Let this debate begin. I'm old school, so my list will reflect that. No particular order:

Dr. Dre

Rza

DJ Premier

Rick Rubin

Kanye

Larry Smith

Rick Rubin

JDilla

DJ Premier

Dr. Dre

-

-

-

But Larry Smith will always be my personal all time favorite. His music changed my life and opened up a whole new world to me.

May he rest in peace.

ReddBlitz said:

Marley Marl Howie Tee Pete Rock Kurtis Mantronik Salaam Remi **Bonus: Eric Sermon

Mantronik....I still love his beats and all the work he did for Sleeping Bag Records.

I didn´t put him in my top 5 because his heyday in Hip Hop was a bit shortlived but yes, he is definitely a great producer. I wonder what he is up to these days.

Really good question. FOR NOW, I'd go with:

Prince Paul
DJ Premier
Rick Rubin
Dr. Dre
J Dilla

ReddBlitz said:

Marley Marl

Howie Tee

Pete Rock

Kurtis Mantronik

Mark 45 King **Bonus: Salaam Remi [Edited 3/6/18 15:32pm]

Sermon would be on my list of UNDERRATED hip-hop producers of all time. He produced some real bangers, especially for Redman.

Marl and Tee were innovators, and Mark 45 King doesn't get his due.

Pete Rock nearly made my 5.

Hank Shocklee
Gary G Wiz

Dr. Dre

Larry Smith
DJ Quik


And if i could include a 6th, I'd probably go with Arthur Baker(in part because of legacy). I like the way those first few Soul Sonic Force records sounded.

Also, there's a lot more producers that I'd like to have included, but...

Anyway, thanks for the thread. I don't listen to a lot of Hip Hop/Rap anymore, but this thread got me thinking just how important Rap music used to be in my life, and just how good some of those Hip Hop records/producers were(are).

Marley Marl
Dre

Rick Rubin

Pete Rock

and surprise... BombSquad

BombSquad said:

Marley Marl
Dre

Rick Rubin

Pete Rock

and surprise... BombSquad

Yes sir Bombsquad. The Bombsquad is the bomb.

The Bombsquad is exactly who i was getting at when i listed Hank Shocklee and Gary G Wiz. I was trying my best to stick to the script, so i thought maybe it would be cheating if i listed a group of producers that worked together, in place of individual ones...

Regardless, people should know that a lot of Prince fams are rebels... Rules don't apply to us. And, we do what we do, lol.

So, here's my partially updated list.

Dr. Dre

Larry Smith
DJ Quik
The Bombsquad

Pete Rock

Preemo

Dilla

Q-Tip

Hmmmm, I'd say Large Professor to cap off my top 5.

Honorable mentions to Prince Paul, Dr. Dre and Erick Sermon. And OMG how could I forget the RZA? Thats so lame of me.

[Edited 3/7/18 7:29am]

ShaggyDog said:

RZA Dr Dre DJ Shadow (for Endtroducing and The Private Press) The Bomb Squad Kanye Shout out to Timbaland as well. [Edited 3/6/18 23:13pm] [Edited 3/6/18 23:14pm]

Glad you mentioned Shadow as I'm a huge fan as well. Endtroducing is motherfucking life-changing. But honestly, is he really a hip-hop producer in the most traditional sense? Sure hes done some production work for others before, but he mainly does his own thing and I dunno if I'd personally lump him in with the Pete's and Preemo's of the game. Does that make sense to anyone else but me?

JoeyC said:

kygermo said:

ShaggyDog said:

kygermo said:

Glad you mentioned Shadow as I'm a huge fan as well. Endtroducing is motherfucking life-changing. But honestly, is he really a hip-hop producer in the most traditional sense? Sure hes done some production work for others before, but he mainly does his own thing and I dunno if I'd personally lump him in with the Pete's and Preemo's of the game. Does that make sense to anyone else but me?

I'd definitely call Shadow a Hip Hop producer on the albums mentioned above. Endtroducing was made entirely on an MPC by sampling and looping other records, that's classic hip hop production right there, and if I recall correctly there's a little bit of scratching in there s well, it's really just instrumental hip hop. The later stuff he did I never got into, The Outsider was massively disappointing, but Endtroducing is a stone cold classic, timeless.

Let me rephrase: Sure, hes a classic producer in that sense, and of course Endtroducing is what it is and what its made from. But...I think what I'm getting at is the other producers mentioned are sort of "Hip-Hop for hire" where MCs seek out Pete's services or Preemo's services to produce a beat for the MC. Like in other words, those guys made their bread producing for other people (not counting "Petestrumentals" 1 and 2). Shadow; on the other hand, didnt go that route and released instrumental stuff that didnt need an a rapper over his stuff. It stood on its own. He just...he didnt make a name for himself at first by producing for other people, whereas a lot of these guys did. I dont know, its driving me nuts trying to express what I'm thinking lol. Did you like The Private Press? I thought it was sooo dope in spots. It wasnt gonna top what came before it, nothing will. But man, it was cool as hell. I agree about Outsider. That was jaw-droppingly bad. The Less you know had some cool moments too, and i'd recommend it if you havent spun it yet. Did you dig Preemptive Strike and his Unkle stuff?

.

Also, might I recommend this (If you're not already familiar with it?): https://djshadow.com/disc...-ephemera/

.

Its essentially the demos for Endtroducing, but its a totally fascinating listen to hear the work in progress before it became the album we know and pretty much worship. Dude put SO MUCH work into it and it clearly shows.

