Finding the right music to go with your flow is essential to leaving lasting impression as an artist. A debate I recently had with some producer partners of mine started with my belief that the artists who made the biggest impacts in hip hop, used only one or very few producers. My feeling is that the music created with these unions, defined them as artists and sometimes defined an entire era.
When the producer is like a part of the group, somehow a unique sound is created that can’t be duplicated without that original unit. This sometimes creates musical movements. Some legendary examples of this have been:
Public Enemy, N.W.A, Mobb Deep, A Tribe Called Quest, Wu Tang, The Death Row Movement, The Cash Money Movement, Eric B and Rakim, Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth, Gangstar…etc
These are just a few of great artist(s), producer combos that were monumental in hip hop music. The albums produced by these groups had a linear feel from the 1st track to the last. They flowed together in the same way a book would. Now you have projects where there can literally be a different producer on every track. It’s like that same book having a different writer for each chapter.
As the industry started to rely more on having a huge hit single, they believed that they could increase they’re chances by hiring these producers to separately create music for album projects. This was not only very costly for the project but it didn’t give the artists a sound of their own. That’s not to say that there haven’t been some great projects made by the right collection of producers (see Illmatic, and the Blueprint). Concept albums are still the way to go. I think that this is what makes Kanye very successful. The tracks are connected. You should never pass up on a hot beat, but remember, if you do decide to get music from a variety of different sources, that you make sure to make yourself the thread that connects them together.
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