Originally published March 19, 2021.

Front Seat

This is what's driving hip-hop this week….

NAS JUST WON A GRAMMY for his album produced entirely by Hit-Boy. And the most anticipated project this week is Benny The Butcher’s Plugs I Met 2, which is produced entirely by Harry Fraud. Although this partnership was more common in the ‘80s and early ‘90s, at the turn of the millennium the superproducer’s role changed from overseeing one LP to spreading a sound as far and wide as possible. It was lucrative to do so. Now, with DSPs and fan demand for output requiring more music, maybe we’ll see collaborative album output rise. After all, it’s hard to carry a catalog solo once it reaches into the double digits.

Back Seat

Respect my mind or die from lead shower.

WHEN NAS RELEASED ILLMATIC IN 1994 it was a watershed moment for hip-hop for many reasons. Aside from marking the arrival of a prodigal talent, the 10-track offering (which includes a non-musical intro) broke from the working arrangement that governed most albums be produced by one producer. Talents who preceded Nas like Rakim (himself and Eric B.), Big Daddy Kane (Marley Marl), De La Soul (Prince Paul), Public Enemy (The Bomb Squad) and even Snoop Dogg (Dr. Dre) had their projects overseen by one mainstay.

To be a superproducer in that era meant to midwife one sole project from ideation to completion.

RZA, Organized Noize, The Hitmen and Beats by the Pound continued to follow that protocol after Nas’ arrival.

Since that time, the 1 producer/1 rapper formula has been relegated to almost Second-Class Citizen status.

But by the 2000s, we saw the rise of singular talents spreading their wings across discographies. Kanye. The Neptunes. Timbaland. Lil Jon. These icons supercharged singles over albums as the CD boom changed the economic prospects of the music business. Labels laser focused on the idea of one hot record being enough of an invitation to cough up $15 bucks for an LP.

Since that time, the 1 producer/1 rapper formula has been relegated to almost Second-Class Citizen status.

The Alchemist (still one of the illest names for a beatsmith) is a traditionalist who has kept the process alive in the underground. In the late aughts he connected with Prodigy, Currency, Fashawn and Domo Genesis before a run of projects later in the decade with Action Bronson, Boldy James and culminating last year with Alfredo with Freddie Gibbs. Statik Selectah and Harry Fraud are pupils of ALC’s prowess. Roc Marci bagged up pure white on the knobs overseeing Stove God Cook’s Reasonable Drought.

On a more mainstream level, there’s been mixtapes or albums by Mike Will Made-It and Yo Gotti, Metro Boomin and 21 Savage and No I.D. and Jay-Z.

Examples abound.

Kanye West’s Wyoming series saw EP’s by Nas and Pusha T birthed and attached a novelty that was somewhere between mainstream and underground as an artsy cred play.  

From then, some of the standouts we’ve gotten include the aforementioned Alfredo(and Freddie Gibbs’ Bandana with Madlib), Harry Fraud powered The Fraud Departmentwith Jim Jones and today’s Plugs I Met 2 with Benny The Butcher, and Hit-Boy’s run includes collaborative full plays with Big Sean (nearly all of Detroit 2) and Nas (King’s Disease). The latter of which just won Best Rap Album at the Grammy Awards.

There’s different reasons for pursuing or not pursuing the process, of course.

Benny, for his part, told NPR just last week, he juggles multiple projects and it’s more of a means to an end.

For me, the combination serves its best purpose when it rejuvenates the creative process.

For Jay-Z and his 4:44 album, he hit on the theme of marital strife and having one producer streamlined the sound to fit. This is the modus operandi more often than not. The opposite is there’s a lack of a theme and an artist is just grabbing dope tracks and putting a name on top afterward a la Lil Wayne’s Carter series.

For me, the combination serves its best purpose when it rejuvenates the creative process.

Nas sounded punchier on King’s Disease and his rhymes had a purpose to them that they hadn’t post Life Is Good. His Kanye West-backed Nasir felt grounded in the mud. And his guest verses in between save Swizz’ “Echo” were forgettable.

By comparison, Jim Jones, hardly on the skill level of Nas, has proven he knows how to maximize his talent (maybe as good as any rapper going) on his albums. On his last two projects, however, El Capo (The Heatmakerz) and The Fraud Department (Harry Fraud), the Harlem-bred artist has been turbo-charged. The soundscapes he’s been provided allow Capo to pull from his hard-earned perspective to deliver tales that hit as heavy as a Henny drop staining a Timb.

