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Nashville's rap music scene has a rich tradition, and it starts with incredible production. In today's world of rap music it is the producer, not the rapper, who holds the real key to success. A talented producer can make a hit record with even the weakest of MCs. The producers are the ones that define a city's sound. They make the beats, without which rappers could not exist.
In Nashville's world of rap music, it is the producer who has won critical acclaim and financial rewards. Besides Young Buck, no one rapper has had the breakout success that several Nashville producers have. The list is long, and we've surely left some out, but here is a quick insider's guide to who really runs Nashville's rap scene.
All the earliest Nashville producers can remember a time before rap music. And an interest in music meant you played an instrument. Guys like Shannon Sanders grew up playing the organ at his grandfather's church, Tim Hill played trumpet and most all were in their high school band. When you talk about Nashville's "Old School" the farthest back you go is the mid-eighties. By that time hip-hop culture had been influencing young people nationally for several years. Many of the biggest rap acts toured Nashville via the 'Fresh Fest' concerts at Municipal Auditorium. This culture and these shows moved some Nashville teens to action. They quickly figured out how to make hip-hop beats and started forming crews. They supplied the soundtracks for groups like The Blow Pop Crew, Technique, Walter D, Sir Chance and New Style Posse. These artists performed at small clubs, house parties and high school pep rallies across the city. The music was fun, and the dance floors stayed packed. Ahhh, the good old days when people did it simply because it was fun. It seems so long ago, because it was.
The early 90s saw a new wave of producers come onto the scene. Some of them were homegrown, some transplants. Two of those transplants, Sonny P and Count Bass D, were responsible for Nashville's first major rap record deals. Sonny P was strictly a producer and, under his independent label Street Flavor Records, he helped get major deals for Pistol, Boogie, Casino and later, Haystak. Count Bass D, who rapped on and produced his entire first record with live instruments, was signed to Sony in 1994. None of these efforts saw huge sales, but they set a firm foundation on which to build a solid rap community.
Although the albums released in the early 90s brought limited commercial success, they sparked the next generation of rappers and producers. And in the late 90s, while all the Nashville veteran producers were still making music, younger cats like Tim Hill, DJ Dev, Dale Babb, Micha Otis, Sense Da Weedhead, Bar None and others were also on the come up. At this time Nashville rappers weren't really making much noise nationally, but beat makers were supplying the streets with local hits through rappers like Kool Daddy Fresh, Serving the World Click and PNJ. Also, producers welcomed the chance to work with out-of-towners. In 1997 DJ Dev and Sonny P produced beats on Cash Money Records' first major release, Juvenile's classic 400 Degreez. This is a trend that continues to this day. Most of the top producers' work comes from outside Nashville.
Nashville's current state looks promising. Young Buck's success has enabled him to come back and start grooming local talent, including producers like Bar None, Phantom and Chris Reno to go international. At the same time Fate Eastwood's production on Allstar's Grey Goose single, has brought him many offers from big name artists. The veterans have continued on. Some like Shannon Sanders, have moved into gospel and r&b work, and won a Grammy for his work. Sonny P and Street Flavor continue on, independently selling tens of thousands of records a year. Add them to the young producers from the music programs at MTSU, TSU and Belmont and it's easy to see why Nashville is currently blessed with incredible production talent. Nashville also has the resources with world class recording studios, music publishing houses and distributors close-by. The time is now for the city to come together and realize how good our local talent is (producers and rappers). We seriously could be that next city. Support your local scene.
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