I'm not sayin' the Jersey beatmaker is the best we ever had, but definitely, he should be in everybody's top list. And most of the time, he isn't... But he was the former protégé of Marley Marl, and did beats with for L.O.T.U.G. : Here comes the lords. According to Just Blaze, K-Def was the best in the game for a minute, but as he was working in the shadow of Marley Marl, he didn't get all the recognition he should have had. And it's true, also he worked with : tragdy Khadafi, Ghostfazce Killah, ODB, Craig Mack and of course Real Live which he was part of. Real Live's album, The turnaround : A long awaited drama, was just a classicn (check out for « Real live shit remix », can't go wrong with that). K-Def is a very determined beamaker, here is a quick video made by the french magazine Gasface, you'll catch my point :
Music Is my Character par Gasface K-def has started to make beats in 87', and the first beats used by rap crews were for : Edo-G and the Bulldogs, Nice and Smooth, Sound Effects. Later on, thanks to his friend John doe, who knew Marley Marl, he got in touch with him, and then he's introduced to L.O.T.U.G., and then you know, tracks like that came out : (first record he released)
In 88', K-Def got connected to Larry-O, and they did an album. But no one would signed them, they were not ready for Larry-O's style... Anyway, he did his stuff for a lot of rappers, and when I said it is unfair that he's not on the list of your top producers, it's not only because you might not realise all the classics he did. It's because he also did tracks, but no credit was given to him, the wonderful world of industry... For example, it's not mentionned on the album, but he did that :
He also made beats for LL, but once again, no credit (a let you try to find out which tracks he made for him). He also made the beat of Jayo Fellony « Trued up » which was a diss to Jaÿ-Z (never heard of a reply by Jaÿ-Z by the way). Classics by K-Def : Chief Rocka, How Nice I am, One for the trouble, Real live shit... Let's hear a few.
You know, he deserves more credit than it is at the minute... Nowadays, he's still in the game, doing beat tapes (One Man Band, 2013 ; Looking for the perfect break vol. 2, 2013), re-issues of Real Live, proper albums such as ''The meeting », and we should have the chance to hear « Tape one » this summer... Mad props to him.
FOLLOW : soundcloud.com/kdef / twitter.com/DJKDEF
- BECRI
