Maestro!

As music listeners, we focus on few things about it, that is, if you don't commit your life to it. See, me with music, matches the passion an archaeologist has for his/her job. To the average person who has interest in neither, you probably will never understand why some people are the way they are. I don't know why people would want to play in dirt all day, but that's the beauty of diversity and the fact every human being is as different as a falling snowflake. One thing archaeologists and I have in common is the fact we like to dig. They dig for bones and pots, I dig for records. What am I getting at, this is a top list of my favorite Hip-Hop producers, duh. These guys don't get enough credit.


The RZA- He's the most prolific producer known to man. He produced every Wu-Tang group album, nearly topped the score on the solo projects and has provided the score to American Gangster and Afro Samurai. He's a genius, he's the reason I call myself The MZA. He also produced his break off group, Da Gravediggaz. Albums he produced are all basically labeled as classics. He's known for his unique style of blending soul samples, extracting bass lines and utilizing audio clips of Kung-Fu flicks. ***Notable prodcutions*** (Albums)Only Built 4 Cuban Linx, Liquid Swords(except the track B.I.B.L.E), Ironman, and Tical***


Kanye West- I mention this dude every chance I get. To the average hater, he's untalented and annoying. Ok, I'll give you annoying,but untalented isn't right. He broke into the industry when he produced a track for Beanie Sigel and it's been history since. Mr.West went on to produce four tracks on Jay-Z's critically acclaimed album, The Blueprint. My favorite beat from West came off of Jay-Z's Blueprint 2, "Poppin' Tags". Me and my uncle used to bump that track everytime we were in his car. Of course he entirely produced all four of his albums, he's done tracks for Keyshia Cole, Alicia Keys, and a plethora of artists. His best productions come from Common's albums, Be and Finding Forever, it's just classic.


Timbaland- "Timbo KING!!!" You were probably conceived to the rhythm of Timbaland's crazy melodies, Ginuwine, I mean. He's known for sticking to artists for years at a time, Aaliyah, Missy Elliot, Bubba Sparxxx, Justin Timberlake and Jay-Z, most notably. Ludacris has a few Tim' beats, The Game, 50 Cent, you can recognize his style. (Chicka-chicka-bsssh) Ahem!....Yeah. Though I have caught Timbo slippin' every now and then, this is a call to action, unless you already know...There's a track on Bubba Sparxxx's album,Deliverance, that sounds exactly like Justin Timberlake's "Cry Me A River", I swear. There's another one, Justin Timberlake's "My Love", he gave Bobby Valentino the same beat, just sped up for, "Anonymous". Haha, my favorite beat from Tim has to be....Jay-Z's "Big Pimpin' ". Why? Did you know it's a sample, just reworked? It comes from an Indian artist Hossam Ramzy. That's a real producer for you.


DJ Toomp- He produces a lot for T.I., some of my favorite T.I.P. songs actually, "24's", "U Don't Know Me" and "What You Know?". He co-produced Kanye's "Can't Tell Me Nothing" and "Good Life" and he fully produced "Big Brother" off of the Graduation album. My favorite beat from Toomp, he gave it to Jay-Z, "Say Hello" from American Gangster, that is the wickedest beat Hov ever spat on....You know the rapid hats, the ill ass replayed sample and the premise, amazing song.


The Runners- Ok, there's two of 'em, fuck it! They broke out on the scene with Rick Ross' "Hustlin' ". They produced a lesser known track for Jim Jones "Reppin' Time". They've done multiple tracks for Lil' Wayne, Chris Brown, Keyshia Cole, Rick Ross, and they basically handle all the production on DJ Khaled's albums. Their signature is the "Aah!" before every beat,it sounds like a refreshing gasp after drinking something. I used to complain every beat they made sounded the same, but I grew into the sound. Ok, favorite beat....I'm stuck between Lil Wayne's "Money On My Mind" and Jim Jones "Reppin' Time", the got skills!


9th Wonder- His most buzzworthy productions come from his work with Little Brother and MURS. Wonder's expertise is doing collaboration albums with his artists. MURS, Buckshot, Jean Grae, and Skyzoo. Wonder is famous on the Internet for remxing Nas' God's Son album and Jay-z's Black Album. His most famous track is probably "Threats" off of Jay-Z's Black Album. 9th Wonder is famous for his use of the digital beat making program, Fruity Loops, now FL Studio. My favorite tune 9th produced would have to be Erykah Badu's "Honey". Sweet!


DJ Premier- This one is for the old school heads. Primo is simply the best in my opinion. Not every beat he's done is top notch, but his scratching skills cannot be fucked with. His expertise is scratching vocal samples to make them complete choruses. He was in the famous duo, Gang Starr with emcee, Guru. For some recent examples of his work, in 2007,he provided the scratched chorus for Common's "The Game". My favorite Primo beats have to be "Nas Is Like" and Common's "The Sixth Sense".


Jim Jonsin- "Hey,Jim". Yes, it's T.I.'s "Whatever You Like" man and before that, Weezy's "Lollipop" guy. This dude has some history, prior to the release of "Lollipop", I was led to believe Lil' Jon produced Trick Daddy's "Let's Go!". Surely enough, it was this guy. Before that, he broke out with Pitbull's "Damnit Man", which is known here in Cincinnati as Tocka's "Do Da Down Away". Jim also produced Mike Jones' "Cuddy Buddy", ugh. He also did Pretty Ricky's "Grind On Me" and "Your Body". More famously, he did Jamie Foxx's "Unpredictable". He's also done beats for Twista, Bow Wow, Trina, Michelle Williams, Beyonce and Soulja Boy's new one "Kiss Me Thru The Phone." I used to complain Jim's beats sounded, the same, but after realizing all the tracks he's been behind, he's got an ill ass sound. My favorite beat by Jim is either Dannity Kane's "Showstopper" or Birdman and Lil' Wayne's "Leather So Soft".


Rick Rubin- Damn, this dude is behind the switchboards of EVERY great rock band you know. His most recent work is Metallica's Death Magnetic album. His most famous works, Hip-Hop wise, are with The Beastie Boys. He worked with AC/DC, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Lil' Jon, Johnny Cash, The Smashing Pumpkins and the list goes on. My favorite Rubin beat by default is Jay-Z's "99 Problems". It was the most stand out production on The Black Album and I love the video. Thumbs up!


The Netpunes-"Yezzur!" Chad Hugo and Pharrell Williams, the illest boys to do it. Their story is amazing. After meeting in high school, they did a music project with each other, they made and sold the beat for Wreckx-N-Effect's "Rump Shaker" in 1992. From there they have produced for their artist, Kelis, The Clipse and others, Ol Dirty Bastard, Backstreet Boys, NaS, Nelly, N.O.R.E, Snoop Dogg, Jay-Z, and Gwen Steffani. Whether producing albums in bulk, Kelis, or producing singles, Jay-Z, they know how to make you feel the vibe EVERY TIME. They've done a good job with Common's Universal Mind Control album. My favorite Neptunes beats.....quite a few, Snoop's "Drop It Like It's Hot" and "Beautiful", Gwen Steffani's "Candyland", a lot of Kelis songs, the greater part of Usher's 8701 album, and Jay-Z's "Excuse Me Miss", "Excuse Me Miss Remix(La La La)" and "I Know". They got some hotter ones for other artists,but you'd have to enter my mind.

I'm bushed....Original Cin Mixtape is on its way!!!

The E-M-P'll Say P.E.A.C.E