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Recognized by many as the Godfather of Chicago hip-hop, No I.D. has had an illustrious career that spans 20 years—and like fine wine, he’s only gotten better with age.
Breaking into the industry in the early '90s as Common’s in-house producer, No I.D. ascended from underground crate-digger to A-list hitmaker, crafting lush soundscapes for the likes of Jay-Z, Kanye West, Drake, and Rihanna. His talents have taken him in many directions, including a brief career as a rapper, and now as executive vice president of Def Jam.
Before he was known to the world as "Kanye’s mentor," No I.D. was quietly building his own extensive catalog, lacing beats for everybody from G-Unit and Ghostface Killah to Bow Wow—inlcuding many you may not know he produced.
The end of 2011 finds No I.D. reuniting with Common for The Dreamer, The Believer, which he produced in its entirety. On the eve of one of the year's most anticipated releases, Complex caught up with No I.D. These are the stories behind the best beats by Dion.
As told to Andrew Barber (@fakeshoredrive)
Common "Soul By The Pound"
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Common “Soul By The Pound” (1992)
Album: Can I Borrow A Dollar?
Label: Relativity
No I.D.: “I feel like that was the record that broke us out of being just some guys from Chicago. I think people heard that record and said ‘Those guys are dope.’ The remix actually meant more than the original to me. It was the third single from Can I Borrow A Dollar, so by the time we did the video, we had to touch it up.
“We wanted to make the record to be more exciting, so we changed it a bit. And I think I even grew with my skill from the first version to the second version. So we did a new version for some new energy.”
Common “Take It EZ”
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Common “Take It EZ” (1992)
Album: Can I Borrow A Dollar?
Label: Relativity
No I.D.: “Take It EZ” was actually the first video I ever produced for. It was a beat that [Twilite] Tone had originally did, and I went in and changed all the music around. He did the drums and I did the music. It was crazy because it was the first time I’d seen a record I’d done on TV.
Common "Resurrection"
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Common “Resurrection” (1994)
Album: Resurrection
Label: Relativity
No I.D.: “We actually started that song with another beat. This track and ‘Nuthin To Do’ both ended up with different beats. A lot of the songs would start with me just trying to come up with a scratch and a beat.
“We’d felt the pressure of [Nas’] Illmatic coming out, and we were both 'like ‘Okay, it’s time for us to step this up three or four notches.’ I hooked the beat up and once he [Common] heard the ”Resurrection” scratch he immediately started writing.
“Before that I was just a house music DJ, so when I was working on Can I Borrow A Dollar?, it was more of me digging out of my house crates trying to find samples in there. But after we finished that album, and began work on Resurrection, I’d met the Beatnuts and they taught me how to dig for samples. This guy V.I.C. that was down with them, Buckwild and Ju Ju (of the Beatnuts)—they were the reason I knew how to dig and make that specific style of hip-hop.
“We recorded the whole album on Long Island at Erick Sermon’s studio. Since our budget was so small, we didn’t work on songs in the studio. We’d work on the songs at home [in Chicago], and we’d just record them at the studio.
“We didn’t actually sit in the studio to listen and write to tracks, it was more like ‘Okay, we’re done writing, now lets go record all the songs at once—then we’ll mix them.’ We’d go to the east coast because they had all the engineers and equipment. They were already prepped in hip-hop. In Chicago at that time there was no real hip-hop studios. The engineers in Chicago were all House music engineers or did jingles or R&B.
Common "I Used To Love H.E.R."
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Common “I Used To Love H.E.R.” (1994)
Album: Resurrection
Label: Relativity
No I.D.: ‘I Used To Love H.E.R.’, from a production standpoint, was a brainchild of the style I developed on ‘Soul By The Pound.’ I had a bassline sound that I would play with the SP1200—it just had a certain sound and a feel to it. And I was really into the melodies of the George Benson sample [‘The Changing World’], but I wanted to make it harder with that bassline.
“Common came with this incredible story, which at the time we had no idea would be so revered. Common and Twilite Tone talked about the concept before he talked to me about it. My role was refining it into a song and orchestrating the musical changes, and helping Rash structure the bars—making sure he rapped on beat. But once he had the rap in his head, it was just a matter of making it come across the best. I give him full credit on that one. It definitely wasn’t a thing where I said ‘Hey, I’ve got an idea, do this.’
“We shot the video in Chicago. We actually shot two or three videos before it came out right. The version that the world saw was actually the third version, after we wasted a ton of money on the first two [Laughs.].
“I felt like ‘Soul By The Pound,’ started to get us to the next level but ‘I Used To Love H.E.R.’ catapulted us all the way over. It was way more revered. We were respected with ‘Soul By The Pound’ but it was ‘Oh my God this is something special!’ with ‘I Used To Love H.E.R.’
“When I do music, I have a hard time experiencing it like everyone else, because there’s so much thought that goes into it. You can sometimes fool yourself into thinking it’s better than what it is, which stops me from being creative on the next thing I do. So I kind of didn’t know that it was going to be so big. Because when it came out, it’s not like it sold a ton of records. It didn’t happen instantly, it kind of happened over time.
