Young Chop's 25 Favorite Beats

The producer of "I Don't Like" and "Love Sosa" picks the productions that inspired his sound

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Complex Original

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The producer of "I Don't Like" and "Love Sosa" picks 25 productions that inspired his sound.

This feature is a part of Complex's "Finally Rich" Week.

It can't be denied, Young Chop had a hell of a year. Not twelve months ago, he was living at home in virtual obscurity on Chicago's South Side. Before that, in 2011, he had one production credit on Chief Keef's Bang mixtape. Now—on the strength of his work with Keef—he's become one of hip-hop's most in-demand new producers. If Mike Will Made it is the producer of the year, Chop is definitely the rookie of the year.

When we spoke with Young Chop about his favorite beats, he was very open and entertaining, providing great insights about what he looks for in record production. The cross-section of tracks he chose also provides a revealing perspective on the music that influences Chicago's drill sound, and how popular hip-hop has informed the scene. So read on as we chop it up with Young Chop.

As told to David Drake (@somanyshrimp)

This feature is a part of Complex's "Finally Rich" Week.

Related: HAIL to the Chief (2012 Online Cover Story) 

Related: South Side Story: A Chief Keef Timeline 

25. Fat Joe f/ DJ Khaled, Lil Wayne, A$AP Rocky, French Montana "Yellow Tape" (2012)

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Producer: Infared & Illa
Album: N/A
Label: R4 So Valid, LLC/Terror Squad

Young Chop: “The beat like real crazy, cause I ain’t never heard nothing like that to be honest. It’s like real different. It’s just real different. I ain’t never heard no trap music sound like that. It was like some crazy weird sounds in there. It was real crazy. It was like good times and all of that. It was just going crazy. And then the hook was just on point."

24. T.I. f/ Lil Wayne "Ball" (2012)

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Producer: Rico Love and Earl & E
Album: Trouble Man: Heavy Is the Head
Label: Grand Hustle, Atlantic

Young Chop: “It just reminded me of some crazy, New Orleans type bounce music. It was just crazy. It sound crazy. I just like it cause of that. I wasn’t into [bounce music], but you know you just glance at it every once in awhile. You just know. You just love a sound. I don’t want to make nothing like that... If it comes to it, I might. You never know.”

23. YC f/ Future "Racks" (2011)

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Producer: Sonny Digital
Album: Rack Nation
Label: Universal Republic

Young Chop: “That beat was just so fucking amazing. It’s well put-together, from the 808s, to the instruments, to the hi-hats. It was just well put-together, plus I’m friends with my boy Sonny Digital who made it. That beat hard.”

22. 2 Chainz f/ Drake "No Lie" (2012)

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Producer: Mike WiLL Made It, Marz
Album: Based on a T.R.U. Story
Label: Def Jam

Young Chop: “That’s some whole next level type shit right there. That was some whole next level type 2012, 2020 type music right there. I don’t know. Them beats be so crazy. I can’t explain these beats. It just touched me in a different way. That beat just gets you hyped. Mike Will my boy too. I been in the studio with him a couple of times.”

21. Big Sean "Dance (A$$)" (2011)

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Producer: Da Internz, L. McGee
Album: Finally Famous
Label: G.O.O.D. Music, Def Jam

Young Chop: “That’s like some straight Chicago type footwork type music. It was just mixed in with some just pop shit. It just give you a whole nother feel. Coming from Chicago, cause Da Internz produced it, so you know they gonna give it that feel. It was like when you come from Chicago and you look for that footwork music, you’ll know. You just gonna know.”

20. Chief Keef f/ Lil Reese "I Dont Like" (2012)

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Producer: Young Chop
Album: Finally Rich
Label: Interscope, Glory Boys

Young Chop: “With that beat, I was trying to get across that, ‘I’m that nigga, y’all need to look at me.’ When I was making it, I wasn’t specifically making it for Keef. I was making it for somebody else, and he just so happened to pick it. We was in the studio and I was making it for some other artist, but he just so happened to write to it, and come up with it right there. The beat is crazy. It’s dark, it’s party-type. That song’s just going to go down in history. It was for Reesey. Lil Reesey. It was originally his, but he was like, ‘Ehhh.’ But I told him to took a third verse on there. It just didn’t happen like that, cause ‘Us’ was Keef record. ‘Us’ was Keef record, and I just took it over to Reesey and he did his thing on it. It was just crazy for that to be happening though.”

19. Rick Ross "911" (2012)

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Producer: Young Shun
Album: God Forgives, I Don't
Label: Mercury

Young Chop: “That shit goes hard. It’s just hard. It doesn’t matter nothing else it’s just hard. It’s just a hard 808s, the hard little simple melody to it. It’s just rap. [I first heard it on] Wordstar, when he dropped it. That what made me blast that one."

