Nice read Audio. I'm really loving this column. I have a quick question for you or anyone else who cares to answer:

How prevalent in urban music are "producers" who aren't beatmakers?

depends... everybody has a different level of involvement in what they do. Even five years ago I would have said in r&b it's less about making just the beat but that's changed a lot. Which is fine w/ me I think it opens more doors for hip-hop on the real.

Excellent read.
Kouslor- Just look at the credits. There's more bold-faced names than you can imagine.

I've been saying this for years. Most of the cats that "we" celebrate are not producers. When you study how records used to be made then you can have an appreciation for what a producer really does. My mentor Skip Scarborough (R.I.P.) always stressed the responsibility of a producer on a project. Not only is he/she dealing with the creative side but also dealing with business end...making sure musicians get paid, staying within the budget allotted for the song(s), working with the studio and the label (A&R).

It may sound elitist to some, but there is a major difference between producers and beatmakers.

Glover, this is a great read and a much needed post. As you know with carrying out the vision of a joint it is often necessary to make sure that the other aspects of the "production" such as the business end are tight and taken care of.

My production partner Kelv and myself work very well together by covering the creative and the business end.

Often times even once you make a hot joint you then realize that promoting it begins with YOU too. Both the industry and the fans need to hear what you've done in order to get the momentum moving on it. Production teams now are becoming more self-contained in the sense that the vision is being realized from start to finish and even post-finish these days since many investors(fans and labels) need to hear a "story" on a joint before they take to it. Before it was easier to depend on label infrastructures to do the post-finish side however now we all have probably seen many cases where you can take it to a label and they may not entirely understand what you have created. It is our job as producers to also make sure that our work is understood too.

Good post, G. What's up Audio. Holla soon.

very good points Greg... yeah... when we come across the pond I know you know the spots right?

Audio,

Get your ticket and bring your good shoes. We've got some runnin' to do over here. :-)

Paz,

G