“Maybe it was because I was just in Chicago, and I didn’t get a chance to experience it the way the rest of the world got to experience it. You know, Chicago got on it a little later [Laughs.]. After this record came out, I started to get calls from other artists inquiring about production. Before that I never got calls like that. I’d get a call like ‘Biggie wants a beat’ and I’d be blown away. It was a foreign concept to me. Biggie, Pun, Ghostface—I’d never got calls like that before. That’s the first time when I thought ‘Maybe I’m onto something here.’”
Common f/Lauryn Hill "Retrospect For Life"
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Common f/ Lauryn Hill “Retrospect For Life” (1997)
Album: One Day It’ll All Make Sense
Label: Relativity
No I.D.: “The funniest thing is, the song was a true story. It was weird because when the girl (who it was about) heard it, she spazzed out about it.
“My man James Poyser played the keys on it. There was actually another version without James, but we had him come in on the train to fix it up. Lauryn actually met James for the first time during this session, and he later went on to work with her on The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill—so that record has a lot of musical significance. There’s a lot of stories about it.
“I always felt like Erykah [Badu] should’ve been on that one, and Lauryn should’ve been on the Roots record [One Day It’ll All Make Sense’s “All Night Long”]. But it worked out great.
“Common and Lauryn had a real cool relationship—she loved him as a rapper. She recorded this before Miseducation dropped so it was as big of a ‘deal’ to get her [Laughs.] The video was also Common’s first acting role. How ironic, right?”
Common "Invocation"
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Common “Invocation” (1997)
Album: One Day It’ll All Make Sense
Label: Relativity
No I.D.: “That is one of my personal favorites. I feel like that’s a classic Common/No I.D. staple right there. It has the melodies I love, and it was him just rapping—not worried about a chorus or anything. Not saying it’s my best record or anything, but it’s definitely one of my personal favorites. When I hear it, it makes me feel good.
No I.D. f/ Common & Dug Infinite "State to State"
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No I.D. f/ Common & Dug Infinite “State To State” (1997)
Album: Accept Your Own And Be Yourself [The Black Album]
Label: Relativity
No I.D.:“That was on the first Black Album [Laughs.] That whole album was a weird, weird process as Common and I were at a weird place in our relationship. The whole album [Accept Your Own And Be Yourself (The Black Album)] was supposed to feature Common and Dug [Infinite]. I wanted this project to be like the Chicago Chronic, with Shawnna, Kanye, Dug, Teefa, Common, Just Ro and me.
I wanted this project to be like the Chicago Chronic, with Shawnna, Kanye, Dug, Teefa, Common, Just Ro, and me.
“That was my initial goal for the album. But everybody wasn’t on the same page, and everybody didn’t want to work with each other like that. So it ended up me and Dug doing the whole thing. In theory, if it would’ve went the way I wanted, we would’ve had a real dynasty type of team. Our goal was to sign everybody to a label that me and Common wanted to start. Relativity wanted to do it.
“Common was working on One Day It’ll All Make Sense at the time, but I wasn’t as heavily involved with that album as I was his previous two, so I didn’t come in until the very end, because I was working on my album. I wonder what the album would’ve sounded like had it have been half of the One Day / The Black Album beats?
“I signed my solo Relativity deal years before my album came out—before being a producer could be a career job. I never really wanted to be a rapper, but I wanted to do what Dre did and make my own version of The Chronic. But after that album came out, and I saw the politics of the game, I realized that side wasn’t for me. Relativity had me signed for a few albums, but I retired. [Laughs.]
No I.D. f/ Dug Infinite "Sky's The Limit"
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No I.D. f/ Dug Infinite “Sky’s The Limit” (1997)
Album: Accept Your Own And Be Yourself [The Black Album]
Label: Relativity
No I.D.: “That song embodies my personal spiritual outlook on life. When we do music, we influence people and that record is something I really felt during that era. Hip-Hop used to have real life, positive talk. You could say anything in hip-hop and people wouldn’t call it emo or anything like that—it was just hip-hop. I mean, even back then Dr. Dre was rapping about ‘I still express, yo I don’t smoke weed or sess.’
“Somewhere along the way hip-hop lost its ability to say anything, and 'Sky’s The Limit' was talking about people who only cared about money and success. We wanted to talk about the kids and the people who were getting ‘lost in the sauce,’ so to speak.
“That was the only video shot for the album. It got a decent amount of play on MTV, BET and The Box. It wasn’t all over the place or heavily promoted. Biggie’s 'Sky’s The Limit' came out around the same time and it was just pure coincidence.”
Beanie Sigel “Man’s World”
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Beanie Sigel “Man’s World” (2001)
Album: The Reason
Label: Roc-A-Fella/Def Jam
No I.D.: “‘Man’s World’ was one of those records where I wanted to show people what time it was. It was to show people I really know how to chop samples and do this. It was really meant for Jay’s Blueprint, but somehow Hop [Kyambo Joshua] gave it to Beans before he gave it to Jay.
I was probably a little ticked off by it, but it was still a perfect record. It was one of my quintessential hip-hop records. “It came out a few months before Blueprint did, and it was a really like a statement like ‘I do this for real.”
