Conclusive proof Errol "Pumpkin" Bedward shoulda been the best producer of 1980 in Complex's The Best Hip-Hop Producer Alive 1979 - 2018 listicle in the form of Spoonie Gee & the Trecherous Three's New Rap Language/Love Rap 12" single:
The definitive Rap record of 1980, empirically better than any of Rocky Ford & J.B. Moore's productions on Kurtis Blow's debut album. Both tracks are original compositions rather than replays of Disco hits or classic breaks, the latter track was the first Rap song to become a breakbeat in its own right, and both songs established Pumpkin as Rap's first superproducer. I rest my case, y'honour, and I didn't even have to mention Pumpkin's other great 1980 production.
TBF, the people behind the listicle did a decent job on those early years of Rap, especially by 2018 Rap media standards, but there's a couple of mistakes in there: you can't claim Jiggs Chase was the real auteur behind The Message when you admit that Duke Bootee practically did everything on the song; and it's long been established that Davy DMX #actually produced damn near all the tracks Kurtis Blow and Aaron Fuchs both took credit for.
I'M LIKE SPOONIE GEE I'M THE METROPOLITAN
ReplyDeleteThe Complex thing starts well but starts to turn to shit by the mid 90s.
ReplyDeleteI didn't bother reading after the 80s. Was just curious to see if they'd do the first decade justice.
ReplyDeleteThere's the couple of mistakes I mentioned, and one or two glaring omissions since Chris Stein and Mantronix didn't even get honourable mentions. Pretty good work otherwise, though - at least Pumpkin got 1981.
I've just skimmed the list so far but looks like they have some incorrect years. The chronic dropped in mid december 1992 they should have given him 93, same with rza for 36 chambers in 94 not 93. Ant Banks got a 1991 honorable mention for a spice 1 indie EP but no mention at all from 92-99 when he was really poppin. And aaron fuchs as producer is laughable. glad they gave 45 king some mentions
ReplyDeleteYeah, The Chronic dropping mid december 1992 and Doggystyle dropping less than a year later mean it's damn near impossible to argue 1993 belongs to anyone other than Dre.
ReplyDeleteNot even any HonMen for Khayree in ‘93/‘95 pretty egregious (maybe it would help if Drake mentioned MacDre a few more times...)
ReplyDeleteYou're never gonna see Khayree on a Complex committee list 😕
ReplyDelete