I recently saw some replies on a few threads where they said Dr Dre doesn't actually produce his own beats and that he jacks from other producers. Now I've heard past collaborators like Snoop tell reporters that shit is simply not true. He stated that while a producer might come up to Dr Dre with a beat or a loop. The end result of what Dr. Dre does with it constitutes it as his production because it sounds completely different from what the collaborator handed him. He later added that there's a difference between a beat maker and a producer. Now a "producer" in music industry terms is the equivelent of a Motion picture director. In a song he is responsibe for the end result. He organises the musicians who will translate the composer's music, the singer who will translate the author's lyrics and put that all together to make the end result...the song. Now in hip-hop, because the song's vibe and feel is entirely dependent on the musical composition set before it, the composer of the musical piece is therefor the producer and co-writer.
Now alot of producers hailed as all time greats like The RZA, DJ Premier and J Dilla have all got beats that are made up of a loop they found on a "rare" jazz, rock, soul or blues record. Most times they simply take a loop they find and put a drumloop over it and call it their own. When Puffy and his Hitmen along with Jermaine Dupre and Track Masters followed the same formula, using familiar hit records and looping them for their artists to rap over, they were accused of beat jacking.
I've heard some of the original compositions vs. Dr Dre's final cuts through various mixtapes and they do sound completely different in sound and feel. Melodically they have similarities but over all, the sound and feel are totally different. I've also heard the producers who Dr. Dre has collaborated with outside of his sphere of influence and their beats don't sound nearly as good or as refined as his end product.
Dr. Dre has been consistent and thorough through out his career and has continued to re-write the book on hip-hop production. N.W.A's Straight Outta Compton, Efil4Zaggin, DOC's No One Can Do It Better, Above The Law's Livin' Like Hustlers, The Chronic, Doggystyle, 2001, and recently Relapse are all examples of stellar production sensiblities.
On The Chronic and Doggystyle producer/ rapper Daz has accused Dr Dre for taking credit for taking two of his beats. "Rata-tat-ta" off the Chronic, for which he was credited only for the drum programming. Also for, "Ain't No Fun" off of Doggystyle for which he was not credited for any contribution. Now you may also note that close collaborators like Scott Storch, Mel-Man and Chris Taylor all who have worked closely with Dr Dre, sated in past interviews that Dr Dre merely directs them towards grooves, riffs and melodies by either jamming with them and locating loops through 'spotting' or by using samples and replaying them into the final beat.
So my question is in hip-hop is there a difference between a producer and a beat maker? and where do we draw the line because on one end, a beat maker cannot be there to over see his songs for every artist who requests his compositions so does that mean the author is then the producer? But on the other end, too many beat makers give out beats with little regard for the end product. And as far as using loops goes where and when does it go from jacking into sampling? Also if I by a beat from someone and they have little or no contribution to the end result of the song aside from the beat, does he get production credits along with his composer's credits or do I get production credits? Lets say I do a R&B song over a beat that was intended to be a hiphop song? what then?