Jay-Z f/ Latoiya Williams “All Around The World” (2002)
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Jay-Z f/ Latoiya Williams “All Around The World” (2002)
Album: The Blueprint 2: The Gift & The Curse
Label: Roc-A-Fella/Def Jam
No I.D.: “That was the first Jay-Z song that I did, and the funny part about it is I gave him that beat around the time of The Blueprint. And the record just sat there until the last few days before The Blueprint 2 had to be turned in and someone was like ‘You remember this record?’ But before it went on the album, they went in and changed my beat around a little bit, so I had problems tracking it.
I was never trying to work with Jay, because I came from an era where you woked with who you worked with. To me it was just Common.
“I’d been around with them since [In My Lifetime] Vol. 1 and I was even in the studio when they mixed ‘Sunshine.’ But I was never trying to work with Jay, because I came from an era where you worked with who you worked with. To me it was just Common, so I wasn’t really trying to work with everyone like that.
“Me and Hop added Latoiya Williams to the track because we always loved her. She is one of my favorite unknown classic soul singers. That record was kind of the resurgence of No I.D. and the intro to me working with other people.”
G-Unit “Smile”
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G-Unit “Smile” (2003)
Album: Beg For Mercy
Label: G-Unit/Interscope
No I.D.: “That was around the time when I was starting to shop music to other people. I’m not sure how they got the record, but it got shopped and they got it and recorded to it. It was weird, because at the time, the last place I thought this would land would be G-Unit.
“I remember I saw them on 106 & Park or Rap City, and they said ‘Yeah, we’re working with No I.D.’ and I was like ‘Word?’ I didn’t know they were going to make a single out of it. I had no relationships with them at the time, and they ended up pushing it and being the set-up for Lloyd Banks’ solo album. It was totally out of the blue and unexpected.”
Ghostface Killah f/ Styles P & Sheek Louch “Metal Lungies”
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Ghostface Killah f/ Styles P & Sheek Louch “Metal Lungies” (2004)
Album: The Pretty Toney Album
Label: Def Jam
No I.D.: “Ghostface, when it comes to hip-hop, was one of my favorite rappers, and definitely one of my favorites in the Wu-Tang. He’s also a really cool dude. So we got together, and every now and again I get to work with people who aren’t just looking for singles. They’re just looking for hip-hop—they want to do it for the sake of making hip-hop.
Every now and again I get to work with people who aren’t just looking for singles. They’re just looking for hip-hop—they want to do it for the sake of making hip-hop.
“You don’t always get a chance to work with the people you want to, and The Lox was always a group I respected. And the same way with the Rhianna [“We All Want Love”] record, organically it was great for me to do it. It was different and I’d done nothing like it and nothing was standing in my way. It’s something I can put in my folder and say ‘No I.D. did that.’
“I had two placements on that Ghosface record [The Pretty Toney LP] and at the time I had a production deal with Def Jam for the [R&B singer] Kaye Fox album. So both of us being in the Def Jam building at the time definitely led to us linking up.”
Bow Wow f/ Omarion “Let Me Hold You”
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Bow Wow f/ Omarion “Let Me Hold You” (2005)
Album: Wanted
Label: Columbia
No I.D.: “That was the first beat I did when I went to Atlanta to work with Jermaine Dupri. We’d always been cool, but then we were establishing a working relationship. I wanted to work with him and learn some things—things that weren’t in my repertoire. I knew what I was doing, but he was winning and I couldn’t understand it. He’s just winning. So he’s like, 'Dion come by and let’s see what’s happening.'
I wanted to work with [J.D.] and learn some things—things that weren’t in my repertoire. I knew what I was doing, but he was winning
“So they were finishing up the Bow Wow album, and they needed one more joint—a single. Jermaine was like ‘Bring some samples over.’ Truthfully, I was a little hesitant to bring my best samples, so I brought my samples that weren’t as ‘diggin’ in the crates’ or important to me. Why would I pull out a Luther Vandross sample?
“So I pulled out the sample and J.D. was like ‘That’s it right there!’ And I was like ‘Word?’ We started playing around on the CD turntables and Jermaine was telling me to do the record a certain way. In my heart of hearts, I thought it might fall in corny territory. But I decided to put my mind in the hit place, thinking like a producer who makes hits. What would I need to make this huge?
In my heart of hearts, I thought it might fall in corny territory. But I decided to put my mind in the hit place, thinking like a producer who makes hits.
“Maybe a half hour later I played it for him and he was like ‘That’s it.’ Then a few weeks later the record was done and Omarion was on it and I was like ‘Oh man, Omarion is on this?’ [Laughs] And not to diss Omarion, but I didn’t like the hook, I thought it was wordy. I didn’t think it was a hit, I felt everything was going wrong with the record. Then I said to myself ‘Dion, humble yourself. Get out of the real hip-hop world and accept the fact that you don’t know everything.' Who am I to front? And that was actually my first record that went No. 1. It was all over the place, on 106 & Park, on the radio and then it went No. 1. “It changed my whole way of thinking and how I produce. I had been making it so hard for myself, so I’m like, 'Damn—this isn’t that hard at all. I can do these types of records and it’s okay.’”
