Favourite Producers

[THEV1LL4N]

Have we done a favourite producers thread?

 

[Rukas]

What genre? This is such a tough one to answer though.

 

[THEV1LL4N]

Anything. But I suppose Hip-Hop will be a common genre.

 

[masta247]

I think I don't have "favorites" anymore like I used to. I love Johnny J's work on 2pac's albums, I love so many Dr Dre and RZA beats, plenty of DJ Premier ones. I wouldn't be able to tell who's my favorite though. I don't think there's a single one that I can honestly say is hands down the best. We've had some really great beats from several excellent producers over the years. From the recent ones, I really like Apollo Brown.

 

[THEV1LL4N]

Mona Lisa was really good.

Has anyone ever heard of Terrace Martin? He's really good. I think I've mentioned him a few times over the years.

Also, I really like The Alchemist.

 

[masta247]

^ Albums like Mona Lisa make me comfortable in believing that good hip-hop is not going anywhere. I really like it and it was surely one of my favorites of 2018, if not my favorite album of the year. I personally think it was Joell Ortiz' all-time best performance, and Apollo Brown's production is on point as always as well.

I mean, I'm just really happy that we got such tracks in 2018:

 

[THEV1LL4N]

I'm proud to say I've been listening to Joell since 2007! 11/12 years!!

 

[masta247]

I'm proud to say I've been listening to Apollo Brown since his very first Mixtape dropped, also since 2007. Just a few tracks in and I was a fan straight away, and I was rooting for the guy to make it big. While I love all the old-school artists, it's really when someone new that's so great appears when I'm the most excited. I think his greatest work is actually yet to come. He's really talented as a producer.

 

[THEV1LL4N]

Yeah, he did some stuff with Ghostface Killah (The Brown Tape). Have you heard that?

 

[masta247]

Yeah, I think I've listened to all of his albums. My favorite one is probably the Gas Mask though. Maybe because it was his first fully produced album for an actual rapper (he only did instrumental albums/mixtapes prior to that), and it blew my mind back then. You could tell he wanted to prove himself as a hip-hop producer and go big with his first album like that. Even on tracks with legends like Kool G Rap, I feel like they couldn't do the beats their proper justice!

I think Joell was the first one to truly do his beats justice, and man was his performance amazing (with the O.C. and Skyzoo albums produced by Apollo Brown feeling more like practice). I actually wished Apollo's beats were less tuned down on the Joell Ortiz album. I know it's Joell's style, but I think they could do even more amazing things together than Mona Lisa.

 

[Jon]

Came into this thread to say my new favorite is Apollo Brown. His work with Masta Ace is next level and really liking the Mona Lisa album with Ortiz.

 

[Jon]

 

[Rukas]

I think we need to pay a lot of respect to Mike Dean. Not only is he responsible for some of the best tracks in recent times, but he worked with The Outlawz, and used to post on here and do Yahoo chats with us. His wife would even sing happy birthday to members lol.