The Executive Producer needs to return to Hip Hop
- Thread starter Asicz
- Start date
Metal Face
Superstar
no examples?
Piff Perkins
Veteran
Nas - Life is Good (No ID)
Common - Be (Kanye West)
Kanye West - Late Registration (Jon Brion)
Kendrick Lamar - GKMC (Dr Dre)
Those four came to mind first since each one is an example of a producer crafting the entire feel and sound of an album. Not by making every beat but by challenging the artist, providing advice, adding instruments, etc.
Exec producers are pretty common in other genres like rock where Rick Rubin has had huge impact on multiple artists for instance. The artist ultimately makes the music but the exec producer is there from the beginning to take tracks from sketches to demos to finished product.
DaveyDave
Superstar
Exec producers and A&Rs. Artists get too caught up in their own shyt sometimes. They throw away or don’t like amazing beats/songs (Havoc about to delete Shook Ones 2 is one example) or they do the opposite and allow stuff onto an album that just isn’t up to scratch or doesn’t really fit the overall theme/sound.
Agreed!!
Puffy, Dre, Timabland and Kanye are a few producers that come to mind that have put out very cohesive tieless albums because they oversee the project.
BTW this is very different from a beat maker.. We are talking about someone giving input about album flow, structure, song selection changing verse etc...
Formerly known as...
Collector
Agree with this.
Exec producers are valuable to a solid project. Albums are made differently these days, projects aren't flowing like they should.
Exec producers are valuable to a solid project. Albums are made differently these days, projects aren't flowing like they should.
TheDarceKnight
Veteran
Good examples. And it's definitely no coincidence that most of my favorite projects in the past 10 years have been from artists that have used good executive producers, or are also pretty good executive producers themselves. Rick Ross I think is a solid example of an artist that has a good executive producer type of ear--a lot of these artists know their strengths and weaknesses, and they're good at highlighting the former while downplaying the latter.
Other good artists that I think function pretty strongly in the executive producer role are Roc Marciano, Westside Gunn, Currensy, and Evidence.
One of my favorite projects this year is that Pray for Haiti by Mach-Hommy, which was executive produced by Westside Gunn. I don't love Gunn that much as a rapper, but I don't think it's a surprise that this was Mach's best album since HBO in 2016 (which also had involvement from Gunn).
Alchemist is a good executive producer when he really cares (The Price of Tea in China), but sometimes I think he allows too much lazy shyt to make it onto a project (his EP this year sounded like an unfinished cash grab). Madlib is another great producer that's also a good executive producer. Bandana was fantastic.
EDIT: @Piff Perkins I had to do a double take. I actually didn't realize Dre executive produced GKMC.
Last edited:
Piff Perkins
Veteran
Yup it should be a partnership, where the artist has some say and the exec producer is trustworthy. Quincy Jones famously didn't like Billie Jean and didn't think it was a hit. Sometimes you have to let things play out.
TheDarceKnight
Veteran
@Piff Perkins I had to do a double take. I actually didn't realize Dre executive produced GKMC.
TheDarceKnight
Veteran
Speaking of Dre, I heard someone here say (maybe it was you) that Billie Jean went on to become a pretty big influence on Dr. Dre's production style. I don't know if it's true or not, but I can hear it. Dre likes to use a lot of empty space in his beats, and Billie Jean definitely has that space in there.
I agree.
a lot of projects are less cohesive and focused because most executive producers helped condense and make them a solid project.
a lot of projects are less cohesive and focused because most executive producers helped condense and make them a solid project.
Piff Perkins
Veteran
Yea you can hear it on the record. Those strings, the live pianos...a lot of that was added by Dre. The album was great before Dre stepped in, don't get me wrong. But that Dre shine can take just about anything to another level. I honestly think he's a better producer than beat maker at this point and I'm surprised people ask him to make beats now vs just adding stuff to a finish product.
Dre got exec prod credits on TPAB and DAMN but really didn't do anything on them, whereas he was in the studio quite a bit on GKMC.
BTW I love Alchemist moving into this role. He's done it for years of course but like you pointed out, the last few years have been super prominent. Too much rap right now feels like a bunch of tracks thrown together with a price tag. Having someone who understands sequencing, can come up with a chorus for you, etc is key.
Insensitive
Superstar
Honestly not only do we need executive producers, we need labels to come up off of those budgets so that artists who
need them can actually make the albums they want to make.
I really feel in the age of 360 deals and such, it's a lot harder to make a Dr. Dre or Dj Quik or a 1500 or Nothin.
You need studio space, you need session musicians, the artist themselves might want to expand their musical
abilities etc.
It's like nowadays you have to do ALL of that by yourself, I see why NoName was talking about the sheer expense of
recording by your lonesome (
shyt, I'm feelin it and I get paid well )
A proper budget and a strong well learned executive producer of that Barry Gordy, Dr. Dre, Quincy Jones level
will take something that's "Okay" to a level that's
need them can actually make the albums they want to make.
I really feel in the age of 360 deals and such, it's a lot harder to make a Dr. Dre or Dj Quik or a 1500 or Nothin.
You need studio space, you need session musicians, the artist themselves might want to expand their musical
abilities etc.
It's like nowadays you have to do ALL of that by yourself, I see why NoName was talking about the sheer expense of
recording by your lonesome (
shyt, I'm feelin it and I get paid well ) A proper budget and a strong well learned executive producer of that Barry Gordy, Dr. Dre, Quincy Jones level
will take something that's "Okay" to a level that's