At the time, a cappellas also helped refine a producer’s approach. This was before you could shake a tree and find 50 rappers falling to the ground with bars on deck. “When I first started producing seriously, a cappellas were essential. Rappers were usually so unreliable, it was the only way to hear people rap over your beats,” says J-Zone, the longtime producer/rapper/drummer.

The file trading boom of the late ’90s/early ’00s unlocked access to a cappellas previously only held by vinyl collectors, DJs and serious producers. “When everyone was finally online 24/7 via DSL/cable modems around 2002, there were numerous message boards and online communities that began to share them,” says Dart Adams. One of the savviest moves Jay-Z ever made (and rarely talks about) was the release of The Black Album a cappellas in 2003. What followed was an onslaught of early internet remix projects. The number of remix albums built around Jay’s vocals went into the triple digits. It launched the career of Danger Mouse into the stratosphere, solidified the standing of a young 9th Wonder and rekindled interest in longtime underground producers Kev Brown, Kno of Cunninglinguists and K-Def.

That moment marked a tipping point for rap a cappellas. So did the (first) death of wax. “By 2004, it was super rare to see one on vinyl,” says Dart Adams. Most rap singles eschewed a cappella tracks altogether by the mid-’00s. “It really came down to adding non-album bonus material or more alternate versions of the main song, and the artists who were still pressing vinyl in the early ’00s usually chose the former,” explains J-Zone.

The other driving force behind the demise of the a cappella was the hunger for more instrumentals, a growing market boosted by the thousands of aspiring rappers empowered by early social media outlets like MySpace, Soundclick, and IMeem.com. “Instrumentals became far more sought out by MySpace rappers and bedroom MCs than a cappellas, making them all the more scarce,” says Dart Adams. From a DJ’s point of view, House Shoes says, “I would much rather buy a record with two or three tracks with instrumentals included than to buy a 12" with only one song [and a cappella].”