18. Mary J. Blige "Real Love" (1992)

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Producer: Mark C. Rooney, Mark Morales
Album: What's the 411?
Label: Uptown

Young Chop: “That shit hard. That sample just hard in that motherfucker. I like the snares in that bitch. My mom [introduced me to it]. That’s how I found myself listening to it, cause my mom used to listen to Mary J. Blige all day long. I recently [produced for a female singer], but it didn’t make it. The Rihanna project. It didn’t make it though. It’s cool. I’m still going to work with the song and give it to different R&B artists.”

17. Young Scooter "Fake Rappers" (2012)

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Producer: Zaytoven
Album: N/A
Label: N/A


Young Chop: “Zaytoven is the best trap maker that I know. One of the best. His 808s is just damn heavy. To this day I still don’t know what he do with them 808s. It just got that whole little church vibe. It was just so scary. The beat is scary and big and epic. That’s what makes that song hard. The organ just so crazy on the motherfucker.”

16. Bone Thugs-n-Harmony "1st of tha Month" (1995)

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Producer: Ruthless Records
Album: E. 1999 Eternal
Label: Ruthless, Relativity

Young Chop: “Aw hell yeah. That beat just crazy. Ain’t no explaining that. That beat just automatically just it. I don’t know what was going through the producer head when he made that. It was just it. My uncle [put me onto it]. They played the radio. You know the radio still play that. [If I produced for them] it might be a slight difference with the sounds, but you know it’ll still be the same me. I would produce for them if they hit me up.”

15. 50 Cent "Wanksta" (2002)

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Producer: John "J-Praize" Freeman
Album: Music From and Inspired by the Motion Picture 8 Mile
Label: Aftermath, Interscope, Shady, G-Unit Records

Young Chop: “That shit hard. It was just simple and hard. The simple beats be so hard. Like simple 1-2-3 beats be hard. And how he was flowing on it was just hard. That instrument they was using, I don’t know what that was. It just made it hard. I was a big 50 Cent, a real big 50 Cent fan. My daddy used to give me, go buy a lot of 50 Cent mixtapes at the corner store. He knew I was a big 50 Cent fan. That’s how I heard about that song. Next thing I know, the song just blew up. He on TV, I’m dancing at home.”

14. Ice Cube "It Was a Good Day" (1993)

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Producer: DJ Pooh
Album: The Predator
Label: Priority

Young Chop: “That sample just hard. It was just hard. I like the bass line on that shit. I like how he was flowing on it. It was just smooth. Everything was smooth on it, and groovy. My uncle used to listen to that. I got [some sample-based beats] in my hard drive. [I haven't released them] yet. Actually, I be scared to play them. I be scared to play the stuff. I don’t know. I be scared to play them. [Laughs].”

13. Dem Franchize Boyz "White Tee" (2004)

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Producer: Pimpin
Album: Dem Franchize Boyz
Label: Universal Records

Young Chop: “The reason why I picked that was because that put Fruity Loops kind of on the map. You know it came straight from Fruity Loops cause of the sound from the little bungalow-biggie, whatever it’s called. From that, you just knew it was a straight FL Studio beat. That’s why I fuck with it, cause it showed that you could like make a hit off that. Everyody [wore a white tee then]. You were supposed to when that song came out."

12. Johnny May Cash f/ Rampage "Codeine" (2012)

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Producer: Young Chop
Album: N/A
Label: N/A


Young Chop: “That beat just hard. I was in Atlanta when I made that. I was just picking up some whole crazy, next level, futuristic type sound. And I was on that. We just threw it out just to throw it out.”

11. Rocko "Umma Do Me" (2007)

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Producer: Drumma Boy
Album: Self-Made
Label: Rocky Road/So So Def/Island Urban

Young Chop: “At that time, nobody was sounding like that at that time with that beat. That was some real activeness type music right there. The hook just matched the beat. It was real big at the time. That one song that was real big. It just brought some whole crazy—I can’t even explain it. At that time I was just listening to nothing but gangster hard music."

10. Lil Jon f/ E-40 and Sean P "Snap Ya Fingers" (2006)

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Producer: Lil Jon
Album: Crunk Hits
Label: TVT/BME Recordings

Young Chop: “That beat just crazy, get you hyped, just simple. With that [hums melody]. That whole little sound, that sound was just crazy. The simple stuff, it just do something to you. It just gets you in a whole nother element, and then it got to bounce. The simple stuff has to bounce. If it ain’t bouncing, you can’t rap to it.”

