Hip hop producers don't get enough credit

[IznremiX]

Here is something that has been bugging me for the last little while. I've always found it strange that hip hop producers sell their beats, rather than working with MCs and making a song together. Its created this weird situation where hip hop producers are almost never named in the list of artists for a song. The beat is a huge part of the final product (especially in a lot of newer hip hop where a rapper only needs a vocabulary that consists of ten words), and i've always founded it a little strange that producers aren't credited properly. They aren't shown in the video, they don't have the same image, they aren't out there playing big shows and so on.

Examples

Cool and Dre produced a tonne of the "dj khaled" songs. Millions have listened to their music but very few know their names.

Diplo has produced a fair amount of beats that made it into the top 40 (such as "look at me now" and "paper planes". You never see his name under the list of artists however.

Macklemore has 10x as many facebook "likes" as ryan lewis. Ryan lewis is barely given any love in the thrift shop video. Ryan Lewis was actually credited as an artist on the song which was cool though.

I could go on for days with examples but there are some fairly big ones.

Thoughts?

[loverocket]

People still make hip hop? I haven't heard a new hip hop song in years.

[IznremiX]

People still make hip hop? I haven't heard a new hip hop song in years.

check out kendrick lamar i made a thread on him earlier, his album came out last year and imo it was a master piece

[Sambo]

Kendrick Lamar's backseat freestyle is an absolute tune. The lyrics are atrocious, like any good rap song!

[brocklambert]

I'm pretty sure they're content with just making millions of dollars off of producing mediocre tracks. You really think Diplo gives a shit that he doesn't get name credit? Hell no... he got PAID and flies around in private jets.

[CountenanT]

Mmmm, also, what about when they're constantly shouting the name of their record label/producer/16 other rappers on the track over the intro?

[IznremiX]

I'm pretty sure they're content with just making millions of dollars off of producing mediocre tracks. You really think Diplo gives a shit that he doesn't get name credit? Hell no... he got PAID and flies around in private jets.

thats the point that a lot of people bring up, however, i think your overestimating how much these producers make. diplo is perhaps a bad example because he's already huge on his own. but look at guys like cool and dre. compared to the rappers on their tracks, how many gigs do they play and how much do they get paid for live shows? record sales are a tiny fraction of an artists income and these dudes would probably make a lot more if they were given cred for tracks.

either way, they made the track, so they should get credited as an artist. i think not labelling them as artists limits how far producers and djs can go in hip hop, along with reducing the amount of respect they receive. Even with smaller rappers who are only known in their cities, there generally seems to be very little respect for producers and djs as artists. 99% of the time the dj at their show just hits play on a beat and stands their awkwardly (a great exception to this is Shad and his dj). I suppose what I was trying to get at, is that djs and producers are playing a very small role in the live environment, which is primarily a result of no one knowing who they are as they are never given credit for their music

@countenant, i don't think anyone can comprehend what they are saying haha

[CountenanT]

I'm finding this a tad hard to get my head around I'll admit, but what about the fact that producers are pretty much never credited on anything anyway? Since pretty much ever? And it doesn't seem to be a problem. Unless they were also one of the artists on the track - be it pop, hip hop, or dance.
The vast majority of music buyers will buy a record off the artist name, the only people generally forward thinking enough to bother looking up a producer to find other tracks by them/hire them for their own purposes are those in the industry and DJs. Like ice to eskimos I'd say.

[IznremiX]

I'm finding this a tad hard to get my head around I'll admit, but what about the fact that producers are pretty much never credited on anything anyway? Since pretty much ever? And it doesn't seem to be a problem. Unless they were also one of the artists on the track - be it pop, hip hop, or dance.
The vast majority of music buyers will buy a record off the artist name, the only people generally forward thinking enough to bother looking up a producer to find other tracks by them/hire them for their own purposes are those in the industry and DJs. Like ice to eskimos I'd say.

Very valid point I suppose I was looking at this only from an electronic music perspective. however, i still feel that if they made the beat (which is such a crucial and large part of the track), they should receive a bit more credit than they currently do

[CountenanT]

Another point I'd make is that, if they felt that they needed to be credited...I'm sure they'd be able to negotiate it! Especially the big name ones. It might be easy to shunt a small time producer into the back of the inner sleeve credits, but if the big ones wanted credit, Im sure they'd have no problem getting it!