How Just Blaze Quietly Became the Game’s Top Producer
- The Perfect job?
You may have heard of Just Blaze before, possibly as a shoutout in one of his songs or through general hip hop banter, but I bet it comes as a surprise when I say that he is ‘ the best hip hop producer in the game right now‘. And I doubt I’m alone with that opinion, this dude has produced some of the biggest hip hop tracks over the past decade.
You may remember:
- Cam’ron Feat. Juelz Sanatana – “Oh Boy”
- Joe Budden – “Pump It Up”
- Fabolous - “Breathe”
- Jay-Z - “Show Em What You Got”
- T.I. Feat. Rihanna - “Live Your Life”
- Maino Feat. T-Pain - “All The Above”
- Eminem Feat. Lil Wayne – “No Love”
- … and many more.
So how is he still relatively unknown? Well, unlike his contemporaries he keeps a low profile (*cough* Kanye West), doesn’t pathetically try to rap ghostwritten lyrics (*cough* Dr. Dre *cough* Timbaland), and he doesn’t turn his music into an annoying advertisement with shameless self-promotion (*cough* Swizz Beats). While this doesn’t put him in the headlines, he has certainly garnered respect from the hip hop community (look at the diversity of artists listed above) simply through dropping steady heat, track after track, year after year. Look at the songs above; somehow JB has found that ever-so-delicate line between producing mainstream music and making songs that are actually worth listening to 3 months after they come out. Maybe its worth it to dig a little deeper on how you’ve loved Just Blaze for years and never known it.
- Your New Best Friend!!
Just Blaze got his start in producing in ’99, with his beats appearing on albums like Busta Rhymes’ Anarchy and Jay-Z’s The Dynasty: Roc La Familia, but got his big break on Jay-Z’s magnum opus, The Black Album, producing both December 4th (possibly Hova’s best song) and the statement song Public Service Announcement you may remember JB at the beginning of the song:
Fellow Americans, it is with the utmost pride and sincerity
that I present this recording, as a living testiment and recollection
of history in the making during our generation.
Public Service Announcement ended up being a bigger statement for Just Blaze’s production cred, and boosted him into one of the hottest commodities in the game. However, it was two other Jay-Z disciples, Kanye West and Pharrell from The Neptunes, who stole most of the producer spotlight in the mid-2000s due to successful solo album releases. Just Blaze wasn’t sweating though, and built his name up the old fashioned way just like the legendary DJ Premier did in the 90′s (oh, don’t know him either? You will soon if you keep following this blog…), with a range of different songs from “The Second Coming” with Juelz Santana which features his epic highlight reel-esque beat that helps you forget how dumb-downed Santana’s lyrics really are, to “Never Been in Love” by Talib Kweli, which your Grandma would find bearable. (The Never Been In Love link is to the official video and has a scene where Just Blaze gets confused for a nobody. Love that he and Kweli can poke fun at themselves, imagine anyone today comfortably doing that).
- “I actually belong in a J. Crew catalog”
JB’s production style is showcased at its best on The Black Album, with synthed horns, strings, and piano match a bouncy bass that combine for an upbeat positive feel, but Blaze’s continued success thrives off of the variability of his beats and they way they seem to predict and not adapt to the curve. For example, No Love on Eminem’s recovery samples a 90′s dance song to help construct an ever-accelerating step and constantly building beat. Seriously, who could have thought that that was going to work until it actually came together?? Maybe this guy does deserve some props.
- Digging in the crates, and he found this…
Just Blaze has been building his resume for over a decade now, but instead of falling off or getting played-out, he is stepping up in 2011 with main production credit on three highly anticipated albums, Saigon’s The Greatest Story Never Told (which is DOPE, by the way), The Game’s R.e.d. Album (maybe a resurrection of his old self? This single reminds me of his old lyrical delivery from The Documentary), and Jay Electronica’s debut Act II (if it sounds anything close to “Exhibit C“, it could be the best album of this year). No producer out there right now can boast a lineup as hot or as varied as this, and it seems that Just Blaze’s ceiling is getting higher and higher each year. Expect him to be behind the next club hit you actually like, and also the next album you can’t take out of your car CD player.
Producers in the history of hip-hop are largely looked over for their louder counterparts, even though they contribute more to each song’s feel and style (think about it: rather hear an instrumental or an accapella?). As long as songs are associated with the artist’s name who released it, not the producer who made the beat which inspired the lyrical content and style, giants of the game like Just Blaze will be largely forgotten outside of the hip hop community. So, next time you hear your friend trying to freestyle over “that T-Pain song! ‘All The Above’, right?!”, please peep their misinformed and plagiarist butt on where the credit is really due.
Consider yourself peeped!
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