J Waters: Pete Rock Productions

Pete Rock. To some of you, the name may lead you to recall some of the most incredible hip hop samples of the past twenty years. Some of you will have no clue who this man is. But if you are visiting this website, you have heard his work before. Born in the Bronx and moving to Mount Vernon before high school, Rock’s music career quickly blossomed. He is now ranked in the top producers of all time and certainly merits such laud.

Rock’s innovation blazed the path for fusing hip hop beats with jazz, funk and R&B samples to create a funky, laid back style that can be rapped over extremely well. Many artists doing this today learned from Rock’s work. His songs are often layered with samples and if you listen closely, you can notice the amount of different samples being used throughout the song that add together to create an incredible sound.

The first two songs were produced without any rapping by Pete Rock as far as I can discern, but he produced all of the songs. First off, Nas’s “The World is Yours” is by an artist you will know no matter what. Just marvel at the excellence of production behind this whole album and especially this song. Pete Rock produced it and did the chorus. Next up is “The Joy”, leaked off Kanye’s new album. Rumor has it that Rock has been producing on many tracks, but this is the only song with Rock in the title. Third is a track that is a tribute to Pete Rock and C.L. Smooth’s friend Troy Dixon after he passed away. The horn samples used are astounding. The next, “Specialize” was produced by Pete Rock, but here, Rock and C.L. Smooth’s raps are layered on top of Sufjan Stevens. The whole song has a very cool feel. Finally, we have “Grown Man Sport” by Pete Rock and a group he worked with for a while called INI. This track uses one tiny sample of Fela Kuti’s ten minute Afrojazz track “Water No Get No Enemy”. Listen to it a few times to find the sample used.

I tried to find a listenable sample for the song “This is What They Meant” that Rock produced with Grand Agent. However, as you can’t upload tracks downloaded as m4a from itunes, I could not find it as a youtube video like most songs here. I’ll provide the iTunes link on Just Excellent Beats (link at end of post) as Pete Rock’s Version is so much better than any other.

The Joy – Kanye West ft. Pete Rock, Jay-Z, Charlie Wilson, Curtis Mayfield & KiD CuDi

John Wayne Gacy Jr. / Specialize (Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth) – Tor/ Sufjan Stevens

For more, go to http://www.justexcellentbeats.com/2010/11/sunday-ramblings-pete-rock.html