Rhymefest f/ Mikkey Halsted & Bump J “Chicagorillas”
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Rhymefest f/ Mikkey Halsted & Bump J “Chicagorillas” (2006)
Album: Blue Collar
Label: J Records/Allido
No I.D.: “I was working with a producer by the name of Miykal Snoddy. I don’t like to be a guy who has a bunch of ghost-producers, so I’ll honestly say that he did the majority of that beat. I moreso put the direction of the record together.
“It was the first time I worked with Bump, and of course I’d been working with Mikkey. It was something to tell the story of that time period. It was a real street record. 10 toes on the ground. It was an underground moment—a moment in time. It should’ve been a changing of the guard with these guys for Chicago rap.”
Jay-Z f/ Nas “Success”
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Jay-Z f/ Nas “Success” (2007)
Album: American Gangster
Label: Def Jam
No I.D.: “Jermaine Dupri hit me and was like, ‘Let’s go work with Jay in New York.’ Now, I really like working with people, so I was ready to go up there and record with him. J.D. and I decided to work on the beat together in the studio.’
So we’re in the studio and Lebron’s there, and Beyonce’s there. And I was off to the side with my headphones on doing the beat on my laptop.
“So we’re in the studio and Lebron’s there, and Beyonce’s there. And I was off to the side with my headphones on doing the beat on my laptop. Everyone kept looking at me like ‘What’s this guy doing over there on his computer?’ No keyboard—I was just on my MacBook. I’m sure they thought I was just surfing the net or something.
“‘Jay and Jermaine looked over at me like ‘What do you got?’ So I play it and Jay’s like ‘Awww shit that’s it. Get that laptop back out and let’s do some more.’ So that was the first time we jousted like that in the studio. It was also my first Nas collaboration, and the record really put me back in motion.”
Jay-Z “Fallin”
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Jay-Z “Fallin” (2007)
Album: American Gangster
Label: Def Jam
No I.D.: “So ‘Fallin’ was another record I did with Jermaine [Dupri]. The chops were real choppy on that, and I was somewhat known for sample beats. It was also something we’re not used to hearing from Jermaine and his whole So So Def sound. It was a hardcore hip-hop record, not something to dance to.”
Plies “Put It On Ya”
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Plies “Put It On Ya” (2008)
Album: Da REAList
Label: Slip-N-Slide/Atlantic
No I.D.: “Being in Atlanta, I was trying to expand my palate, so to speak, and do different records. One of my guys Serge said ‘Give me some beats.’ So I passed along a few beats, and this was one of them. A lot of the times I have keyboard players, but this time I played it for myself.
“So Serge came back and said Plies was taking the record and wanted to make it a single. It was another one of those records that was a departure from the traditional No I.D. hip-hop sound. It was radio-ready, so when I saw what kind of airplay it was getting, I knew it was a good look.”
Kanye West “Heartless”
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Kanye West “Heartless” (2008)
Album: 808s & Heartbreak
Label: Roc-A-Fella/Def Jam
No I.D.: “Heartless” was actually for Blueprint 3. I remember when we got to that record, Kanye heard it and said ‘Nope, I’m keeping this one for myself.’ And I was like, ‘Come on man, you’re not even working on an album.’ And he said ‘Now I am.’ [Laughs.] Jay was sitting there waiting on beats for the album, and here we go embarking on a whole other album. Then you’ve gotta do a tour and everything.
Kanye heard it and said, ‘Nope I’m keeping this one for myself.’ And I was like, ‘Come on man, you’re not even working on an album.’ And he said ‘Now I am.’ [Laughs.]
“That’s why Timbaland did so many things on Blueprint 3 because we kept a lot of those beats for 808s. But I knew “Heartless” was going to be a big record. It was actually between this and “Love Lockdown” for what he was gonna play on the VMAs—those were the only two songs he had done at the time. And that’s when he premiered that whole 808s look. That’s probably the biggest song of my career or any song I’ve been a part of.
“Jay wasn’t mad that Ye got it, because that’s par for the course. You know, he just kinda looked at me like ‘Yo, where are some more of them beats?’”
Kanye West “Coldest Winter”
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Kanye West “Coldest Winter” (2008)
Album: 808s & Heartbreak
Label: Roc-A-Fella/Def Jam
No I.D.: “I was sitting at home in Atlanta—and I’m not saying 808s & Heartbreakswas my idea—but I was practicing a branding experiment. So I grew out my beard and started wearing old sunglasses all the time and I grew my hair out. Kanye would be like ‘Yo, what are you doing?’ and I’d say ‘Cocaine 80s.’ This is where the group Cocaine 80s derived from—it was a lifestyle.
I grew out my beard and started wearing old sunglasses all the time and I grew my hair out. Kanye would be like ‘Yo, what are you doing?’ and I’d say ‘Cocaine 80s.’
“I’d sit around listen to all of these 80s records, and one day I came across Tears For Fears ‘Memories Fade’ and I immediately knew ‘That’s it. Right here.’ So I played him the whole section, and Ye said ‘I would just change one word.’ I had no idea he’d keep it as is. I knew it was something as soon as I heard the song. I knew it was special.
