There have been scores of stories listing or debating the greatest rap artists of all time that includes the usual suspects like Tupac, Biggie Smalls and Jay-Z. But there have been relatively few such stories that rank the greatest hip-hop producers ever.
Aiming to answer this question with a March Madness flair, Vibe has put together the battle of the beats with their Greatest Producer of All Time tournament.
For example, in the “Homegrown Sound” bracket, No. 1 ranked Dr. Dre battles DJ Toomp. In “Mass Appeal” bracket, top-ranked The Neptunes are up against will.I.am; The other two brackets are “Soul Sample“ and “Boom Bap“ with Kanye West and DJ Premier as the top seeds, respectively. See the complete list of producer brand matchups below.
With the first round of voting beginning today, the winner will be announced by the publication on May 24.
Let the debate, er, tournament begin. –terry shropshire
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HOMEGROWN SOUND
Dr. Dre (1) vs. DJ Toomp (16)
Mannie Fresh (2) vs. David Banner (15)
The Bomb Squad (3) vs. Mr. Lee (14)
Prince Paul (4) vs. Shock G (13)
Juicy J (5) vs. Rick Rock (12)
Luke (6) vs. Johnny J (11)
Beats By The Pound (7) vs. Wyclef (10)
Ant Banks (8) vs. DJ Quik (9)
MASS APPEAL
The Neptunes (1) vs. will.i.am (16)
Timbaland (2) vs. Polow Da Don (15)
Swizz Beatz (3) vs. Dust Brothers (14)
Diddy and The Hitmen (4) vs. Herbie Luv Bug (13)
Teddy Riley (5) vs. Kay Gee (12)
Trackmasters (6) vs. Larry Smith (11)
Jermaine Dupri (7) vs. Irv Gotti (10)
Scott Storch (8) vs. Lil Jon (9)
SOUL SAMPLE
Kanye West (1) vs. The Heatmakerz (16)
Pete Rock (2) vs. Cool & Dre (15)
Organized Noize (3) vs. 9th Wonder (14)
Erick Sermon (4) vs. Daz (13)
Just Blaze (5) vs. Hi-Tek (12)
J. Dilla (6) vs. 88-Keys (11)
Mark the 45 King (7) vs. Salaam Remi (10)
No I.D. (8) vs. The Alchemist (9)
BOOM BAP
DJ Premier (1) vs. Bangladesh (16)
RZA (2) vs. Rocwilder (15)
Marley Marl (3) vs. Dame Grease (14)
Rick Rubin (4) vs. The Beatnuts (13)
Jam Master Jay (5) vs. Easy Mo Bee (12)
Large Professor (6) vs. Q-Tip (11)
Diamond D (7) vs. DJ Muggs (10)
Havoc (8) vs. Da Beatminerz (9)