Freddie Gibbs has followed the formula to evolve from blog darling to critical darling. Now he’s re-signed to a major label and expectations for his next album are high as they’ve ever been for an album of his. He also rightfully had a case to be the owner of the trophy Nas just took home.

Naturally, it seems like The Alchemist and Benny are on a collision course.

A couple years ago Mathematics told me to expect a Mef vs. Math project, which is sure to be catnip for rabid hip-hop fans.

There’s a lot of combinations I’d love to see: Snoop and Rick Rock. Megan Thee Stallion and Juicy J, David Banner and DJ Toomp.

Maybe Nas’ win will prove to be another watershed moment. We’ll see more 1:1 pairings and what if they’re viewed as award bait in the way, say, a Scorcese/DiCaprio partnership is viewed. If anything, it could be a signal that with careers lasting longer these days rappers don’t have to carry the weight of their catalog (or legacy) alone.

Trunk

Music, reads, podcasts and videos (music and more) I'm checking for.

• I’m visiting Memphis this summer. Who’s with me? Too much heat coming from M-Town. Back in the day, BMI and I talked about organizing a trip to his hometown. We might have to revisit that. Context: Young Dolph x Key Glock unleash “Sleep With The Roaches” and Dolph lets loose “Yeeh Yeeh” both from their forthcoming Dum & Dummer 2 (due next week). [Watch] [Listen]

• Columbia’s young hitters—Lil Tjay, Polo G and Fivio Foreign—go for the kill on “Headshot.” The label’s draft showcase a couple years back was top notch; TJay and Polo G performed, forget who was the third on that bill. Hope they do another soon. I’m keeping on eye on Tjay’s rebound. [Listen]

• Tee Grizzley links with Backseat fav Lil Durk for “White Lows Off Designer.” [Listen]

• CJ taps French Montana and Rowdy Rebel for “Whoopty NYC.” (Might have done better passing on them for other folks.) [Listen]

• Burna Boy is a Grammy winner. NPR posits on what he’s gonna do next. [Read]

• Kanye ain’t worth no damn 6 billion. Bloomberg did a piece evaluating his businesses and forecasting the value of his Gap pact should it pop. Blogs got excited and ran with it the wrong way. Social then grabbed the baton like Usain Bolt on a 4x4 relay. [Read]

• I like the idea of this article more than the execution, but the concept is of real concern: The Case For Protecting Hip-Hop’s Founders. [Read]

• Drake is historic with the number 1-2-3 records on the Hot 100. Related: Backseat Freestyle: Is Drake Season Over? [Read][Read]

• Island Records taps new leadership following Darcus Beese’s exit. [Read]

• Fadia decamps from Instagram to join Clubhouse. [Read]

• This might be my favorite video of the week, Tay Money x Flo Milli team up for “Asthma Pump.” [Watch]

• D-Nice marks the one-year of CQ by dropping a new single, “No Plans For Love,” featuring Ne-Yo and Kent Jones. He’s also gonna be on his 24-hour grind today beginning at 3PM ET on his IG Live. [Watch]

• It’s really an honor to see an artist ascending into their full stardom. That’s what’s been on my mind the past year when it comes to Lil Baby. I think the Grammy performance was the period on the ascent. Related: It’s Time To Abolish “Powerful” Performances At Award Shows. [Watch] [Read]

• J.I. The Prince guests on Elle’s Song Association, which, is a crazy booking brand to brand. This Conde Nast connection makes more sense, Rowdy Rebel x GQ’s On The Rocks. [Watch] [Watch]

• Breakfast Club had a good week: Jim Jones (his Harry Fraud LP might be better than Benny’s), Gillie & Wallo and the Gen Now execs: Drama, Don Cannon and Lake. That United vid Dram posted on his IG was wild. I told him the cops were threatened when he said was gonna post to his 1m on IG because that’s his gun; see, how that works, though, think they would see that but nah. [Watch] [Watch] [Watch]

• Latin Roundup: Alex Rose x Rauw Alejandro reunite for “Me Fijé" (this is like Trey Songz and Chris Brown connecting.) J Balvin is back with another one in “Tu Veneno.” And it’s Paloma Mami time, the Chilean New Yorker (and future superstar) drops her debut album, Sueños de Dalí. [Watch] [Watch] [Listen]

Backseat Freestyle is written and produced by Jayson Rodriguez for Smarty Art, Inc. If you have any comments, questions or suggestions, feel free to email me: [email protected]. And follow me elsewhere:

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