Free hip hop beats are everywhere on the Internet, though the quality certainly leaves something to be desired. I certainly wouldn't suggest trying to make a large commercial album using free beats, but for the beginning rapper it's an ideal way to start for little cost. Over time, and as you skills develop, you can reinvest some money towards getting original instrumentals for your album. Still, there are a few places where you can score free hip hop beats that have a degree of quality.
The first place to check out is Jamendo. This is a website that allows you to search for music by genre, country and most importantly, the license for the work. There are two main distinctions when it comes to using other people's tracks. For example, they could allow people to use their songs, but not commercially, while others allow commercial use so long as you don't modify the music.
For our purposes I recommend you search for tracks that can be modified and used commercially. The easiest way to do this is to use the Creative Commons search engine (which comes included with Firefox browser). Navigate to Jamendo using the CC search engine and make sure to click the boxes that say ""use for commercial purposes" and "modify,adapt, or build upon." You can search for free hip hop beats, or narrow it down by genre. For example, if you are looking for a rock sound to add to an existing track, you can search the rock section. All in all, Jamendo is really a one stop shop for hip hop instrumentals and loops.
Another solid place is through large hip hop forums. Most of them have a section where you can contact producers directly and ask for some beats. This is usually more time consuming than using the search engine, but if you are a regular forum poster with some credibility, these producers are more likely to offer some rap beats for you to work with.
There are a wide variety of free hip hop beats available, and using Jamendo and online forums you can get a hold of enough to keep you spitting lyrics for years to come. Remember, that when you get something for free, you don't have a partner to work with. You're not paying for their service, which usually means that any changes, no matter how small, will have to come from your end.
