Producer BIO – 9th Wonder

Patrick Douthit (born January 15, 1975 in Winston-Salem, North Carolina),^[1] better known as 9th Wonder is a hip hop producer from Raleigh, North Carolina, U.S.. He began his career as the main producer for the hip hop group Little Brother, and has also worked with Nas, Mary J. Blige, Jean Grae, Wale, Jay-Z, MURS, Buckshot, and Destiny’s Child. As part of Little Brother he gained widespread recognition and critical acclaim for his production on their debut release, The Listening. He has since left Little Brother^[2]. 9th Wonder stated that as long as both Phonte and Big Pooh welcomed a reunion somewhere down the line, he would be completely open to the idea.^[3]

As an up-and-coming producer, he released a remix album of Nas‘ 2002 album God’s Son entitled God’s Stepson. This album began what is now a regular trend of remixing whole albums. 9th Wonder has a smooth and soulful production style that relies on samples from artists such as Al Green and Curtis Mayfield.^[4] He attributes the bass lines that he uses in production to DJ Premier, Pete Rock and J Dilla, while he claims to have learned “moans” from RZA.^[4]

Via, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/9th_Wonder

Producer BIO – Timbaland

Timothy Zachery Mosley (born March 10, 1965),^[1] better known by his stage name Timbaland, is an American Grammy Award-winning record producer, singer and rapper. Timbaland has produced albums and singles for a number of artists from the mid-1990s to the present day.^[1].

Timbaland’s first full credit production work was in 1996 on Ginuwine…the Bachelor for R&B singer Ginuwine. After further successful work on Aaliyah‘s 1996 album One in a Million and Missy Elliott‘s 1997 album Supa Dupa Fly, Timbaland became a prominent producer for R&B and hip-hop artists. Initially he released several of albums with his partner fellow rapper Magoo. He is according to britishhitsongwriters.com the 22nd most successful songwriter in the history of the U.K. charts based on the number of weeks his compositions have spent on the chart.^[2]

Timothy Zachary Mosley was born March 10, 1965 and raised in Virginia Beach, Virginia, where he graduated from Salem High School. Originally a disc jockey known as “DJ Timmy Tim”^[3] or “DJ Tiny Tim”,^[4]. Mosley began making hip hop backing tracks on a Casio keyboard. While in high school, Mosley began a long term collaboration with rapper Melvin Barcliff, who performed under the name of Magoo. The teenaged Mosley also joined the production ensemble S.B.I. – “Surrounded By Idiots” – which also featured Neptunes producer Pharrell ^[4].

Singer/rapper Missy Elliott heard his material and began working with him ^[5]. She and her R&B group Sista auditioned for DeVante Swing, a producer and member of the successful R&B act Jodeci. DeVante signed Sista to his Swing Mob record label and Elliott brought Mosley and Barcliff along with her to New York, where Swing Mob was based. It was DeVante who renamed the young producer Timbaland, after Timberland construction boots, which were popular in hip hop fashion ^[6].

Sista, Timbaland, and Magoo became part of DeVante’s stable of Swing Mob signees known as “Da Bassment” crew, joining artists such as R&B singer Ginuwine, male vocal group Playa (Smoke E. Digglera, Static Major and Digital Black), and the girl group Sugah ^[4]. Timbaland did production work on a number of projects with DeVante, including the 1995 Jodeci LP The Show, The After-Party, The Hotel, and Sista’s debut LP 4 All the Sistas Around the World (which was never released).

Elliott began receiving recognition as a songwriter for artists such as R&B girl group 702 and MC Lyte. Due to Timbaland’s connection with her, he was often contacted to produce remixes of her songs ^[7].

In November 2007, Timbaland and his then-fiancee Monique Idlett had their first child, a daughter named Reign.^[8] Monique was also a publicist working at Timbaland’s Mosley Music Group record company. The two later married in Aruba.

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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timbaland

Meet Justin Smith AKA JUST BLAZE

Production career

Smith began producing for well known musicians in the late 1990s. This production would earn him a spot on Jay-Z‘s The Dynasty: Roc La Familia. His production on this album, along with the work of Kanye West earned them both jobs as in-house producers at Roc-A-Fella Records. His production work earned him the name Just Blaze, which would become his production name. Smith then went on to produce for many of the acts signed to the Roc-A-Fella roster. In 2002, Just Blaze became a household name for the production of Cam’ron‘s summer smash “Oh Boy.” Smith went on to produce for Snoop Dogg, Shawnna, Usher, Mariah Carey, Kanye West, Talib Kweli, Busta Rhymes, Jadakiss, Memphis Bleek, Cam’ron, Saigon, Young Gunz, Grafh, Beanie Sigel, The Game, DMX, T.I., Fat Joe, Juelz Santana, Rhymefest, Ghostface Killah, Jin, Fabolous, Freeway (rapper), Joe Budden, MF DOOM, Kool G Rap, Mos Def, Jay Electronica, Rah Digga, Teriyaki Boyz, Edison Chen, and big UK MC’s JME, Skepta and Klashnekoff. He also produced an urban remix of the Janet Jackson single ‘Just A Little While’ entitled ‘Love Me.’

