A funny thing happened when I went car shopping this past fall — I discovered that some newer cars are being made without CD decks.
I’m a millennial who lives in the past and still collects CDs. I’m a child of the 90s, damn it, and I intend to stay that way. So naturally, this revelation was horrifying to me. Fortunately, I was able to buy an affordable 2014 Chevy Cruze that allowed me to insert my physical copies of Illmatic and Trap Muzik while I navigate the winding, life-threatening roads of Western Pennsylvania. But the cold, harsh truth for people like me is that physical copies of albums are being phased out. As a fan, this is saddening. As a Hip Hop writer, this makes it harder to do my job. Let me elaborate.
Along with the cool photos, thank you’s and shout-out’s that come with the album booklets, there also are songwriting and production credits for each song. Unfortunately, this practice of providing credits hasn’t transitioned well into the digital age. You’d be hard-pressed to find production and songwriting credits for many new albums that are released digitally. And here’s why it matters. For HipHopDX’s reviewing purposes, we consider it essential to critique the production in each and every review. How the music intertwines, enhances, or undermines the lyrics can make or break a record. What would Chance the Rapper’s inspiring lyricism on Coloring Book be without the soulful, gospel-tinged production to back it up? But simply calling production exemplary or poor isn’t sufficient.
If You Were Reading This..: Where would the Hip Hop world be if this was never a thing?
Just as we critique rappers for their bars, we have to grade producers for their beats. It’s also beneficial to know all the various producers on an album. Was this a one-man show, or were there various cooks in the kitchen whipping up a batch of auditory goodness? Knowing that will help explain the album’s cohesion — or lack there of it. These are just a few reasons why we need to have the producers’ names in our reviews. The point is, the reviews are better for it.
Last year, Young M.A didn’t have to go far past her NYC concrete jungle background for her breakout hit, “Ooouuu,” as she recruited U-Dub of NY Bangers to blast her into superstardom. The blistering record went on to be named HipHopDX’s 2016 Beat of the Year and when asked whether or not relatively new producers have an uphill battle for recognition, U-Dub was rather calculative with his response.
“For producers, it’s more than just getting credit for the beat (which should be a given), it’s also how we market ourselves and put food on the table,” he tells DX via email. “That’s why now more than ever, in the age of Youtube and digital sales, it’s up to us as producers to make sure we take the necessary steps to get credited for our work.”
The fans also suffer for lack of production credits. Say you’re in love with a beat. You can’t get it out of your head, and you really want to know who manned the boards behind it to check out more of their production. You go to look online, and the credits are nowhere to be found. Where we as Hip Hop journalists with connections can sometimes reach out and get the credits (those this isn’t always the case), you lose out because the artists and companies behind them didn’t take the time to post the credits onto a website. Combing through the streaming sites isn’t any more efficient, as they tend to list all producers, composers and songwriters underneath the credits section and call it a day.
They Don’t Make ‘Em Like They Used To: Literally, they don’t. Word to Rhymesayers, Jake One and Freeway.
It goes without saying that the producers and songwriters are cheated. They worked on this music, but the public doesn’t necessarily know about it. Sure, if there’s a production tag at the beginning of the song (Metro Boomin want some more?), or if it’s a major producer and the sound is distinct, we may know who made that beat. But often, the beatsmith who made the music and songwriters who collaborated with the rappers will get cheated out of proper recognition. Especially when the producer is still making a name for themselves.
And that’s not to mention mixers and everyone else who plays a role in bringing the album out. They deserve their due.
We’re in the digital age, and there are many great things about that. Music is more accessible than ever. But artwork and liner notes — including cool thank you’s to Lil So and So’s mama and especially the production and songwriting credits — shouldn’t get lost in the shuffle. A travesty U-Dub looks to prevent each time he sells a beat.
“For me that means, adding an intro ‘tag’ or ‘signature,’ requiring written credit in my contracts, and hopefully, having a unique and identifiable sound,” he admitted. “Ideally, the artist and producer should be able to complement each other in such a way that they make the best record possible while leaving the producer’s credit clearly visible.”
Young M.A “OOOUUU” (Prod. By U-Dub of NY Bangers) (Official Video)
The tireless and appreciated efforts of WhoSampled.com notwithstanding, it’s time to bring liner notes and artwork into the digital age. Making music is a team effort, critiquing it is an important practice, and listening to it is an enjoyable and meaningful part of life.
If we don’t know who created the music, everybody loses.
U-Dub and the rest of the NY Bangers’ production can easily be negotiated and sold via their website, www.newyorkbangers.com.
