Toppa Top 10: Ten Caribbean Producers Who Influenced Hip-Hop

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 +1
August 25, 2015


The Heatmakerz (Jamaica)
the-heatmakerz

“Dipset Anthem” can be played anywhere in the world, at any time of day, and you can bet the fish will stop swimming. The opening smash of chords, snares, and the sampled vocal riff of reggae crooner Sanchez elicits attention in the same way as a drill sergeant at boot camp.

The Heatmakerz, the Bronx-based producers behind the beat, definitely struck oil when they mined Sanchez’s original “One In A Million” for the 2002 single. Rsonist and Thrilla of The Heatmakerz originally hail from Kingston, Jamaica, which explains their educated inspiration for “Dipset Anthem.” Right around the same time that Kanye West and Just Blaze started speeding up vocals from old school R&B records, so were the Heatmakerz, making what Rsonist describes as “hardcore soul music.” Canibus was the first major artist to land a beat from the duo, who sampled the theme song from S.W.A.T. on “The C-Quel” on his sophomore album, 2000 B.C. But, after they met Cam’Ron and Jim Jones, they became resident producers for The Diplomats, giving the Harlem crew their signature sound. “Dipset Anthem” was hardly the only time the duo took inspiration from Jamaica; they sampled Sizzla’s “Woman I Need You” (on “More Gangsta Music,” from Cam’Ron’s Purple Haze) and “Simplicity” (on “Jamaican Joint” from Jim Jones’ On My Way To Church), and featured Kalonji on the Juelz Santana track “Shottas.”