sorry i know this is a really newbie question. What makes breakbeats breakbeats. How can you tell if they are breakbeats and how do you mix breakbeats? Same technique as any other genre.

It's not a 4/4 beat. That's really it.

Considered searching at all?

Breakbeats are usually old-school drum "breaks" in songs where the drummer would just fly off the handle and pound out something funky...

They found popularity with "break"dancers back in the day... and with the invention of "breakbeat" heavy genres like jungle and some drum n bass, they started a whole new evolution.

Hardware such as the MPC and Software like Recycle gave these producers the ability to cut up breakbeats into individual pieces (like a drum and snare, or a combo) and re-order them, essentially turning them into NEW INSTRUMENTS.

So with this... a lot of producers created newer sub-genres of music (ie. the "Amen" break. look that one up)

I'm in a slight hurry... but hopefully that's good enough to get ya started!

goodluck!
-djdw