Dope article. Thanks for not making me feel lonely. Ive always wAnted to know who created the. Soundtracks to my life. Dont forget about us real music aficionados. In this click bait era
Just Blazeeeeeee
Nice article. When I bought albums, the first thing I would look at is who the producers were for each track. There’s alot of good producers but you know If they had a juicy j or DJ Paul beat, that song was gonna be badass!
If I made the beat, I would let you know 5 secs into the song.
Bro, go to Genius.com. Nothing but love for producers
Wow this was a great article I agree while heartily when I was younger buying cds uncut was the first thing I did was check the booklet for production purposes shout outs and thank yous
Thought I fell in love with J-Dilla on De Las “thru ya city” then by reading more liner notes realized I had been digging Mr. Yancey forever.
I’ve thought this for a long time. Great article, well written, truly thoughtful.
“Love Is Good and Trouble Man” Millennial Speaking. Ha. Got me through high school tho
Nobody cares about credits anymore, yall “SAY” that drake is the best (he is not) and we know he made songs about stuff he supposedly does in his home town with his roadies and he didn’t write that stuff!!! The internet age don’t care about credits they just want product fast!!! It doesn’t matter anymore!!!
Digital Age sucks. I dont understand how you can listen to a lo-fi format like MP3. Audiophiles have been saying this for years, MP3 needs to die. That’s why I always get my songs in FLAC format, super high quality. Each songs is about 40-60 mb. Even Bandcamp site will let you download files in Flac, inlucding mp3. MP3 and mp3 players sound like ass. CD’s will always be better. Even when it comes to studio Analog is still better than Digital. To this day producers use Analog mixers to mix new-age music. The Vinyl is way more Hi-Fi than anything out right now, technology wise.
Indeed most. Dont know the vinyl. Is the most. Accurate reproduction. Of the wave. When its made to MPC it turns to zeroes and one in turn you lose. Audi quality unless you have a resampling right above 88.2
Dope article, physically cds and artwork is apart of the album experience, especially albums like MBDTF of Graduation by Kanye. Even Life after death by biggie that bulky double disc…there’s just something special about it. When I used to produce as a kid I used to get samples from looking into the credits of the album booklet cause I didn’t actually grow up on marvin gaye or diana ross I was too young so even just something like that got me started! But hey if this is the new way of delivering music without creative things like cool art work and cd booklets…these new artists will just stay broke cause they ain’t getting my hard earned dollar
I’m not familiar with Aaron McKrell’s writings yet but I feel bad for him. He actually wrote a good Hiphop piece on a piece of shit Hiphop site. I’m surprised your boss Trent Clark even allowed this to be published. He only likes to talk about fashion, how much better than Future is than real emcees, an some how Nicki Minaj is beating Remy in their battle. Hopefully you can move up and away from this site Aaron because it is not good for the culture. Thank you for actually posting something hiphop related for a change. My only problem with it is, you talked about DX’s reviews and how you take into consideration the production, but this site really doesn’t. Once again trap albums with the same beat over and over are being rated as high as Q-Tip and Roots production. I don’t buy it?????
Yup! Shout out to Aaron McKrell. Dope article. I too still buy CDs. I remember opening up the case and popping in the CDs into my discman while going through the booklet, anticipating if a RZA beat for example was going to sound on Capital Punishment. But I’m glad there are still artists that make the CD purchasing experience exciting ((Czarface, Wu-Massacre etc).
I agree. We need all involved to be credited. Great article.
Tags can ruin the whole vibe / feel of a song tho sometimes
Legit MP3’s (and the like) have digitally embedded information that displays during a track’s playback on most players/computers/etc. In the digital age, there is way more access to the amount information of a song that there has ever been, but only if the artist/label/music site takes the time to embed it all on the MP3, FLAC, or broadcast WAV files. I admit it’s tedious, but I have tried to employ this when I put songs out directly to the public for download. You can even put in lyrics, as well as full songwriting and production credits, websites, additional musicians, genres, and so on. Otherwise, it’s no different than it has ever been when listening on the radio. The only time I find my music with no tags is when someone ripped it from my Soundcloud or Youtube via some pirate ripper. Nothing you can do about it at that point other than hope at least your artist’s name was included in the rip title.
I like CDs better then digital any day.. though I do like to make MP3 disc I play I on a cd in my car.
I do like having a place to plug in my iPod.
Wow. So CD’s aren’t digital? What the fuck planet did I grow up on?
Are you actual retarded person, because if so I won’t go in on you. Digital consist of MP3 formats and such, while CDs tend to be called physical copies. I think you might actually be special needs so I’ll leave you alone
See now you. Done fucked up. Cd’s as well as mp3s are. Digital. Copies of analog or digital music. You actually. Managed to mangle boiling and egg