“Cocaine 80s was my concept, but Kanye dove deep into it himself. It wasn’t ‘Hey, I want to take this style,’ it was more ‘Can I make this work?’ It definitely had its moment though. People started growing beards and making a certain type of music during that era. And the group [Cocaine 80s] is still around now, and I have a lot planned for it.”
Kanye West f/ Lil Wayne “See You In My Nightmares”
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Kanye West f/ Lil Wayne “See You In My Nightmares” (2008)
Album: 808s & Heartbreak
Label: Roc-A-Fella/Def Jam
No I.D.: “I had the music this time, and it was sounding good, and then Kanye came in and added certain aspects. Kanye wanted to put Wayne on it, so it was like the battle of the Auto-Tunes. Truthfully, I was never into Auto-Tune, but I knew with Kanye, he was going to take it somewhere else from a creative standpoint.
I felt it would be different than just beats and Auto-Tune—there was a real purpose with the sound. It was emotional outlet for him—it was much better than just an Auto-Tune album. And it’s held up really well.”
Bump J “Letter 2 My Competition”
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Bump J “Letter 2 My Competition” (2008)
Album: N/A
Label: N/A
No I.D.: “Me and Bump had talked and we decided we needed to get in the lab. That was like the first record we did. The beat was something I’d started for 808s & Heartbreaks, but never finished it. The beat wasn’t finished when I gave it to him, but he went CRAZY on it. I gave it to Ye and he was like ‘This dude really, really raps.’
Three days before he was supposed to begin work with me in Atlanta he was arrested [for bank robbery].
“So we were about to start doing a whole album together, and three days before he was supposed to begin work with me in Atlanta he was arrested [for bank robbery]. I was going to do his whole album and go all of the way in.
“A lot of the beats that I was going to give Bump, I ended up giving to Jay for the Blueprint 3. The whole plan was to put it all together, and then bring it to Kanye and G.O.O.D. Music. Kanye was in love with the record and the way Bump was going with things, that he may have even jumped on it. We had a big shot with Bump.”
Twista f/ Kanye West “Alright”
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Twista f/ Kanye West “Alright” (2009)
Album: Category F5
Label: GMG/EMI
No I.D.: “Kanye did a lot more on that record than I did. Twista had a deadline for his album, and Kanye couldn’t get the beat done in time. I didn’t want to keep them waiting so I grabbed the beat and finished it up. And that was my first ever Twista collaboration. I’ve gotta give most of the credit to Kanye on that record.”
Jay-Z “D.O.A.”
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Jay-Z “D.O.A.” (2009)
Album: The Blueprint 3
Label: Roc Nation/Atlantic
No I.D.: “That’s a pretty known story. We were working in Hawaii and we got into a big argument about the direction of Jay’s album. I wanted it to sound one way, and Jay another. So we started arguing back and forth, and then a Soulja Boy song came on where he was using Auto-Tune and Jay’s facial expression just turned to ‘What?’
We got into a big argument about the direction of Jay’s album. I wanted it to sound one way, and Jay another. Then a Soulja Boy song came on where he was using Auto-Tune and Jay’s facial expression just turned to ‘What?'
“I had that idea, and I pulled up the track. Jay liked it and knew exactly what to do, I could tell something serious was going through his head.
“So early the next morning Young Guru calls me super early and is like ‘Yo, get over here right now, you’ve gotta hear this.’ And I’m like ‘Cool. I’m about to go play basketball and then I’ll be through. I know it’s crazy, it’s Jay, but I’ll be there later.’ and Guru was like ‘No, you don’t understand. Come right now.’ So I went right over there and I heard just how crazy it was. But my first reaction was ‘I hope Kanye don’t get mad.’ [Laughs].
“So Jay looks at me and says ‘You’re overreacting. You don’t know what this is?’ I was like ‘Yeah, but...’ and then he says ‘Ye told me to do it.’ Then Kanye came in and said ‘Damn Jay, you went too far!’ and I stopped him and said ‘You’ve gotta put that on the record!’ And that’s how it all came together.
“I hopped on a plane to leave Hawaii and while I was in the air, Funkmaster Flex premiered it on Hot 97—ran it back, dropped bombs on it and everything. I came off the plane to so many texts and emails. That was one of my favorite hip-hop moments I’ve been involved in in my life. It was priceless.
I heard just how crazy it was. But my first reaction was ‘I hope Kanye don’t get mad.’
“Jay later called me to congratulate me on my Grammy. What a lot of people don’t know is that even if you win certain categories, you don’t get a physical Grammy. Only ‘Run This Town’ won me a physical Grammy even though both records won. But Jay said this one was more important because it wasn’t a real single—it wasn’t commercial record with a hook. It was a hard record. It was an accomplishment.”
Jay-Z f/ Kanye West & Rihanna “Run This Town”
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Jay-Z f/ Kanye West & Rihanna “Run This Town” (2009)
Album: The Blueprint 3
Label: Roc Nation/Atlantic
No I.D.: “That was initially a Rihanna record. She came down to Hawaii and we did it. We did a few records for her—and two of them became ‘Run This Town’ and Drake’s ‘Find Your Love.’ She came down and cut the record and then she passed on it. We were all like ‘What? You’re passing?’
