Tag Teams: Rapper-Producer Albums

9th Wonder, Murs, Buckshot revive a forgotten concept.

Tag Teams: Rapper-Producer Albums - It's a big day for 9th Wonder. Two albums produced entirely by him — Murs' The Final Adventure and Buckshot's The Solution — hit stores today, Nov. 13. It's a rare feat in a day when most rap releases are smashed together by a mishmash of beatmakers-for-hire and no-name producers. Which is too bad, because some of hip hop's best albums were created by rapper-producer tag teams. Click on to see what we mean. —Alex Gale(Photos from left: Vince Bucci/PictureGroup,John Ricard / BET,Roger Kisby/Getty Images)

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Tag Teams: Rapper-Producer Albums - It's a big day for 9th Wonder. Two albums produced entirely by him — Murs' The Final Adventure and Buckshot's The Solution — hit stores today, Nov. 13. It's a rare feat in a day when most rap releases are smashed together by a mishmash of beatmakers-for-hire and no-name producers. Which is too bad, because some of hip hop's best albums were created by rapper-producer tag teams. Click on to see what we mean. —Alex Gale(Photos from left: Vince Bucci/PictureGroup,John Ricard / BET,Roger Kisby/Getty Images)

Big Tymers, Hood Rich - Love it or hate it, the Big Tymers' brash fourth album, released in 2006, topped the Billboard Hot 100, with Mannie Fresh's beats giving Birdman's boastful raps a swaggering, undeniable bounce.(Photo: Cash Money Records)

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Big Tymers, Hood Rich - Love it or hate it, the Big Tymers' brash fourth album, released in 2006, topped the Billboard Hot 100, with Mannie Fresh's beats giving Birdman's boastful raps a swaggering, undeniable bounce.(Photo: Cash Money Records)

Gang Starr, Daily Operation - One of rap's most consistent groups, Gang Starr was greater than the sum of its parts. On joints like "Take It Personal," from this acclaimed 1992 album, Guru's raspy monotone sounded that much better over Primo's chopped-up jazz breaks and surgical vocal scratches.(Photo: Chrysalis Records)

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Gang Starr, Daily Operation - One of rap's most consistent groups, Gang Starr was greater than the sum of its parts. On joints like "Take It Personal," from this acclaimed 1992 album, Guru's raspy monotone sounded that much better over Primo's chopped-up jazz breaks and surgical vocal scratches.(Photo: Chrysalis Records)

Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth, Mecca & The Soul Brother - CL's introspective, understated raps were the icing over Pete Rock's groundbreaking use of filtered basslines and echoed-out horn samples. The duo really hit their stride on this 1992 golden-era favorite, which features the timless "They Reminisce Over You."(Photo: Elektra Records)

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Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth, Mecca & The Soul Brother - CL's introspective, understated raps were the icing over Pete Rock's groundbreaking use of filtered basslines and echoed-out horn samples. The duo really hit their stride on this 1992 golden-era favorite, which features the timless "They Reminisce Over You."(Photo: Elektra Records)

Snoop Dogg, Doggystyle - Based on his name, it's really no surprise that Snoop featured a dog on the album cover of his debut. In addition to the cartoon cover — which was a riff on the iconic image of Snoopy lying on a doghouse — the video for "Who Am I? (What's My Name?)" featured the Cali native morphing into a canine. (Photo: Death Row Records)

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Snoop Dogg, Doggystyle, produced by Dr. Dre - The uncanny chemistry between Snoop Dogg and Dr. Dre — first unveiled on The Chronic — hit perfection on this 1993 game-changer. Dre, with help from Daz and Warren G behind the boards, made his signature G-funk even more, well, funkier and danceable, and Snoop delivered with easily his best performance on the mic.(Photo: Doggystyle Records)

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Missy Elliott, Supa Dupa Fly, produced by Timbaland - Missy Elliott's singsong non-sequiturs and Timbaland's helter-skelter rhythms were a blast from the future, changing the sound of hip hop, dance and pop and helping this 1997 album go platinum-plus.(Photo: Elektra Records)

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Missy Elliott, Supa Dupa Fly, produced by Timbaland - Missy Elliott's singsong non-sequiturs and Timbaland's helter-skelter rhythms were a blast from the future, changing the sound of hip hop, dance and pop and helping this 1997 album go platinum-plus.(Photo: Elektra Records)

LL Cool J, Radio, produced by Rick Rubin - Before he began producing for Run DMC, Rick Rubin laced a teenage LL Cool J with hardcore, rock-tinged drum-machine beats that pretty much pioneered the concept of "boom bap." The 1985 album helped launch Def Jam and quickly established LL as a star.(Photo: Def Jam Recordings)

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LL Cool J, Radio, produced by Rick Rubin - Before he began producing for Run DMC, Rick Rubin laced a teenage LL Cool J with hardcore, rock-tinged drum-machine beats that pretty much pioneered the concept of "boom bap." The 1985 album helped launch Def Jam and quickly established LL as a star.(Photo: Def Jam Recordings)

Soundtrack of 2011 — Watch the Throne - Jay plus Kanye, need we say more? From the first single, "H.A.M.," which added a new phrase to the urban dictionary, the summer banger, “Otis” (and the much-talked about chopped up Maybach in the song’s video), to the album's current chart-topping track “N---as in Paris”, W.T.T. was a true hip hop masterpiece. These heavy weights put everyone on notice that Jigga and Ye are still running this town. (Photo: Courtesy of Roc-A-Fella Records)

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Jay-Z & Kanye West, Watch the Throne - One of hip hop's greatest rapper-producer duos of all time — if not one of the richest — Jay-Z and Kanye West shared mic duties over bombastic beats produced or co-produced by Yeezy himself on this 2011 blockbuster. Though producers like RZA, Lex Luger and Hit-Boy contributed, Kanye added the special sauce that made the beats live up to the album's kingly billing.(Photo: Roc A Fella Records)

Cypress Hill, Cypress Hill, produced by DJ Muggs - DJ Muggs' blend of obscure funk and Latin loops was the perfect vehicle for B. Real's nasal street raps on Cypress Hill's self-titled 1991 debut, which hit double-platinum thanks to classics like "How I Could Just Kill a Man." Oh yeah, Sen Dog was there, too.(Photo: Columbia Records)

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Cypress Hill, Cypress Hill, produced by DJ Muggs - DJ Muggs' blend of obscure funk and Latin loops was the perfect vehicle for B. Real's nasal street raps on Cypress Hill's self-titled 1991 debut, which hit double-platinum thanks to classics like "How I Could Just Kill a Man." Oh yeah, Sen Dog was there, too.(Photo: Columbia Records)

Public Enemy, It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back, produced by the Bomb Squad - Chuck D and Flavor Flav's revolutionary lyrics on this 1988 benchmark sparked controversy and protest — so it's only fitting that the Bomb Squad's cacophonic sample collages sounded like a riot on wax.(Photo: Def Jam Recordings)

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Public Enemy, It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back, produced by the Bomb Squad - Chuck D and Flavor Flav's revolutionary lyrics on this 1988 benchmark sparked controversy and protest — so it's only fitting that the Bomb Squad's cacophonic sample collages sounded like a riot on wax.(Photo: Def Jam Recordings)