9. Chief Keef "Bang" (2011)

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Producer: DJ Kenn
Album: Back From The Dead
Label: N/A


Young Chop: “Oh my god. That sound right there, that really put Chicago on. With that one sound like that. At the time, we didn’t have no gangsters like that in Chicago, so when that came out, it was just like, ‘Oh my god.’ It was just, “Oh!’ It was just right. The beat was just cold. The instrument he had, it was just right. It was like totally different. We did one [together] for Keef. It’s called ‘Bands.’ We never put the whole song out. But it was called ‘Bands.’ I got a gang of beats me and him did. [Kenn] just don’t give a fuck. He don’t sound like nobody else to me. He just do what he do. That’s what makes him different to me. From like his off-beatness, to the high kick he riding. It just be different. So totally different. Opposite of what other producers do.”

8. Future "Gone To The Moon" (2011)

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Producer: Will A Fool
Album: Streetz Calling
Label: A1, Free Bandz

Young Chop: “That just get the club. Soon as they play at the end of the club, it just gets you a whole crazy. Get the holy ghost in yo ass. It just make you want to go crazy. I was 16 [when I first heard music in a club]. I went to the club to see what people wanted, and I just went to the crib and thought of a whole new sound. Add a little bit of that, and a little bit of that, and my own texture to it, and it just turn up.”

7. Future "Turn On The Lights" (2012)

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Producer: Mike Will Made It
Album: Pluto
Label: A1, Free Bandz, Epic

Young Chop: “That shit... Man, how could I explain that beat? That beat is like poppy, but with a hood sound to it, with a hard 808s. It was next level. All of Mike Will shit just be next level. It just be next level.”

6. Gucci Mane "I Think I Love Her" (2009)

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Producer: Polow da Don
Album: The State vs. Radric Davis
Label: Warner Bros


Young Chop: “Aw yeah, that shit hard. Who made that beat? Polow? That shit hard. That good south. That’s what set the whole song off. That [hums melody]. The sample! That was the whole beat. It was a sample. Who that was on the song? Ester Dean? Her voice just matched the whole shit and made it hard. That’s all I’m going to say about that shit. It still be everywhere. It still gets radio play. And he probably never pushed it as a single. I would’ve pushed it as a single. He probably still could do it, cause it’s still getting played.”

5. Gucci Mane "Freaky Girl" (2007)

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Producer: Cyber Sapp
Album: Hard to Kill
Label: Big Cat

Young Chop: “Man, all the Zaytoven beats go crazy though. All that old Gucci. Everything he put out was hard. I don’t think there was one weak beat he did. It’s simple. It’s just simple. The beat is just hard, it’s just bouncy. It gets people going. It just gets you going. It was like, it’s catchy. The beat catchy. It’s catchy on a whole nother ride. It makes you want to do something crazy—not real crazy—I’m talking about fondle a female chick, you know? Do something real crazy. It just matched what he was saying. The beat matched what he was saying. That’s what it is. That’s what made it so different.”

4. Young Jeezy f/ Akon "Soul Survivor" (2005)

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Producer: Akon
Album: Let's Get It: Thug Motivation 101
Label: Corporate Thugz/Island Def Jam

Young Chop: “That chorus on that song was just so crazy. That beat just crazy. I like the 808s on there. The instruments they were using too, it’s like strings and violins and shit. That shit just made it epic. That beat cold, super-cold.”

3. Kanye West "Love Lockdown" (2008)

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Producer: Kanye West, Jeff Bhasker
Album: 808s & Heartbreak
Label: Roc-A-Fella, Def Jam

Young Chop: “That shit was different. That was just totally different. It was just an 808 and some drums on that song. That’s what made it different. It was like African. It sounded African on certain bars. I liked that shit. It was just simple. I liked it right away. That’s why I had to go on the internet and really listen to it. I see what he was doing when he thought of that. I see what he was doing when he was singing it like that. He just think outside the box. Totally outside the box. Like crazy shit.”

2. 2Pac "Violent" (1991)

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1. Michael Jackson "Bad" (1987)

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Producer: Quincy Jones
Album: Bad
Label: Epic

Young Chop: “[Hums melody]. That was some crazy pop shit. Real pop shit. That’s different pop. That’s like that original pop. As far as that pop you hear right now, that ‘Whoop-whoop, woo-woo!’ and all that, that was that original, good pop. From the drums in that motherfucker, to the instruments. The instruments just set the beat off, and then his vocals just laid over the beat, it was good. All good. The mix on it? It was just crazy. Little kids, I don’t know why we all get addicted to Michael Jackson when we first see him or something. We get like addicted to him. Cause my little cousins right now, they addicted to him, and they like 2 or 3 or 4, and they like Michael Jackson. I don’t know what’s to him. My family showed me him one day, and ever since then I just rolled with it.”

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