[Edited 3/7/18 8:53am]

Ali Shaheed Muhammad

DJ Premier

Pete Rock

Scott LaRock

Easy Mo Bee

ShaggyDog said:

JoeyC said:

Yes sir Bombsquad. The Bombsquad is the bomb.

The Bombsquad is exactly who i was getting at when i listed Hank Shocklee and G Wiz

When I was a kid one of the first PE songs I heard was Welcome To The Terrordome, it sounded like an assault on the eardrums, that thing was heavy, as heavy as any metal music with guitars.

The Bomb Squad was truly revolutionary.

IMHO, not only is Nation of Millions one of the greatest albums in modern history,. "Rebel Without A Pause" is the most revolutionary song of the last 30 years.

Years before Nirvana dropped "Smells Like Teen Spirit," PE introduced controlled chaos to the music scene, and set the tone that artists from all genres, including Prince, would follow for years to come.

StrangeButTrue said:

Easy Mo Bee

Maybe not in my all-time Top 5 but definitely in my all-time underrated Top 5.

thetimefan said:

Of all time? Difficult to narrow it down to 5 The Bombsquad DJ Quik DJ Premier Rick Rubin J Dilla For a more unsung list Daz Dillinger Battlecat 9th Wonder Just Blaze Madlib

Honorable mention for production? Sir Jinx.

In starting this thread, I resisted the temptation to list "honorable mentions" but several have come up in lists and some other observations:

*

-Marley Marl: tough toss up between him and Rick Rubin but I ended up going Rubin as his body of work, especially in terms of whole albums, was stronger to me.

*

-Bomb Squad: wanted to put them on there but, in terms of body of work, I could only 2 Public Enemy and 1 Ice Cube album.

*

-Prince Paul: could in a Top 5 or honorable mention list on any day.

*

-Neptunes: same as Prince Paul

*

-Large Professor: not in my Top 5 or honorable mentions but glad to see him get some love here.

*

-JDilla: sorry, but that's a weakness in my hip hop armor- I completely missed the boat on him and Slum Village in the '90s and never got too deep into his body of work.

*

I was glad to see love given to Just Blaze and Erick Sermon but I'm surprised that no one's put Organized Noize or Teddy Riley on their lists.

Missy Elliott

M.I.A.

Jean Grae

Lady Leshurr

Timbaland

kygermo said:

ShaggyDog said:

kygermo said: I'd definitely call Shadow a Hip Hop producer on the albums mentioned above. Endtroducing was made entirely on an MPC by sampling and looping other records, that's classic hip hop production right there, and if I recall correctly there's a little bit of scratching in there s well, it's really just instrumental hip hop. The later stuff he did I never got into, The Outsider was massively disappointing, but Endtroducing is a stone cold classic, timeless.

Let me rephrase: Sure, hes a classic producer in that sense, and of course Endtroducing is what it is and what its made from. But...I think what I'm getting at is the other producers mentioned are sort of "Hip-Hop for hire" where MCs seek out Pete's services or Preemo's services to produce a beat for the MC. Like in other words, those guys made their bread producing for other people (not counting "Petestrumentals" 1 and 2). Shadow; on the other hand, didnt go that route and released instrumental stuff that didnt need an a rapper over his stuff. It stood on its own. He just...he didnt make a name for himself at first by producing for other people, whereas a lot of these guys did. I dont know, its driving me nuts trying to express what I'm thinking lol. Did you like The Private Press? I thought it was sooo dope in spots. It wasnt gonna top what came before it, nothing will. But man, it was cool as hell. I agree about Outsider. That was jaw-droppingly bad. The Less you know had some cool moments too, and i'd recommend it if you havent spun it yet. Did you dig Preemptive Strike and his Unkle stuff?

.

Also, might I recommend this (If you're not already familiar with it?): https://djshadow.com/disc...-ephemera/

.

Its essentially the demos for Endtroducing, but its a totally fascinating listen to hear the work in progress before it became the album we know and pretty much worship. Dude put SO MUCH work into it and it clearly shows.

[Edited 3/7/18 8:53am]

Sure I'm with you now with regards to the beatmaker for hire aspect, which Shadow doesn't really come in to. I like Psyence Fiction though it's a bit patchy (and Be There with Ian Brown really should have been on the album from the start), I think it's a record that maybe could have done with a little more rapping on it in places. The other albums that came out under the Unkle name after Shadow split from the project really aren't very good at all, I found them quite boring and dreary, they remind me of the some of the Massive Attack misfires that came out when it was just 3D and Neil Davidge in the band, all moody textures and no substance. As for the Private Press I think he got a nice sound on that album, a little psychedelic, some really good tracks and some just ok ones.

By the way seeing as you are a big fan of Endtroducing I take it you like Dummy by Portishead as well?

ReddBlitz said:

Marley Marl Howie Tee Pete Rock Kurtis Mantronik Mark 45 King **Bonus: Salaam Remi [Edited 3/6/18 15:32pm]

The stuff that Salaam Remi did with Nas on Stillmatic and God's Son was just fire. That gives me an idea, what's your top 5 (ok forget 5, let's make it 10) classic producer and MC combinations? For Me it's:

Nas over Preemo

Rakim over Eric B

Gza over RZA

Kool G Rap over Marley Marl

Rae & Ghost over RZA

Snoop over DRE

Missy over Timbo

Talib Kweli over Hi-Tek

Nas over Salaam Remi

De La Soul over Prince Paul

I think that DJ Quik is the geatest producer.

Khayree also deserves a mention.

Here is my Top 5 Hip Hop Producers of All-Time

1. Pharrell/The Neptunes

2. Marley Marl

3. Dr Dre

4. DJ Premier

5. Prince Paul

ShaggyDog said: