Well while sitting around and listening to jams from back in the day I decided to throw on that Com Sense “Resurrection”. One thang lead to another and I was looking for No I.D. productions. I found his discography and I noticed that he produced almost all of Com’s “Resurrection”. As expected “Resurrection” dropped in 94, as a lot of classics did (cough cough Illmatic). Well the reason that I raised this question, is No I.D. the greatest hip hop producer of all time, is because of these elements, Illmatic and Resurrection. Both are classic album and they should be on your pod 24/7 365. I would have to say that the MC’s made these albums classics but also you have to take note of the great producers that worked on these albums; i.e. DJ Premier, Pete Rock, Q-Tip, L.E.S., and Large Professor. My question is mainly based around the fact that Illmatic was produced by various producers and Resurrection was mainly produced by No I.D. I think that what you can immediately recognize when you listen to both albums is the differences in styles. Illmatic is more of a hardcore and depictive album backed by funk based sampled beats. Resurrection is a ride out type of album with a foundation made of jazzy and soulful samples, mostly airy but rhymatic. If you approach Resurrection as a first time listener and carefully check out the tracks presented you would think that “hey this album is something to ride out to”. The productions move you and capture your body steadily. I just find it amazing that a renown hip hop classic is based solely off one producer’s catalog. Usually when you have a producer and an artist work together on one project you usually don’t find consistency in high level performance, except for this case. It’s hard to believe that you have tracks like “I Used To Love H.E.R.”, “Resurrection”, and “Chapter 13 (Rich Man vs Poor Man)” on one album from one artist from one producer, how crazy is that? The songs contain hard hitting drums, smooth melodies, and edgy cuts. Thinking back into hip hop history, specifically the albums produced solely by one producer, I can’t think of any album that could top Resurrection. But even when you are thinking about crowning a producer as the greatest do you have to look at their whole catalog? Should you take into account their credibility as a popular producer? (Side Note No I.D. is a Grammy Winner) Do you have to consider how many songs they have produced versus another producer? What about “who” they have worked with? Well No I.D. has worked with Kanye, Common, Jay-Z, Ghostface, sheesh should I say more? You couldn’t ask for a better line up. Should one be interested in the diversity of the producer’s catalog? Even when you look through No I.D.’s catalog you have to wonder, when he was listed as a co-producer how much of his style is present in the track and did the other producer enlist him? None the less, Chicago has a great producer to be proud of! These are just my thoughts….what are yours?