“Jay heard it and said ‘This is my record now.’ Then Kanye heard it and said ‘Nah, don’t give Jay that record—that’s my record.’ [Laughs] Then Jay hits me and says, ‘Don’t let Kanye get that record.’ So Jay got it, and Kanye ended up doing a verse. It was a memorable moment. We won a Grammy, but when you have those three on a record, you’re supposed to win a Grammy. That was a monster that didn’t sound like a commercial record. It was a pure hip-hop beat, and darker than a traditional pop record.”
Jay-Z “Thank You”
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Jay-Z “Thank You” (2009)
Album: The Blueprint 3
Label: Roc Nation/Atlantic
No I.D.: “That was the first time I saw Kanye tell Jay-Z how to rap. Ye was telling him how to approach the song. It was so weird because who would’ve thought Kanye would be giving Jay-Z rapping tips? [Laughs] That was another one we did in Hawaii. That’s one of my sleeper favorites from my catalog.”
Drake “Show Me A Good Time”
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Drake “Show Me A Good Time” (2010)
Album: Thank Me Later
Label: Young Money/Cash Money/Universal Motown
No I.D.: “That record is another Hawaii special. Matter of fact, that’s when I first met Drake. Wayne had a show in Hawaii and Gee [Roberson] brought Drake to the studio while they were down there. We were in the studio working, and we knew about Drake, but we didn’t know who he was. We didn’t know that he was actually sitting in the studio with us. We were finishing the idea for the song, and he’s just sitting there, then we finally put two and two together like ‘Okay, thaaaaat’s Drake.’
“So when we started working on the beat, we didn’t set out to make a Drake beat—we were just working on music and he happened to be there. Kanye went in and added the ‘ah ah ah ah’ part. And it all came together.
“Then we went to the show later that night and it was our first time actually seeing him perform. We saw how the crowd reacted and how crazy they went. So that was our introduction to Drake.”
Drake “Find Your Love”
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Drake “Find Your Love” (2010)
Album: Thank Me Later
Label: Young Money/Cash Money/Universal Motown
No I.D.: “That was actually a Rihanna record. Drake came to the studio in LA for more music. I was already on the album as I cut a record with Ye for it, but I was like ‘Why not do more? Let’s work.’ So we were talking, as I like to talk to artists before we work. Drake heard Rihanna’s version and was like, ‘I really want to use this record,’ and I was like, ‘Man, ask her!' [Laughs].
“So he ended up with the beat and then when he recorded it he was singing, and I was like ‘Word? Singing. You’re really rolling with this, huh?’ Drake took it and made his own magic record.”
Rick Ross f/ Cee-Lo “Tears Of Joy”
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Rick Ross f/ Cee-Lo “Tears Of Joy” (2010)
Album: Teflon Don
Label: Def Jam/Slip-n-Slide/MMG
No I.D.: “The funny thing about that beat, is that one was made for J. Cole. J. Cole is a producer, and a lot of what I was doing for him wasn’t just giving him beats—I was helping him. When you’re O.G. status you’ve gotta give back, so I was guiding Cole and helping him do his thing. So I didn’t really sweat him passing on all of these records because I knew they’d find a good home.
So we were down in Hawaii and Rick Ross was out there. He asked me to play him some things, but I told him no because I was out there with Ye. That’s not how I roll—catch me outside of Hawaii. Then Ye said ‘Give Ross some beats, man!’
“I work really good when I’m challenged. I don’t work well if I’m not. So we were down in Hawaii and Rick Ross was out there. He asked me to play him some things, but I told him no because I was out there with Ye. That’s not how I roll—catch me outside of Hawaii. Then Ye said ‘Give Ross some beats, man!’ I just grabbbed some beats that I had and he picked it immediately. He called and said ‘I’m keeping that one for sure.’ So I was like ‘Okay, alright, let me know.’ I’ve heard that before.
“Then the next thing I know the record had leaked to the internet. I couldn’t believe how crazy the record was when I heard it. Everybody was hitting me about the record, so I was trying to figure out what Ross did to that beat to make everyone go so crazy. But it was definitely a special song and I was happy to be on that one. It just did something for me.
“Everyone knows I do beats for Jay and Ye, but that was just so unexpected for me. It was outside of my realm.”
Twista f/ Raekwon “The Heat”
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Twista f/ Raekwon “The Heat” (2010)
Album: The Perfect Storm
Label: GMG/EMI
No I.D.: “Me and [The Legendary] Traxster, we were always in an unspoken competition. We were two producers in Chicago doing it. I was kinda like Godfather of the Southside [of Chicago] and he was like Godfather of the Westside. So it was like two Godfathers had finally put their turf wars away and became good friends.
Me and [The Legendary] Traxster, we were always in an unspoken competition. We were two producers in Chicago doing it. I was kinda like Godfather of the Southside [of Chicago] and he was like Godfather of the Westside.
