Are Producers Becoming The New Superstars?
Since the beginning of Hip Hop the beat has always been an essential part of a song. There wasn't much attention given as to who produced the songs. It wasn't that important. It was always the MC and the DJ commanding your attention.
Today I personally check for what producer is producing an album or track. I am a beat fundi and I give every new track for the most a 15 second listen before I decide if I am gonna listen to it further or not.
But I'm not at a point where I'm not gonna give new producers a listen because I'm all for giving new talent a chance.
As of late producers have become the focus point in Hip-hop. With producers having a signature "blurb" in the beginning of all tracks that they produce. In the early days of Hip-hop a lot of producers were doing "ghost" producing, ie. Large Professor did tracks for Eric B & Rakim. But he was not credited for it.
Today big name producers will get in other younger talented guys to produce for them and then pass it off as there own or just get added in the credits as a co- or additional producer.
One should also not get confused between a producer and a beatmaker. Today we have more beatmakers than producers.
A beatmaker will sit with his laptop and knock out tracks and send them to his or her respective clients and they will then take it further. Whereas a producer will take full control of the song from creating the bare track right through to sequencing and vocal arrangement.
With the breakneck speed that technology is moving at nowadays it has produced a host of beatmakers and producers. So competition is really stiff with everybody looking for that mew sound and producers/beatmakers imitating existing sounds.
Music producers like Timbaland and Swizz Beats have stepped up from behind the boards to the forefront and claimed the spotlight also for themselves.
So are today's music producers the new super stars?
Remember it's all about the beat!