Producer Of The Week: Black Milk

Curtis Cross, better known as Black Milk, is a hip hop producer and MC from Detroit, Michigan.

He began his music career producing beats for his mother. In 2004, he formed B.R. Gunna, with Young RJ, and Fat Ray, and together they released Dirty District: Vol. 2, a follow up to a compilation released in 2001 by Slum Village in which he contributed production to also. Black Milk then released a solo album, called Sound of the City, Vol. 1, the following year and in 2006 he signed a record contract with Fat Beats Records. In the fall of 2006, he released an EP, entitled Broken Wax. 2007 saw the release of his second album, Popular Demand, on March 13, 2007.

In addition to Slum Village, Black Milk has worked with the likes of J Dilla, Elzhi, Phat Kat, Frank-N-Dank, Lloyd Banks, Canibus, and Pharoahe Monch, and handled almost all the production on T3's Olio mixtape of 2006.

In the Winter of 2007 Black Milk paired with Aftermath recording artist Bishop Lamont to release a mixtape entitled Caltroit, which was nominated for Best Hip Hop Mixtape at Justo's Mixtape Awards, putting him against the likes of Lil Wayne, Styles P, Big Mike, and DJ Khaled.

Black Milk will release a new album with Fat Ray entitled "The Set Up" on March 4, 2008. and looks to have his next official release "Tronic Summer" released in Summer 2008.

Personally, I have been following this dudes work for a minute. He is probably one of my favorite producers out now and I actually borrow a lot from him production style wise. Black milk has a sound very similar to the late Jay Dee (J Dilla). He is armed with heavy basslines, Dark snares, and very infectious kick and bass drums. He uses a style of sampling that is very different from many producers, chopping samples and arranging them in ways unthought of.

Production:

DJ KO ft. Skyzoo, Emilio Rojas, & Median - Start It All Over
Lloyd Banks - Death Wish (D-Block Diss)
Torae - Switch
Black Milk ft. Slum Village & Baatin - Action
Guilty Simpson - The Real Me
Pharoahe Monch ft. Mela Machinko - Let's Go
Black Milk - So Gone
Guilty Simpson ft. Black Milk & Sean Price - Run
Elzhi ft. Royce 5'9" - Motown 25
Pharoahe Monch ft. Mela Machinko - Bar Trap
Kidz In The Hall ft. Fooch - Middle Of The Map pt. 1
Black Milk - U's A Freak Bitch (Instrumental)
Three-1-Zero - Corie Blount (over U's A Freak Bitch Instrumental) [BrandNewBoombox Exclusive]
Black Milk - Silly Loops (Instrumental) [BrandNewBoombox Exclusive]

Ice-T Responds To Soulja Boy

Okay, this is getting kind of lame. Please stop this because its very wack. Don't y'all got better things to do. Who would have ever thought that in 2008, Ice-T would have corny internet beef with a 17yr old rapper famous for lines like "Ya trick, Yaaa!!!".

Soulja Boy Responds To Ice-T

This clip is funny. Ice-T who is a legend in west coast hip hop (and hip hop period) goes out and verbally disses Soulja Boy. As much as I agree that Soulja Boy's CD was pretty wack to me, I have to agree with much of what Soulja Boy said. Ice-T just really disrespected that kid saying what he said. And did Soulja Boy kill Hip Hop? No, Hip Hop is alive and kickin. Did Soulja Boy drop a slew of wack songs? Well, in my opinion, yes he did. Did he deserve the taunts by Ice-T. I don't think so. Soulja Boy is 17. Ice-T is 50. Ice-T just really made himself look like a kid. And yes, I do believe Ice-T was just trying to get back on the scene. Check out the Ice-T clip.

Dwele - Sketches Of A Man - 2008

The soul vocalist behind hits such as Slum Village's "Tainted" and more recently Kanye West's "Flashing Lights" is back with yet another solo album. Sketches Of A Man is a great R&B/Neo Soulish style album lead by the clever single "I'm Cheatin'". Is it me, or is there a lot of talent being overlooked coming out of Detroit. Clear up some space on your ipods for this one.

Download

NYoil - Y'all Should All Get Lynched (Animated Version)

This is the new animated version of the video. But here is the irony: BET gave the green light to create the video. That's really ironic. Maybe BET is trying to change their ways or maybe its an image move. Whatever it is, I like this video. They should air it on BET and I'm looking forward to more from NYoil (Hood Treason was a pretty solid album).

New Erykah Badu/New Nas

The Erykah Badu joint is a Remix of the Healer (Produced By Madlib) that features Pharoahe Monch ("P is a walkin time bomb like tick tick tick tick...") who is an excellent addition to a track I already was feelin in this first place. Let's get a remix to Honey!!! The Nas joint features DJ Khaled (who actually is not annoying me much on the track) and has a beat (kind of sounds like that We Takin Over joint) that you would not fathom Nasir on. He killed the track though in typical Nas fashion.

Erykah Badu ft. Pharoahe Monch - The Healer (Hip Hop) [Remix] (Produced By Madlib)

Nas ft. DJ Khaled - I'm On

Producer Of The Week: DJ Toomp

DJ Toomp (born Aldrin Davis in 1969) is an American record producer and DJ who works in Atlanta, Georgia. He is known for producing T.I.'s chart-topping hit, "What You Know." More recently, he contributed to production on Kanye West's Graduation, including producing the singles "Can't Tell Me Nothing" and "Good Life" with West, and the song "Say Hello" on Jay-Z's latest album American Gangster. He and hip hop veteran Bernard Parks, Jr. have launched their own record label called NZone Entertainment.

DJ Toomp is known for his unique snares that can be heard on almost every single T.I. song he produced since early 2000s.
He recently just earned his first R&B credit for producing "I'll Be Lovin' U Long Time", a track on Mariah Carey's new album, and calls it a "dynamite of a song".


Production:

Mariah Carey - I'll Be Lovin' U Long Time

T.I. - What You Know

Jay-Z - Say Hello
Pastor Troy - Ridin' Big
Nas - N.I.G.G.E.R. (The Slave & The Master)
T.I. ft. P$C & Young Dro - Bankhead
Kanye West - Big Brother
T.I. - 24's
T.I. - Be Easy
Eightball & MJG - Worldwide