“We started making music together, and one day we were in the studio, and he was like ‘Let’s do something for Twista’ and I was like ‘Cool.’ It’s always weird when you get two established producers together to work, because you don’t wanna do the whole beat, and if the other party doesn’t add much and gets credit—you might feel a way about it.
“But Traxster made things super easy. The track was more in my lane than Traxster’s lane, but he definitely did his thing on it. It was a great experience. It was also funny because one day I saw an interview with Raekwon and he said he wanted to work with me and I thought to myself ‘You just did.’ But that started a commercial sound for both Traxster and myself. We took it to a level where it was commercially viable. But as much credit as they want to give me, I give him equal credit. He did all of that stuff: Twista, Do or Die, PsychoDrama. He needs to do one of these [Complex interviews] himself [Laughs].
Kanye West f/ Jay-Z, Pusha T, Cy-Hi Da Prynce, Swizz Beatz & The RZA “So Appalled”
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Kanye West f/ Jay-Z, Pusha T, Cy-Hi Da Prynce, Swizz Beatz & The RZA “So Appalled” (2010)
Album: My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy
Label: Roc-A-Fella/Def Jam
No I.D.: “A lot of those records I would come in with the music, and Kanye would come with the drums. When it was being made in Hawaii it was just Kanye and Pusha on it; and I remember Jay coming in and saying ‘Oh word? You’re just not gonna put me on that record? Oh word?’
When it was being made in Hawaii it was just Kanye and Pusha on it; and I remember Jay coming in and saying ‘Oh word? You’re just not gonna put me on that record?
“The record was something we’d initially cut for The Blueprint 3 and the files got lost. So the record was in limbo because we couldn’t find the files. We were just searching everywhere for that beat. Jay didn’t hear it again until Pusha and Ye were on it, and then we added Cy-Hi later.
“Funny thing is, when it didn’t end up going to Jay, me and Ye were in the studio in California, and Ye started freestyling verses and he said ‘I’m gonna give this to Puff.’ And I was like ‘Are you sure?’ And somehow that version that Ye did for Puff leaked on the internet. It didn’t end up making Dirty Money, but it was too good just to let be an internet leak. So it eventually became Ye’s record.”
Kanye West “Dark Fantasy”
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Kanye West “Dark Fantasy” (2010)
Album: My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy
Label: Roc-A-Fella/Def Jam
No I.D.: “That actually started out as a Blueprint 3 record. It was going to be the intro for that album. Then Jay changed his mind, so we revamped the record and gave it to Drake. That record ended up going through a lot of phases. While I was in Hawaii, RZA came down and had a beat—but before that Pete Rock had given us a beat and then he ripped the drums and made it the rap part of it. The parts that me and Ye did was the chorus and the musical parts.
“Everything was done separately and a lot of different people contributed. Then Nicki did the intro and it went crazy. That’s one of my favorite records, just because of all the emotions that came with it.”
Kanye West f/ Kid Cudi & Raekwon “Gorgeous”
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Kanye West f/ Kid Cudi & Raekwon “Gorgeous” (2010)
Album: My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy
Label: Roc-A-Fella/Def Jam
No I.D.: “That’s another one we did in Hawaii. I had the music already, and Kanye had the drums. That’s how we worked a lot of times, either he had the music and I had the drums or vice versa. I played the beat for him and he put it in the sampler and he did his little stutter step with it and it hit immediately.
That’s how we worked a lot of times, either [Kanye] had the music and I had the drums or vice versa. I played the beat for him and he put it in the sampler and he did his little stutter step with it and it hit immediately.
“That was right around the time when Jay Electronica dropped ‘Exhibit C’ and I remember I said ‘Jay Electronica is the new guy, he’s dope,’ and Ye was real mad, like, ‘What? I’m the guy, I’m the guy’ and he went in and spazzed out on it.
“We put Cudi on there, and then Raekwon was added to it. It’s Kanye’s call who to put on there, as he’ll work on a song until it comes out. Sometimes we’re not even around when changes get made. Most of the time I like the changes, and sometimes I’m like ‘Really?’ but you can’t go wrong with Chef Raekwon. [Laughs.]”
Mikkey Halsted f/ Freddie Gibbs “Field Nigga Blues”
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Mikkey Halsted f/ Freddie Gibbs “Field Nigga Blues” (2010)
Album: The Dark Room
Label: Uncrowned City
No I.D.: “That record had been around for a long time. That beat was actually made around the time Mikkey got his deal with Virgin, so we kinda had it just laying around. Mikkey recorded it and then said ‘I wanna put Gibbs on this’ and you know I fuck with Gibbs so I was like ‘Yeah that’d be dope.’ It was one of those records that may have not hit the full radar, but a lot of times they’re my favorite to make. People might stumble upon it and discover it and go ‘Word?’
