9th Wonder: A Soulful Genius

Record producer, 9^th Wonder (Patrick Douthit), was born in January 1975 in Winston Salem, NC.  He is known for his smooth, soulful sampling style of producing music. Content with just being a hobbyist in his craft, 9^th Wonder started uploading beats on the internet that contained soulful loops samples from artists like Al Green. Impressed with his work, 9^th Wonder was contacted by Jay-z’s studio engineer Young Guru, which led to 9^th Wonder’s breakthrough into the mainstream.

 9^th Wonder produced the Jay-z song Threat. When I first heard this song I was amazed at how 9th Wonder sampled just the chord sections of R. Kelly’s song Woman’s Threat and turned it into this urban, hip hop, up-tempo track.  9^th Wonder’s style of producing music influenced me to be more open minded in the creative process of making music and to not be afraid to let the world hear what you have created from your heart.  Check out the video above to hear 9^th Wonder's point of view on his craft and how the art of sampling affected music in the mainstream.

Fuze The MC

Lance Coleman Aka Fuze The MC is a 20 year old, unsigned rap artist from Marietta, GA. He got his big break opening up local shows in the Atlanta area for artists Wale and J. Cole. He was notice by Big Boi from the group Outkast, who encouraged Fuze to continue to pursue his dream as a hip hop artist. Fuze reminds me of rappers like Lupe Fiasco and Mos Def, with his style to deliver his lyrics smoothly over mellow beats. Definitely look out for Fuze to make noise in the underground mixtape world of hip hop.You can download his latest album and check out some of his music videos here at fuzethemc