Words by: Dan Love
Photo by: Rich Direction

Although the annals of hip hop are littered with the under-acknowledged, very few artists could lay claim to the tag of ‘slept on’ as fervently as New Jersey’s K-Def. Coming up under Marley Marl’s wing during the middle stages of the 1990s affirms the man’s pedigree, but what sets K-Def apart from the rest of the pack in the current musical climate is that he is one of the few golden age producers who has managed to maintain productivity into the new millennium whilst staying true to the core boom bap aesthetics that have always defined his craft. With a couple of releases already under his belt in 2008 K-Def shows little signs of letting up, meaning that both long-term followers and those that are yet to be fully acquainted with the man’s substantial body of work have plenty to salivate over in the coming months (just make sure that drool doesn’t get stuck in the finer details of your keyboard).

Before jumping into some of the new material, it seems fitting to reflect on some of the releases that emerged from the early stages from K-Def’s time behind the boards. Extensive work with Lords Of The Underground on their first two studio efforts produced bona fide mid-school classics such as ‘Funky Child’, ‘Chief Rocka’ and ‘What I’m After’, cuts that still sound as fresh and intoxicating now as they did well over a decade ago. The same can be said for K-Def’s numerous other collaborations of the era, perhaps most notably with Tragedy Khadafi on his sophomore outing Saga Of A Hoodlum that housed a wealth of top-drawer material as well as including the indisputable classic summer jam ‘Grand Groove (Bonus Mix)’, a cut that literally drips with a sense of sunny ghetto nostalgia. It would also be nothing short of criminal to pass on mentioning his contributions to Da Youngstas’ often forgotten about No Mercy LP as well. Oh, and the shelved and now recently released LP with World Renown… You get the picture: the archives run deep.

1996 proved to be a significant moment for K-Def as an artist. Having spent over half a decade working within the towering shadows of legendary Juice Crew producer Marley Marl, the Real Live project with Larry-O allowed him the creative space to go it alone. A masterfully realised chunk of boom bap goodness, The Turnaround: A Long Awaited Drama featured tracks such as ‘Ain’t No Love’ and ‘The Gimmicks’ that endure as veritable lessons in the beat-making craft. Heavy drums are paired with beautifully sweeping soul loops and rugged lyrics to devastating effect throughout the record, and the result is an album that is still treasured by fans who long for the days that preceded the jiggy era and the genre’s rampant commercialisation. If this one has passed you by, it’s near enough your duty to correct the fallacy immediately: what you’ll find won’t fail to disappoint.

Perhaps what separates K-Def from the rest of the boom bap pack has been his ability to move with the times and explore new ways of realising his rich, sumptuous compositions. Making the switch away from more traditional production equipment and exploring the possibilities of computer-based music production software has meant that he has continued to develop his style whilst others remain firmly rooted behind the sixteen pads of their MPC. There’s little doubt that this shift in method opened new opportunities to the New Jersey legend who has since posted beats on major releases from Ghostface, Diddy, ODB and southern pioneers UGK, all whilst maintaining an aesthetic that many would eschew on more commercially marketed releases.

2008 promises to be another highly successful twelve months for K-Def. The beginning of the year saw him collaborate with up and coming MC Dacapo on a project entitled The Article EP under the moniker of The Program, a relationship which looks poised to blossom on future releases and which has led to the addition of a vocal track on the now re-released Willie Boo Boo: The Fool beat tape. Beats From The ‘90s also dropped recently, a collection of archived material from the vault that won’t fail to put a smile on the face of even the grumpiest of ageing rap fans as well as schooling youngsters on what made the decade such a special time in the history of the genre. Throw in the upcoming release of the instrumentals to his American Gangster remix project Real Live Gangster and it’s hard to believe that any other producer in the game will put out such a consistently bangin’ catalogue this year.

Ultimately, K-Def falls into that rare category of artist who has managed to transcend ever-changing shifts in the genre whilst always remaining relevant and true to their musical heritage. If you’ve been sleepin’, it’s time to wake up: K-Def’s legendary status is indisputable.

K-Def in store at Fat Beats, NYC from j. nota on Vimeo.

Here more K-Def on Myspace.