2013 In Review: Sizing Up The Year’s Breakout Hip-Hop/R&B Producers
Mike WiLL Made It
Mike WiLL Made It makes for an interesting entry on the hip-hop producers list. The 24-year-old ATLien most famously gave Miley Cyrus the keys to the ratchet kingdom as executive producer on Bangerz, but he also used his pliable form of southern trap to fuel a handful of gold- and platinum-selling hip-hop bangers (B.o.B’s “We Still in This Bitch,” Lil Wayne’s “Love Me,” and Ace Hood’s “Bugatti”) as well as R&B slow burns (Ciara’s carnal “Body Party,” Rihanna’s “Pour It Up”). It’s a testament to Mike’s talent that his beats sound great in any context, in any genre, with any MC or chanteuse providing the vocals.
(Extra credit is given for his production and guidance on Bangerz, which basically allowed Cyrus to obliterate any vestige of conservative white America that still had a voice in mainstream music culture.)
