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Life & Arts

Do producers belong behind mic? 

Rap on Hip-Hop

Dante Eglin and Eli Jabbe

Dante Eglin: Producer Timbaland has become the latest to make the jump from the keyboard to the microphone with "Give it to Me," the lead single off his second solo album, Timbaland Presents Shock Value, which is making the radio rounds. The track has become notable for Timbo's anonymous call-out of rival producer Scott Storch, with slick rhymes such as "I'm a real producer and you just the piano man." Several producers have found commercial success utilizing the dual producer/emcee title, including Dr. Dre, Kanye West and Pharell Williams, but have Storch and Timbaland overestimated their abilities?

Eli Jabbe: Timbo has always overstepped his boundaries because he's never had impressive lyrical ability, but he's always been on point as a producer. I was shocked to see Storch not only rap but put out a video as well. There's already enough drama between rappers over nonsense and producers should know their roles and stay behind the boards. Perhaps the beef has something to do with Timbo's album dropping later this month?

Eglin: Timbaland's label, Mosley Music Group, has a distribution deal under parent label Interscope Records, which is home of Interscope Jackson, better known as 50 Cent, the ultimate connoisseur of beef within the genre. We know Shock Value is slated for release in less than three weeks, so this is merely the latest example of Interscope's guerilla marketing strategy. Former G-Unit affiliate The Game's debut album, The Documentary, was released Jan. 18, 2005, while 50's sophomore effort dropped Mar. 3 of that year (notably pushed back from it's original Valentine's Day release date). The tension between the two rappers reached its apex right around the halfway point between the two releases. Some call the conflict between the two artists a beef, but it's coy promotion at its finest.

Jabbe: Rumors are that Storch's solo rap debut album is supposed to see release soon, and if the reports are true, then the situation is eerily similar to 50 and Game's drawn-out quarrel. 

Eglin: In other business, Ego Trip's The (White) Rapper Show recently concluded its first season on VH1. The show featured 10 white rappers who competed for a crack at a $100,000 grand prize, with each installment aiming to mold the contestants from wannabe white rappers into legitimate forces on the microphone. How much credibility does such a show have within the hip-hop community?

Jabbe: Music reality shows like Making the Band and similar ones hurt aspiring artists more than they help them. The only rapper to have any remnants of legitimate success as a solo artist after a reality experience is Ness from Making the Band 2. At least the man behind it is MC Serch, the executive producer of one of hip-hop's finest works in Nas' Illmatic.

Eglin: The (White) Rapper Show is a notable foray because it pulls back the curtain to hip-hop's elephant in the room. A huge percentage of the genre's sales come from white fans and people from other ethnicities that don't usually mirror those of the artists. Throughout rap's short history, the only credible white emcee to have mainstream success has been Marshall Mathers (not to slight the H-Town rapper with the scrupulously shiny mouthpiece). The (White) Rapper Show gives hope to rap's underdog, the "Great White Hope" the masses root for. 

Jabbe: The show has an interesting concept, to say the least.
 

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