Producers Guild is a series celebrating the creators behind the boards of your favorite songs. Listen to today's episode and leave your comments, suggestions, questions, criticisms, and/or whatever you have for me below so we can continue the conversation.
El-Divine Amir Bey is a producer, disc jockey, engineer, and occasional rapper that goes by the stage name 4th Disciple. He was a part of the first wave of producers signed to RZA's Wu-Elements team, the other being True Master, but unlike his close peer, 4th is listed in the liner notes of the Wu-Tang Clan's debut album, Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers) (as a mixer, not a producer, but it still counts). Along with being one of RZA's go-to alternates, 4th Disciple also had a hand in forming a successful Wu-affiliated group of his own, Killarmy, made up of six rappers hailing from both Steubenville, Ohio and Staten Island (cities which are both very important in the Wu-Tang mythos in their own way) who enhanced their shit-talking shtick with military references that sounded a lot like standard-issue boasts-n-bullshit. Like True Master, 4th Disciple also had a career prior to his Wu-Tang connection, although he managed to work a hell of a lot more than Tru-God, alongside many different artists such as Raw Intellect, One Man, and everyone else that appeared on any of his various compilation projects (see: The Best of 740; Steel Valley Project).
This episode presents a mix of 4th Disciple's production work that showcase his versatility and sound, which oftentimes skews toward stark, bleak loops with hard-as-fuck drums. His choice of collaborators tend to lean heavily in that direction as well, making for another boom bap-heavy episode that you two are bound to enjoy. The tracklisting appears below the embedded player, so that you can quickly glance at it while wondering why you haven't yet pressed 'play'.
PRODUCERS GUILD EPISODE #6: 4TH DISCIPLE
1. 4th Disciple - "The Fall" (featuring Shogun Assasson and Alibastard the 1st)
2. 12 O'Clock & Raekwon - "Nasty Immigrants"
3. Sean Price - "Dead or Alive" (featuring Bernadette Price)
4. Method Man - "Another Winter" (featuring Streetlife, Hanz On, and Carlton Fisk)
5. 4th Disciple - "Letz Rok" (featuring Rah Digga)
6. La the Darkman - "Fifth Disciple"
7. Killarmy - "Dress to Kill"
8. Sunz of Man - "Wicked Ways" (featuring 7th Ambassador)
9. Raw Intellect - "Third Eye"
10. Shaka Amazulu The 7th - "Retrophin (4th Disciple's Gravediggaz Remix)" (featuring Frukwan, Shabazz the Disciple, and Solomon Childs)
11. Teraban - "Dead Silence"
12. Rubbabandz - "Drive By"
13. N-Tyce - "Hush Hush Tip" (featuring Method Man)
14. Killah Priest - "Moanin'" (featuring Killa Sin)
15. Sunz of Man - "Bloody Choices"
16. Killarmy - "The Cookout"
17. Bugsy Da God - "Killaz Language" (featuring Tragedy Khadafi, Timbo King, and Leathafase)
18. Wu-Tang Clan - "Better Tomorrow"
Hopefully you enjoy the second of today's episodes. Let me
know what you think works, and more importantly, what doesn't, so that I can take your thoughts into account during future editions. And be sure
to subscribe to RandoMax Radio for more of these mixes, and just know, I
take requests. Don't be shy.
-Max
Some rare bangers in here - I'm pretty well-versed in the Wu-verse but not familiar with quite a few of these. Thank you!! Personally I've always had a soft spot for "Cold" off the first Sunz of Man album.
ReplyDeleteWait, was South of the Border a RZA production? Well, we'll just have to make do with Dart Throwing then ;)
ReplyDelete