“My Year” Prod By Da Beatminerz Ft De La Soul
While Da Beatminerz have come to define a very specific sound in Hip-Hop over the course of their illustrious career spanning more than three decades, the bulk of their production work is credited on albums by other artists. Their recent output, however, has been focused on their own proper full-length album, Stifled Creativity. On Friday (5/10/2024), the seminal Hip-Hop production duo, also known as the “Boom Bap Ambassadors”, shared the album’s second single “My Year“, with verses from De La Soul, Pharoahe Monch, Rasheed Chappell, and Corey Glover (of Living Colour). Today (5/14/2024), the song’s vibrant Anthony Edwards-animated music video debuted on YouTube.
I’m inspired by the music. Lyrics can help prompt some great results as well as help with breaking the scenes apart based on the rapper’s cadence and patterns. – Anthony Edwards
“Been friends with De La since 88 and Monch since 87 so the relationship was already there. I met them all at the record store I worked at (Music Factory in Jamaica, Queens) and this is the second song I did with both (De La “The Hustle” & Monch “Tight [REMIX]”). “My Year” was one of the first songs we worked on when we started the album and the order you hear them in is the order we made. It took a minute to get Dave’s vocals because of his health. When we got them, We were so grateful and appreciative. He didn’t have to do the song but he came through & that the world to me.I met Rasheed through Kenny Dope. When I heard him, I automatically wanted to work with him, so when we put the blueprint together for the song, I knew he would fit perfectly. The icing on the cake was Corey Glover (Thanks to Guy Routte). Everything came together just how we wanted.” – Mr. Walt of Da Beatminerz
MORE ABOUT DA BEATMINERZ:
Da Beatminerz defined the dark, gritty sound of underground Hip-Hop in the ’90s. Formed in 1992 by brothers Walter “Mr. Walt” and Ewart “DJ Evil Dee” Dewgarde, the production duo pioneered Hip-Hop’s brooding vibes, a tonal shift that came with the release of Black Moon‘s classic debut album Enta Da Stage. As producers of the seminal 1993 project in its entirety, Da Beatminerz set a precedent for hardcore Hip-Hop. Their sample-heavy, gutter tracks laced with heavy basslines, and hard kicks and snares helped reshape the music genre. In 1995, along with a third official member, Baby Paul, Da Beatminerz produced the entirety of Smif-N-Wessun‘s classic debut album Dah Shinin’. Their production credits eventually extended to records by Naughty By Nature, Eminem, D’ Angelo, MOP, Heltah Skeltah, Busta Rhymes, Next, Eightball & MJG, Nas, Dave East, Remy Ma, Styles P, Ghostface Killah, among others.
By 2001, Da Beatminerz expanded to five members, with producers Rich Blak and Chocolate Ty joining Baby Paul, Evil Dee, and Mr. Walt. That year, the group released their debut album Brace 4 Impak, via underground staple Rawkus Records. The album featured guest appearances from Royce Da 5’9″, Ras Kass, Diamond D, Pete Rock, Talib Kweli, and more. By 2004, the crew narrowed back to its original members, Evil Dee and Mr. Walt, and the duo released their second album, Fully Loaded w/ Statik, followed by their instrumental album Unmarked Music, Vol. 1 in 2007. Da Beatminerz went on to lend music to an episode of Hulu’s hit series Wu-Tang: An American Saga. Moving into multimedia, the duo produced music for VH1’s series The Breaks, and helped score Netflix’s The Forty-Year-Old Version.