Beats are a bit more subjective that emcees but just as pivotal to the Hip Hop experience. Lupe’s comments notwithstanding, we live in the kind of world where production probably matters more than ever before. That said, there’s always been a celebratory atmosphere around the producer, and they deserve their own canon. Billboard gave it a shot, but, here, we provide some alternatives to the beats provided by the producers they’ve chosen.
Want our own list of the best producers to do it? Sound off in the comment section with your picks and suggestions.
Bangladesh
Beat Chosen: “A Milli”
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DX Alternative: “What’s Your Fantasy”
“A Milli” served as Lil Wayne’s hookless vehicle for anyone doubting his lyrical abilities. Makes sense why 2008 featured several hundred veterans and up-and-coming emcees attempting to spit over Bangladesh’s sample-based production featuring simple drums. However, Ludacris’ “What’s Your Fantasy” really put the Grammy-winning producer on the map and serves as his true calling card.
Timbaland
Beat Chosen: “Nigga What, Nigga Who?”
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DX Alternative: “Big Pimpin” Featuring UGK
Timbo’s catalog is so crazy that anyone of his hyper-futuristic joints could have sufficed. For us, though, the one that caused all the stir is the winner. “Big Pimpin” introduced Jigga to an audience he’d yet to previously reached, and Timb dragged Hov into the stratosphere with this loop of the Egyptian composer Abdel Halif Hasem’s “Khora Khora.”
The Neptunes
Beat Chosen: “Drop It Like It’s Hot”
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DX Alternative: “SuperThug”
“Drop It Like It’s Hot” was a genius beat, but “SuperThug” stands as not only the best N.O.R.E song ever but maybe the Neptune’s best beat ever. It had it all acting in unison to transform the emcee into a club staple with a sound you’d never really heard before. And after this magical offering in 1998, The Neptunes would immediately become household names and it would result in Noreaga’s highest charting single at the time.
Deric “D-Dot” Angelettie
Beat Chosen: “All About The Benjamins”
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DX Alternative: “It’s On”
For some reason, while at good old Camp Vacamas the summer of my 7th-grade year, we did a presentation of “All About The Benjamins” for the camp ( I was Sheek). The song was a phenomenon, and everywhere you went that year it trailed behind you as it blared out of car windows and through door grates. “D-Dot” didn’t really hit that sort of brilliance again, but the closest is Beanie Sigel’s Jigga featured classic “It’s On.” While it was a soul sampled sound bed of Carrie Lucas’s “Questions,” and didn’t feature the firepower of Lil Kim or a deceased Biggie Smalls, it was still a stirring duo track from two emcees who would soon become bitter enemies.
RZA
Beat Chosen: “C.R.E.A.M.”
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DX Alternative: “Shimmy Shimmy Ya”
Obviously “C.R.E.A.M” is a classic record off of a classic album, but I’d argue that “Shimmy Shimmy Ya” is the better beat. Those lilting pianos layered under what can only be described as a boom-bap that borders on sounding like a tropical storm, it provided the perfect space for ODB to be the alt-Hip Hop pioneer from the future.
Havoc
Beat Chosen: “Shook Ones Part II”
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DX Alternative: “Survival Of The Fittest”
As sinister as “Shook Ones Part II” was, the arguably darker beat is “Survival Of The Fittest.” An interpolation of “Shook Ones Part II,” the addition of The Barry Harris Trio with Al Cohn’s “Skylark” takes the ambiance down into the fourth ring of Hell.
Dr. Dre
Beat Chosen: “Nuthin’ but a ‘G’ Thang”
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DX Alternative: “California Love”
Dr. Dre’s “Nuthin’ but a “G” Thang” was one of many breakout moments for the newly developed G-Funk production that made the West Coast Hip Hop a commercial force. But the moment’s last true hurrah and the largest mainstream moment came through Tupac’s Death Row reinvention “California Love.” While “Nuthin’ but a “G” Thang” was a smooth, warm Los Angeles Sunday evening ride on Crenshaw, Dre created an anthem suited for ‘Pac to stick his chest out.
Pete Rock
Beat Chosen: “They Reminisce Over You (T.R.O.Y.)”
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DX Alternative: “The World Is Yours”
“They Reminisce Over You (T.R.O.Y.)” was a sentimental tribute to former Heavy D & The Boyz member Troy Dixon. Helps that Pete Rock’s production was the perfect bed for CL Smooth to lay it all out. Then again, does the instrumental hold up against “The World Is Yours?” Not by a long shot.
DJ Premier
Beat Chosen: “NY State Of Mind”
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DX Alternative: “Mass Appeal”
Is “NY State Of Mind” better than DJ Premier’s entire catalogue with Guru? The question for the ages gets complicated when bringing “Mass Appeal” into the equation. Maybe the overwhelming reputation Illmatic enjoys shrouds this Gang Starr offering, but there are several Gang Starr beats that seemingly dwarf “NY State Of Mind” and “Mass Appeal” is clearly one of them.
Ed Fletcher, Clifton “Jiggs” Chase and Sylvia Robinson
Beat Chosen: “The Message”
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DX Alternative: “Rapper’s Delight”
Though “The Message” would eventually become a go-to sample in Hip Hop’s future, many consider the record an influential one more so as being the first “conscious rap” song than for the actual production itself. If anything, “Rapper’s Delight” set more of a production trend with its clever usage of Chic’s “Good Times.” And it served as a transitional moment from 70s Disco to Hip Hop’s future. Some could consider “Rapper’s Delight” rap’s first real pop-culture moment.
Andre Grant is an NYC native turned L.A. transplant that has contributed to a few different properties on the web and is now the Features Editor for HipHopDX. He’s also trying to live it to the limit and love it a lot. Follow him on Twitter @drejones.
Ural Garrett is a Los Angeles-based journalist and HipHopDX’s Senior Features Writer. When not covering music, video games, films and the community at large, he’s in the kitchen baking like Anita. Follow him on Twitter @Uralg.