Killer Mike f/ T.I. “Ready Set Go”
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Killer Mike f/ T.I. “Ready Set Go” (2011)
Album: Pl3dge
Label: Grind Time/SMC/Grand Hustle
No I.D.: “Killer is one of my friends. I worked with him on the Pledge II album, so I made this beat for him. T.I. jumped on it, and that was me and Tip’s introduction to one another—now I’m working with him too. I didn’t even charge for that record. The beat was made in a whole other style that I’d never put out in the world. It didn’t sound like a typical No I.D. beat”
Big Sean f/ Chris Brown “My Last”
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Big Sean f/ Chris Brown “My Last” (2011)
Album: Finally Famous
Label: Def Jam
No I.D.: “That record was actually made for J. Cole during one of his sessions. I told Cole it was going to be a single and he said ‘Nah, I don’t know about that one.’ So I passed it for Sean while he was working on his album, and told him this would be the one, and he said ‘I don’t know about that.’ He thought it sounded too commercial or whatever.
“I told him we needed someone to get on the chorus—maybe get Drake or Kanye on the chorus. But then Sean had a relationship with Chris Brown, and once Chris got on it I knew it was gone. Sean always tells the story about how he fronted on the record, but then when he’s performing the record in front of thousands of people with their hands up in the air, he says ‘Damn, No I.D. was really right about this one.’ [Laughs.]
Big Sean “I Do It”
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Big Sean “I Do It” (2011)
Album: Finally Famous
Label: Def Jam
No I.D.: "I was working on [Common’s] The Dreamer, The Believer, so I had this old-school keyboard that’s really hard to get. It doesn’t have any presets so you have to link the sound with the knob to get it right. So one day [The Legendary] Traxster comes in the lab, and we’d been working together. He heard it and was like ‘What is this?’ And I was like ‘Man, you don’t know nothing about that.’ Because we joust like that.
We both looked at each other like, ‘Now that we know how to do these type of beats, it’s going to be a problem. We know how to do records in that area? Yep, that’s a problem.’
“So I’m laying on the couch halfway asleep, and I’d spent so much time to get the distortion the right way on the beat, and to link the sounds. But it wasn’t there yet. Then I hear Traxster messing around on the keyboard, and I hear the melody and it wakes me up and I’m like ‘Ohhh shit.’ Then I get up and pull up the kit and start working on it with him. So this was opposite of [Twista’s] ‘The Heat’ where I had the music and then he did the drums. He did the melody and I did the drums, and then I had some of my players come in and do live instruments on it.
“But yeah, we both looked at each other like, ‘Now that we know how to do these type of beats, it’s going to be a problem. We know how to do records in that area? Yep, that’s a problem.’”
Jay-Z & Kanye West “Primetime”
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Jay-Z & Kanye West “Primetime” (2011)
Album: Watch The Throne
Label: Def Jam
No I.D.: “‘Primetime’ actually started out as something for Common’s The Dreamer, The Believer. Common passed, so I gave it to Nas and Nas was going to take it. I was in New York for the Big Sean listening party, and to talk to Def Jam about the [Vice President] position. I ended up in a Watch The Throne studio session, and Jay and Ye were like, ‘You’re going to give us something. You’ve gotta play something,’ so I pulled out the beat and Jay looked at me crazy and said the first four lines of the song: ‘Primetime, beat by Dion,’ and I was like ‘Ahhh shit!’
“A lot of my focus was going towards Common’s album at the time, and Watch The Throne wasn’t going where I was going creatively. They were going in a different direction. I always like to be a part of cohesive projects, and they’d already set their direction.”
Rihanna “We All Want Love”
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Rihanna “We All Want Love” (2011)
Album: Talk That Talk
Label: Def Jam
No I.D.: “That record symbolizes a part of me that does music that I really don’t get to put out in the world. Ester [Dean] came in and wrote the song to the beat after my manager Jay Brown gave it to her.
"It was never intended to be a Rihanna song, it was really just us doing what I consider to be classic music. It was a great experience coming from me, and the type of music that everyone expects me to do—traditional hip-hop stuff—to put out something like this.
“Rihanna recorded this on the road, as she was traveling. I believe it was done in a studio set up in a hotel room.”
Common f/ Nas “Ghetto Dreams”
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Common f/ Nas “Ghetto Dreams” (2011)
Album: The Dreamer, The Believer
Label: Warner Bros.
No I.D.: “‘Ghetto Dreams’ was really the first song we did for The Dreamer, The Believer. Common and I were in the lab and were just talking and catching up on life. We were just catching up at first, and then we started to talk about working and Common hit me with the ‘Man, you ain’t got no beats, though.’ And I was like ‘What? Hold on,’ so I put the headphones on and went to work.
We wanted the mic sound to sound like something from [Big Daddy Kane’s] Long Live The Kane. We wanted to recreate that moment and do a entire hardcore hip-hop album—no holds barred. Just indie style.
“I came back 15 minutes later and he heard it and went crazy. He recorded right there in the studio on a handheld. We wanted the mic sound to sound like something from [Big Daddy Kane’s] Long Live The Kane. We wanted to recreate that moment and do a entire hardcore hip-hop album—no holds barred. Just indie style.
“A little while later, Nas came in to work with me and I said ‘Yo, check this out.’ The same handheld mic was sitting in the studio, and Nas said ‘I’m on this right now.’ He wrote his lyrics on his Blackberry and just laid it right there. No studio booth at all. Just a handheld mic.
“Then a snippet of the record just appeared on Amazon one day. Somebody we know put it up, and it was a big deal. They killed the surprise, but it did what it needed to do.”