Avalanches. Moody, cinematic, and with a distinct trip-hop vibe, the material, is ultimately, a bit forgettable. But a pretty chill vibe. I do love the cover. I've spent many an hour digging crates in stores just like that. It felt like I had been seen.

Apr 09 2024 Author

Shrug

Mar 30 2024 Author

more noise than music

Feb 12 2024 Author

Yet another I was puzzled by when it came out. It's built entirely from samples - great, but why? Dull as ditchwater, highlight is Organ Donor but when you're relying on Bach for a tune you're pretty low on ideas. Could be entirely AI-generated these days. Rubbish

Jan 31 2022 Author

Somewhat catchy during certain parts, but not super memorable as a whole. It is hard for me to judge a DJ's work as it is typically relies on the work of others through samples. In this instance, I noticed a bit of Metallica's 'Orion' on one of these tracks so I am sure that there is a ton here that was not originally created by DJ Shadow. While he did use this piece in a unique way, it is hard for me to tell how good this really is outside of my personal enjoyment of it (which was average). I understand that it takes real talent and patience to create mixes on the level he is doing here; however, I am overall not as impressed as I probably should be by this work. If it had more that stood out or more of a cohesive album structure, I would probably like this more, but it just ended up coming across as what I would consider mediocre DJ work (even though this is probably considered one of the best given its placement on this list). There is nothing here that would make me want to come back to it. 2/5.

Sep 28 2021 Author

Listened to this on a road trip, album pretty much finished, and I barely realised it was on. Not adding nor deducting points for working with Zack De La Rocha later down the track.

Nov 18 2025 Author

It was absolutely awful and I am not sure how this album could make any list.

Mar 11 2024 Author

DJ music. Pass.

May 14 2021 Author

Too experimental for my taste

Jan 21 2021 Author

I don't get this album, pretty sure that I listened to it before a couple of times but it doesn't inspire anything in me at all. Maybe it's an album of it's time but not for me.

Feb 02 2021 Author

Not a fan

Apr 07 2026 Author

I found my album <3

Apr 04 2026 Author

@wizkid - I love this game, you only missed mine by 1! Love the album for all the reasons you mentioned, also see everything I said for Moss Side Story applies here, he's just not sticking one movie genre. Spoiler: If you're liking this approach to worldbuilding soundscapes out of samples, Since I Left You by The Avalanches is coming up sometime in the next 3 years on this list, same idea, often with more humour, also brilliant.

Apr 04 2026 Author

Fun! First time hearing about DJ Shadow. Impressive to see some more original roots for DJing using vinyl samples. Apparently the early days of mixing music with vinyl was a pain to haul all the physical media around. Hauling milk crates full of records and all your gear to play at a dingy bar instead of just bringing in your laptop these days.

Apr 04 2026 Author

This was sick! What a gem. The album title, art, and sound all fit together perfectly, and I cant put my finger on why exactly, but it just does... and its extra cool that it does... Anyways, this is right up my alley and had me wondering... IF you guys were to guess what I would rate this album before knowing my score whether or not you would guess correctly... Which had me trying to guess what ratings this was gonna get from all of the regular raters! So... here are my guesses, I think I will get atleast 1 guess right... Kori - 5 Ksigz - 4 Brahm - 4 Here4thesnax - 3 Classically trained musician - 5 GnarlyOwl - 4 (Im not confident in this guess hahaha) Christian - Did not listen We will see how many ratings this does actually get from the group. Its not the most eye catching of albums, however the music itself begs to differ. 9/10

Mar 26 2026 Author

FAntastic, makes me wanna look up all the samples he used

Mar 27 2026 Author

The quintessential instrumental hip hop album from a master.