He also recorded several tracks for the popular video games Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2004 and NBA Street Vol. 2 and is a playable character in the game as well. A large part of Smith’s technique consists of altering the speed of samples, as well as adding in his own drum beat. In this way, he draws some of his influence from Wu-Tang Clan producer RZA, who has utilized sped-up soul samples in several of the group’s beats. Smith has used this technique with songs like “December 4th” from Jay-Z‘s The Black Album (which uses a sped-up sample of “That’s How Long” by The Chi-Lites) and “Touch the Sky” from Kanye West‘s Late Registration (which uses a slowed-down sample of Curtis Mayfield‘s “Move On Up.”) However, he doesn’t always do this; on “Public Service Announcement (Interlude)” from The Black Album and Foxy Brown‘s “Foxy Lady”, for instance, the speed of the sample used is left unchanged. He has a knack for using horn stabs in his music and that is what gives him his signature sound. His work also often features the trademark phrase “No more handclaps” and a distinctive pronunciation of his name, with the ‘a’ in ‘Blaze’ lengthened and rising.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Just_Blaze

Kasseem Dean AKA SWIZZ BEATZ

Swizz Beatz is a painting collector and a painter himself on his own free time. He donates the money he earns from his paintings to the Children’s Cancer & Blood Foundation.

Career With his aunt Chivon Dean, and uncles Dee, and Waah Dean involved with the Ruff Ryders label, he began to produce tracks at the age of 16. He sold his first beat at 17 which became DMX’s hit single “Ruff Ryders Anthem”. He started working with Ruff Ryders, Roc-A-Fella Records, Elektra Records, Epic Records, Def Jam Recordings, and Bad Boy Entertainment and his career blew up from there. But it wasn’t until his first solo album, 2002’s Presents G.H.E.T.T.O. Stories, that he started to get notices for his production style and interesting ideas. He released two singles “Guilty” and “Bigger Business” and both had music videos.[6] Swizz Beatz has his own record label called Full Surface which was helped developed by Cassidy and is currently working on albums by Cassidy, Jay-Z, 2 Much, 50 Cent, Drag-On, Papoose, Busta Rhymes, Ruff Ryders, Whitney Houston, Eve, T.I., Lil Wayne, Bow Wow, Bone Thugs-N-Harmony, Lil Jon and Ludacris.[7] He is also set to be recording the new album for his close friend DMX which is confirmed to be titled Walk with Me Now and You’ll Fly with Me Later. He then produced fellow Bronx rapper Remy Ma’s single Whuteva. It was also confirmed he will be working with Jennifer Lopez for the first time on her new album.[8] In February 2007 the producer mixed the music for design duo Heatherette’s Fall 2007 New York Fashion Week runway show.[citation needed] Swizz Beatz released his first proper solo album titled One Man Band Man on August 21, 2007, selling 45,000 records in its first week of release including songs such as “It’s Me Bitches”, and “Money in the Bank”. On October 19, 2007, as an extension to his first solo project, Swizz Beatz launched a contest called “Music Video 2.0” and “The Source Magazine Presents Share the Studio.” The contest and allows unsigned/indie music artists the opportunity to compete on the Music Video 2.0 website for the chance to open for Swizz Beatz at a NYC event. Swizz Beatz also did an interview with MTV about his next album stating he just leaked a record called “Hard Knocks” with Drag-On. It’s the first offering from Beatz’s upcoming follow-up to One Man Band Man.[9] “ Everybody is expecting ‘It’s Me Bitches’ or ‘Money in the Bank’, I just want to use my opportunity to get a little more serious in the artist department, as a performer and lyricist. Not giving a f— about radio and all that. I just want to give hip-hop something that’s not on the radio. A lot of the songs I got can blend in on the radio, but ‘School of Hard Knocks’ don’t blend in with nothing on the radio. I’m already in full mode. What they want me to do? Let’s get it. I’m busting shots early — bang, bang! The title is between Life After the Party and Remember Hip-Hop,” he continued. “I’m in between them. I don’t even have a date on my joint. I’m just feeling out the scene. ” He later announced that his second album would be entitled Life After the Party.[10] April 24, 2009 Swizz Beatz did a promo song for Hennessy Black, entitled “When I Step In The Club”. A Video was made and was directed Hype Williams.[11]

Via Wikipedia