Producer Profile: 9th Wonder (Part 1, 2003)

During the late 90's, armed with Fruity Loops production software, 9th Wonder began working with friends Phonte and Big Pooh under the name Little Brother. 2003 would see the release of Little Brother's debut album, 'The Listening', though it's underground success would be overshadowed by 9th Wonder's mainstream breakthrough.

Much like Danger Mouse, 9th Wonder's big break was making an unauthorized remix album for Nas' 'God's Son' album in 2002. This led to A&R interest and landed his production for 'Threat' on 'Black Album'. 'Threat' cribs Jay's sometimes collaborator R. Kelly's 2000 track 'A Woman's Threat'. Real talk. Another high profile beat also landed on De La Soul's 2003 album 'The Grind Date'. Sampling a block party classic, Pleasure's 'Reality', 9th Wonder laced De La with 'Church'. Little Brother experiences limited success, leading to a major label deal for their next album. 'The Listening''s lead single 'Whatever You Say' landed Little Brother with underground cred and proper beats.

Check back to this blog for more of 9th Wonder's exploits. In part 2 of his Producer Profile, we'll see 9th as he produces a full album for Murs and drops a major single with Destiny's Child in 2004. on Jay-Z's hugely successful

The Lowdown:
Jay-Z 'Threat'
from 'The Black Album' (2003) (MP3/CD)
Clean Edit: 'Threat'
R. Kelly 'A Woman's Threat'
from 'TP-2.com' (2000) (MP3/CD)
Clean Edit: 'A Woman's Threat'
De La Soul 'Church'
from 'The Grind Date' (2003) (MP3/CD)
Pleasure 'Reality'
from 'Dust Yourself Off' (1975) (MP3/CD)
Little Brother 'Whatever You Say'
from 'The Listening' (2003) (MP3/CD)
BONUS CUT:
The instrumental for 'Whatever You Say'.