Rappers over the years have been seen as ignorant, braggadocios, and even in some cases untalented. While some of these claims may be true, I disagree with untalented, at least for most rappers. Rap has changed since the days of long gold chains and wearing all ADIDAS brand clothes and shoes. Although style is not the point here, I'm talking about the transcending of talent with every rapper you hear today. Each of them is different from the next, some may have a born singing voice, some may be fantastic writers, and so on. But if a rapper needs one thing to rap, its beats. The talent in the producing pool of rappers these days is more phenomenal than its ever been. Shall we discuss?
Now obviously the first rapper/producer that comes to mind is the one that started it all: Dr. Dre. Since his start with World Class Wreckin Cru, Dre has only moved his way up the hip hop corporate ladder. Not only producing for himself and NWA back in the day, he's produced not only music for, but started the careers of hip hop legends like Tupac and Eminem, as well as other mega stars 50 Cent, Kendrick Lamar, Snoop Dogg, and too many more to name. Not only being a producer for some of hip hop's biggest hits of all time, Dre has recently become known for selling his famous Beats headphone line for over a billion dollars, historically becoming hip hop's first billionaire (the importance of this event is monumental, but that discussion shall be saved for another day, by the way Dre, can we get Detox now?).
Nowadays its not rare to find another rapper that produces for not only themselves, but other rappers as well. Huge names in hip hop today such as Eminem, Mac Miller, J. Cole, Kanye West, Big K.R.I.T, Kid Cudi, B.o.B, and many more have dabbled in producing beats. Clearly to me Eminem has been taking production tips from Dr. Dre over the years, producing select songs from the first Marshall Mathers LP all the way down to his latest release Marshall Mathers LP 2. Em has even gone on to produce for Slaughterhouse on their major label debut album "Welcome To: Our House."
Mac Miller to me has absolutely been one of the most hard working men in the music business to date, not only rapping but producing as well. If you keep up with Mac you know he's constantly in the studio, having a huge year in 2013 not only releasing a mix tape of all his very own self produced instrumentals titled Run On Sentences Vol. 1 under the moniker Larry Fisherman, another self produced mix tape titled Delusional Thomas, his first live album Live From Space in December of 2013, but also his second studio album Watching Movies With The Sound Off. If you don't consider Mac to be one of the most consistent in the game, you might want to re-evaluate your list, or maybe even your life.
When people talk about Big K.R.I.T, they usually talk very heavily on his southern brand of bumping music heavily considered to be influenced by the likes of Bun B, UGK and all types of slow Houston type hip hop. But if you know anything about K.R.I.T, you know that he produces all of his music too, and he is very, VERY good at what he does. Not only did he produce his entire debut album Live From The Underground, meaning EVERY single song off of it, but he also produced almost every song off of his very successful 2013 mix tape King Remembered In Time. If you haven't listened to K.R.I.T yet, you're truly missing out, and that's coming from a fan that has only listened to him since the beginning of 2013, and is incredibly eager to hear what he has in store with his upcoming sophomore album Cadillactica, supposed to be hitting store shelves before the end of 2014.
Now J. Cole is a lesser known producer and more known for his rap, though it is hard to overlook his fantastic lyrical miracle efforts along with his blend of real, emotional, venting type of music. But Cole is a fantastic producer who doesn't really get the credit you'd think he deserves on his production. Not only has he produced such great songs for Kendrick Lamar such as "HiiPoWeR" and "The Jig Is Up," but he's also produced his entire Born Sinner album minus a couple songs, along with songs off of his debut album like "Work Out", "Can't Get Enough", "Nobody's Perfect" and many more from other rappers as well.
So you get the point, or you should by now. Rappers are more talented than you think! Producing is getting to be more and more of a hands on thing now for rappers, whether they be making their own beats or beats for other rappers. When you think about it, doesn't it make it much more simple to rap over a beat you know all the ins and outs to? In this sense, these guys probably deserve a lot more credit than they're all getting. All that work is being done so us the fans can love and appreciate true rap greatness the right way! Get back to me with your thoughts on Twitter (@SuperNovaRover) or Google+, y'all know the drill.
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