Mar 27 2026 Author

Really liked this one, very chill vibes n good to listen to

Mar 27 2026 Author

Just one of my favorite albums ever. The vibe this gives from the very beginning is incredible. The way it shuffles samples and voices is so ahead of its time and so so fun. My favorite off the album is Midnight in a Perfect World

Mar 24 2026 Author

Oui

Mar 21 2026 Author

The concept, along with the album cover, is really interesting, but I did not expect the music to sound so good! Some songs can get a little repetitive, but it's definitely a record to vibe to, more than anything.

Mar 20 2026 Author

Fantastisch. Noch nie was davon gehört. Kannte nichts davon, und ich hab hunderte Stunden lang Sample Mixes gehört.

Mar 20 2026 Author

yeahhhhh!!! fuuuuck it's so good

Mar 19 2026 Author

Holy shit this is fucking excellent. 9/10

Mar 17 2026 Author

I have liked this album since it came out, and it was one of the "awakening" albums for me with EDM. I still believe it stands up as a timeless album, as there really has not been much else that really does the same thing as "Endtroducing..." It has some trip-hop, a lot of the same feel that was going into other electronic acts at that time, which remains a unique period with Chemical Brothers, Crystal Method, Daft Punk, Fatboy Slim, Moby, Massive Attack, Prodigy, and so many others getting radio play, big budgets, and record sales that led to an influx of that music in a way that still feels special. But, anyway, I think "Endtroducing..." stands out even amongst those and still sounds brilliant to me.

Mar 17 2026 Author

Fuck it, its a 5. I've heard this album so many times, and everytime I absolutly love it. "Midnight in a Perfect world" maybe the best song ever???

Mar 14 2026 Author

This has aged really well to my ears. I think it is hugely influential. To be able to craft so many different samples into something coherent is quite an achievement.

Mar 14 2026 Author

One of those albums that knowing more about its creation just enhances the overall experience. Knowing that so many individual samples were pulled together in such a coherent way, drawing from so many influences but itself then influencing so much to follow just boggles my mind. It’s still an album I really enjoy and one that really benefits from listening to in an album format as, even though some tracks stand out here more than others (‘building steam with a grain of salt’, ‘midnight in a perfect world’) how it flows really does take you on a journey, both through the archives of tracks from bygone days, but also through the creative intent of DJ Shadow himself.

Mar 12 2026 Author

Really enjoyed that chilled music :)?)

Mar 10 2026 Author

Never knew I'd be so mesmerized by "background music"... some fantastic beats.

Mar 10 2026 Author

this album is SO GOOD. Makes me feel like the coolest person. Will listen to it in my autumn walks.

Mar 09 2026 Author

Only knew of DJ Shadow from his Run the Jewels collab before this. I love the arrangements on this album and can absolutely see myself becoming more of a trip hop guy after this.

Mar 08 2026 Author

Have listened to this album many times, and it gets better each one

Mar 07 2026 Author

goated study album

Mar 06 2026 Author

Amazing. The reason I'm doing this list.

Mar 04 2026 Author

I've only heard a couple tracks in my years, and I'm mad I haven't heard this before! Amazing stuff!

Mar 03 2026 Author

Really cool and the best one generated so far.

Mar 01 2026 Author

Beautiful production.

Feb 28 2026 Author

Came into this album expecting to love it, and I was still blown away. Easily the best album I've listened to so far in this project. Absurdly ahead of its time. Heavily reminds me of peak Aphex Twin with a hip-hop bent. I've already spun this 2-3 times since I first listened, and it'll be in my regular rotation for a while. Favorite Songs: "Building Steam with a Grain of Salt", "Changeling", "What Does Your Soul Look Like (Part 4)", "Stem / Long Stem (Medley)", "Transmission 2", "Organ Donor", "Why Hip Hop Sucks in '96", "Midnight in a Perfect World" Least Favorite Songs: N/A High 5.

Feb 27 2026 Author

A little dated, but excellent

Feb 23 2026 Author

Suena muuy bien

Feb 20 2026 Author

The biggest thing I’ve learned from this endeavor so far is that I dig trip hop something fierce!