What hiphop do you listen to? is it the same as "rap" the Fat Boys stetsasonics, post run dmc- beastie boys- LLCoolJ or R+B Eddy F , Devante Swing, Jodeci, HeavyD, Father MC (more MIDI) or SD40 Brand Nubian, LONS, YBT. East Coast that came from Chung King, Platinum Island, Calliope, INS or Michael's place on Strong Island (Public Enemy)
There was a search through all the recorded material that one could find on vinyl. Horns, strings, beats, fills, snares kicks etc... then there were scratches bumps skips slides etc... Pioneers in frontiers, there are all kinds of filters panscans expanders eq, you name whatever was there was used.
The most original stuff (Brand Nubian) almost never had any "drum thickening" and was derived straight from vinyl samples, any kiks or snares were sampled directly from a "naked beat" and breaks were taken from some famous R+B, SOul or funk tune or some early disco house party favorite. Things that seemed like "mistakes" to engine ears were left as character for the artists.
Cypress Hill did their tracking, vocals and mixing in NYC (Muggs is from Philly), Tracking from an SP1200 with the timing touched up during the printing. All from vinyl, even kiks and snares and beats
You need to find what works for you and not try to copy that era
That stuff had its time, now is a different time