Anyone want to hear a twenty track album with six random rappers crammed onto every song? Nah, didn’t think so.
No Country For Old (Rap) Men: Why producer albums are almost never worthwhile
40 thoughts on “No Country For Old (Rap) Men: Why producer albums are almost never worthwhile”
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I thought The Diam Piece was dope, most of the songs bang
Pretty spot on. Agree the ones that limit number of mcs per track have been the best.
Off the top of my head …. My missus bought babus duck season three a while Back and that was pretty good …. he mostly kept it ‘in The crew’ as you suggested. There are others but I’ll need to think about it.
Your write-up was exactly why (IMO) Detox was destined to fail (at least I wasn’t interested in hearing it). Instead of having strictly his crew/associates on the album, Dre was recruiting Rick Ross, TI, Nas, Jay-Z, Jeezy, etc to pen lyrics and/or drop verses. It didn’t have a “Chronic-feel”, it gearing up to be a incohesive mess. A sloppy hodgepodge of talent. A Summer Jam on wax. And yes, (Chronic) 2001 is the last time I copped one of these “producer” type of albums.
@Robbie sort overlaps that email I sent you a lil while back re guest appearances etc….
B.Q.E by Dj Skizz was pretty good
Hurby Love Bug’s ‘Hurby’s Machine’ pre-dates In Control by roughly a year Robbie. Strangely I have a soft spot for that LP but contributions by Antoinette and SuperLovers I think are the strongest of the batch. So, fairly weak producer album to add to your list from 1987.
Every statik selektah album ever
Every producer album ever minus a few standout cuts. Marco Polo n Statik come to mind first but lots of quality offenders…
The formula of one guest per track usually produces the greatest outcome. Example. Nostalgia with Ace and Harlem Blues with DZA
First class – Large Pro. One of my favourites. Would that be classed as a producer album? Probably not. Underrated album though.
Valey of the jeep beats, terminator x , he had his equivilant to group home
Mark the 45 albums are considered rare, no?
Those albums were made for djs, in instrumental form, to make blends .
Dilla had a few of tgese as well, like doughnuts .
I thought Jake ones white van music was a good one.
The only decent producer album that springs to mind right now is Oh No’s “exodus into unheard rhythms.”
@P_gotsachill: I considering mentioning that one but it didn’t have anywhere near had the impact of Marley’s.
@Dino I was gonna mention the same one.
Always liked Hi-Tek’s first album but most producer albums are spotty.
I agree in part. It depends whose making the producer lp and who is on it. My lp from 2011 is an exception to your rule of course. Haha
https://awkward.bandcamp.com/album/grand-prize-revised
The first Hi-Tek album was fire. One of the worst ive heard recently was DJ EFN..Sick album cover but the whole damn thing was pure garbage
would those Gangrene albums count as producer albums?
@dippedlikesourcream: Nah.
The Pete Rock/MC Eiht collaboration on SS #1 sealed the deal for me as far as that purchase. Another spot on post. Three producer albums in my collection: Dilla: Welcome to Detroit: Pete Rock: Soul Survivor #1; and DJ Hi-tek:Hi-technology.
Totally disagree on this topic..
When you say “produecer album”, are you talking about albums where the producer is also the primary artist (ie. Stunts, Blunts and Hip-Hop)or albums where the producer has few or no verses (Hi-Teknology)? Then there’s albums that split the difference (Soul Survivor, 2001, etc.)
@Robbie, didn’t have the impact but none the less for purpose of the producer album post should be acknowledged it’s early, good or bad (Push It is too awful for words).
@Oneam, Jake One’s White Van Music was dope as Hell. I loved what Pete Rock did as well. People slept on Jazzy Jeff as well. Premo’s shit was dope as well. DJ Revolution & Malcolm And Martin is classic. Too many to name. Just gotta find the right ones.
@oskamadison: Good question. ‘Stunts, Blunts and Hip-Hop’ and the like don’t count because they aren’t compilations.
In Control is like a posse album made more coherent because it has one producer, The Chronic is something a little different and a lot of Wu Tang stuff is kind of similar. Those all work because there was a pool of young talent willing to do their best work for a project like that, you’re not going to get that paying b-list veterans to email you some tracks.
What do you think of Handsome Boy Modeling School?, doesn’t seem like it would be your thing but do you think those are successful producer albums?
@Curtis. .. word…. The Freeway/ brother Ali track of that record Is amazing to me.
Premier never did one of these type of records huh? You’d think he could get the formula right.
Preemo did Premier presents Year Round Records ‘Get Used to Us’ a couple of years back which had a few good tracks but wasn’t amazing, imo
DJ Honda’s first two albums were well recieved.
I respectfully disagree. I think Dj JS-1 album ” NOBODY CARES” is more superior to any album that has come out this century. This album sounds as if all the artists on here were all in the studio together.
And there’s a bunch of other producers who have made damn good albums like Domingo, White Shadow of Norway( I hope I got his name right), Thorotracks and Prince Paul and others whose names escape me.
What I think sounds WACK is rappers who have guest MCS on almost every track of their Album except one. That I am not feeling. But a lot of these Producer albums I am digging much more than MCs albums.
I personally liked DJ Muggs “Soul Assassins” Volume 1 & Alchemist’s “1st Infantry” was pretty decent..
S/O Kev Brown’s “I Do What I Do” from 2005, dope album in the vein of The Chronic meets Soul Survivor
Snowgoons are one of the better examples in recent years.
@Bigzed: I’m going to have to disagree on that point.
@Enrichment
I Forgot all about Muggs’ Soul Assassins joints. The first one was dope, never heard the second…
Spot on , i really have to agree with you on this one.
Marco Polo’s Port Authority is one of the best compilations, in my opinion. The to first SA from Muggs are also great ones.
another great producer lp with guests…. Omid ‘Beneath The Surface’
Somebody mentioned the Snowgoons. They’re currently trying to kick start an Onyx/MOP remix album or somemat: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/233663587/onyx-vs-mop-album-produced-by-snowgoons?ref=project_tweet
Does DJ Signify’s wonderful “Sleep no more” count as a “producer album?”
If so, it’s great.
Good points made on this. When there is a crew involved there is usually more cohesiveness but there have been some recent examples of good execution. In many cases it really depends on the producer’s vision and capability. I think the solo tracks work well also as the best songs on albums like Port Authority and Grandeur are the solo tracks. I agree with the mentions of DJ Muggs, DJ Honda, DJ Skizz & the Alchemist. But I’d say for the most part, I can’t get jiggy with too many producer compilations. There has to be some kind of direction and fluidity. One album that comes to mind as great execution (albeit a definite theme album) is Prince Paul’s a Prince Amongst Thieves.