2013 In Review: Sizing Up The Year’s Breakout Hip-Hop/R&B Producers

Patrick Bowman | December 25, 2013 5:45 am

WondaGurl

WondaGurl

Off the top of my head, with the exception of Odd Future‘s Syd Tha Kyd, it’s not very easy to name a female hip-hop producer. That’s why it’s an important sea change when Jay Z picks a 16-year-old Canadian named WondaGurl, who previously worked with Travi$ Scott on the ominous, whacked out “Uptown,” to produce a track that actually ended up on Magna Carta Holy GrailAnd, granted, while I spent a lot of time railing against Jay Z’s creative conservatism this year compared to Kanye West‘s zeitgeist-smashing zeal, the WondaGurl-produced “Crown” (with some help from Scott) is probably the most sonically adventurous song on the album. It’s a misshapen hellscape; all menacing horns, terrifying, disembodied voices and John Carpenter keyboards. If WondaGurl can make me sit up and take notice of a Jay Z deep cut from his really boring golden years phase, I’m keeping close tabs on her next move.