Words by Landon A.
In the Hip-Hop heads patented list of top ranked producers Organized Noize rarely make a scratch in the top 5, or even the top 10 for that matter. As a soldier for Southern Hip-Hop, ONP easily grace my list of top 5 producers, wedged somewhere between Pete Rock and Dilla (I won’t tell you exactly where). With a majority of OutKast’s and Goodie Mob’s discography under their belt as well as a handful of other artists, the unbeatable trio of Ray Murray, Rico Wade and their flamboyant third Sleepy Brown have defined Southern funk for the better part of a decade.
Among their many merits, Sleepy and his chums released a 1998 album entitled Vinyl Room under the name Sleepy’s Theme. The album consisted of classic spaced out Organoid beats accompanied by the soulful crooning of the talented Mr. Brown. The standout track to me was the weedhead anthem “Choked Out Saturday Night,” the simple arrangement of drums layered underneath a subtle piano make this an afterhours gem that knocks heavily in any clunker on a blunt route.
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Download — Sleepy’s Theme – “Choked Out Saturday Night”
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I discovered that album earlier this year…too bad I can’t find it in physical form.
Organized Noize were once Top 5 producers in Hip-Hop – easily.
They could have been to this day if it had not been for:
a) Big Boi and 3000 being intelligent and learning the game (i.e. that they could make money by producing and collecting the entire publishing check rather than just spitting over someone else’s track). They made virtually nothing from the first album – which is why on the second they scaled back ON’s hand drastically.
b) Rico not willing to budge when it came to the trio’s production fee.
I will not go into details but that REALLY hurt them. I know a lot of artists/acts/groups who recorded with them (outside of their “family”) but the labels later refused to pay their desired fee. That is why you saw so little production credits for them after a while.
Amazing songs were completed but never made the album due to that fact alone.
@TRA
They’re probably still getting paid off of “Waterfalls” anyways.
they’ve always been a personal top 3 production squad for me and i’m far from a southern rap aficionado. i’m actually surprised more folks haven’t reached out to work with them.
I wonder if you’ll reveal how much were they charging? Was it high compared to others at the time? 5 to 1 ratio? 10 to 1?
YES! This right here is my shit!!!
Sorry – having a smoked out Saturday myself. This cd is a certified classic in my book. We could all use more Sleepy in our lives (fuck a homo! uhhh whatever).
Btw to the first poster, assuming you’re not homeless you can get a physical copy sent to you via amazon.com.
http://www.amazon.com/Vinyl-Room-Sleepys-Theme/dp/B000009OEY
In my opinion… it was more than fair for what they had already accomplished at that point in time.
A bargain against the likes of Timbo and The Neptunes – yet still a fair amount of money of course.
I think the problem was they signed that 20 million dollar deal for their own label… and Rico bought his mansion… and that was it for a while (i.e. the “Dungeon” was now in a mansion instead of an old home, etc).
Instead of grinding… they kind of became complacent. And the industry definitely has a “What have you done lately?” type of mentality.
And honestly, at that point… with their biggest act (Outkast) doing the bulk of their own production and Goodie Mob going the same route… they just no longer had the current hits to justify the fee.
(Even though, as I said, they were worth it. The music industry does not go by your past… it goes by what you are doing at that exact moment in time)
^ See: Scott Storch.
I had actually referenced him in what I wrote but hit ‘Backspace.’
But yeah, he is a perfect example of that.
I just read a piece on him in some men’s mag. As far back as he’s come, he’s still lost & his life is in disarray. But he’s attempting to work his way back up the ladder. I’m just curious if he learned anything during his fall that might help him if & when he gets back near the top.
Do you know which magazine it was? I would be curious to read that.
You know, I heard the rumors about Scott long before those rumors got around so… someone should have stepped in.
It is not as if people did not know.
That is when you really have to take count of who your true friends are.
That was one bad addiction.
http://men.style.com/details/features/full?id=content_11098
^ found it online, even though I think it reads better in magazine form.
this is great, listening to this and watching jada and rae in amsterdam is really messing with my detox period. A big old dutch sounds marvelous right now. Organized deserves a spot in everybodys top 5.
Much thanks Sir Gotty™
TRA dropping the industry insider info!
@Johnny Blaze
Thanks for refreshing my memory. I was actually looking for it at my local mom & pop back in April, because they have a lot of hard to find stuff. Since then I just never looked for it, but I’m bout order this joint right now.
i put so many people on tho this album…private party was my shit.
Organized Noize were once Top 5 producers in Hip-Hop – easily.
They could have been to this day if it had not been for:
a) Big Boi and 3000 being intelligent and learning the game (i.e. that they could make money by producing and collecting the entire publishing check rather than just spitting over someone else’s track). They made virtually nothing from the first album – which is why on the second they scaled back ON’s hand drastically.
======================================================
This is the main reason. Them cats were raping their artist’s budget. ONP lost when Big Boi & Dre started making their own beats.
Outkast was their flagship group but ONP fucked that up by being greedy.
I’m with Petey on this one.. Smoked Out is hella nice but Private Party ALWAYS gets more play.
Shout out to Landon A. with a great and inspired pick for a write-up
Them cats were raping their artist’s budget
^Wow! Niggas let that money dictate evrything and wind up with nothin in the long run!
anyone have a link to the album?
Well after the recent dungeon family reunion i hope that they are able to find a way to work together again. I would have been that much more exited in a Big Boi project is ON involved. Funny that somebody mentioned putting them up there with Dilla etc. I always have had them in my top 5, and even upto now because I still marvel at their music just like I do with Dilla. Creating a sound and having a consistency is hugely underated in rap nowadays but these dudes craft albums and create timeless organic music.
damn i see people in here dont kno wut they talkin bout. yaw shoulda bought that last vibe.