Welcome to THIS edition of GOOD QUESTION, brought to you by THISENT.com! I’m your columnist M.J. Walker.
We’re longtime fans of Red Alert Studios’ award-winning producer/recording artist Sam Rhansum, and with this series we wanted to honor him and his incredible career in the music industry.
During our recent conversation I asked Rhansum THIS GOOD QUESTION: Who are your TOP 5 favorite music producers?
His first answer was, “Dr. Dre.
This dude was an 808-electro guy in the beginning. His World Class Wrekin Cru was pure electro disco, man.
“Supersonic” by JJ Fad and Eazy E’s “Boyz-n-the-Hood” was 808 banger gold. Then he began to find his own West Coast wall of sound. Full, fat, big drums, and hard-hitting sound. Just listen to “Dope Man” off the NWA EP – one of the best uses of Ohio Players “Funky Worm”, and “Straight Outta Compton”. That shit was sounding big compared to anything coming out other than Public Enemy.
Then the funk samples started coming and Dre was killing it. “Gangsta Gangsta”, “Express Yourself” and D.O.C.’s “Funky Enough”. Man… These are Dre head-noddin’ classics.
When he started working with Michel’le people were trippin hearing him work with a singer. But dude is diverse and he was just getting started. And all this is still before The Chronic, Snoops Doggystyle, and skyrocketing with Eminem.
But what really blew my mind was “Let Me Blow Ya Mind” by Eve and Gwen Stefani. Dre and Scott Storch made a club anthem. Just hearing the intro of that joint could pack a dance floor, and Dre being a part of it after most people only knowing him from NWA was eye opening to most producers.
Then he drops “Family Affair” with Mary J. Blige? Man, dude is a mad genius. And all of this was still BEFORE 50’s “In Da Club”! Damn!
Everybody wanted to sound like Dre but so many did not understand Dre. He would program beats and use samples, but he would hire musicians to come and play over them. There is this tightness to his beats, even when the groove is straight, but a looseness, humanness, in his instrumentation.
Quantization is a wonderful thing, but it can get lifeless. Hip Hop was and still can get sonically monotonous without an understanding of how we feel music and not just hear it. Dre understands that.” |THIS.
[By M.J. Walker]
“My five favorite producers is a tough one. I dig every style of music out there and try to find something that moves me in every song I hear. But I do gravitate to those that evolve and create stuff that influences their entire genre. Like, it made such an impact sonically with their style and pallet that what they created became the sound of music for a while. When I get impressed by these types, I study them. I go back and follow their evolution. And I can talk about them like I was there. As much as Hip Hop and music in general is who I am, not just what I do, I’m still just a student and a fan.” – Sam Rhansum
