But, perhaps The Neptunes’ signature creation came in the form of two unknown brothers also from VA. With Snoop Dogg, “Beautiful” and “Drop It Like It’s Hot” became juggernauts, thanks to The Neptunes’s otherworldly ear for hits, and that same formula made magic with artists like Mystikal. Some of their most iconic work would come in the form of long-term musical partnerships with Jay Z, The Neptunes gave Hip-Hop “I Just Wanna Love U (Give It To Me),” “Excuse Me Miss,” and “Change Clothes” (among others). Chad Hugo and Pharrell Williams, aka the Neptunes, guided artists like N.O.R.E., Ol’ Dirty Bastard, Fabolous, Foxy Brown, Ludacris, LL Cool J, and Nelly into the stratosphere to score some of the highest-charting singles of their careers throughout the late 1990s and into the early 2000s. Two kids from Virginia Beach made it cool to be different and applied that thinking to Hip-Hop production through their ingenious combination of minimalism and oomph. Now comes the question of who is the greater force behind the boards, the Roc star, or the Star Trak commanders? Only one can move forward in pursuit of The Greatest of All Time badge.
As producers, Just Blaze and The Neptunes could break an artist, sell an album, or re-direct a superstar career in mid-stride. Both of these musical outfits delivered 2000s-era Hip-Hop from its ’90s conventions (while each were of that class). Meanwhile, Pharrell Williams and Chad Hugo laid out inventive rhythms, body-snatching choruses, and hand-delivered hits across the Rap industry. Just Blaze applies over-the-top sample slices and exceptional interpolations to carefully placed drums and guitar accents. Their sounds could not be more different in theory. Just Blaze and The Neptunes made side-by-side hits on Jay Z’s The Blueprint, Nelly’s Nellyville, and Snoop Dogg’s Paid Tha Cost To Be The Bo$$ albums. The battle that ends Finding The GOAT Producer’s second week of the first round features true contemporaries. So while we want everybody to talk about it, be about it too, with that vote that counts. In prior “Finding the GOAT” battles, just a handful of votes often decided the results, in early and late rounds. Though there also will be an enormous amount of debate in comments, on social media, in barbershops and back rooms, which we encourage, only votes cast in the official ballot will count. There also will be a poll in which votes will be cast, and readers will be able to see the % differential in votes, real-time. Similar to the presentations in “Finding the GOAT MC” and “Finding the GOAT Album,” for each battle there will be an editorial about each producer that contextualizes the match-up, as well as sample songs, to help voters in their consideration. The Neptunes) will be pitted against one another to determine which one advances to the next round. For each battle, two producers (or collective of producers, e.g. The contest will consist of six rounds, NCAA basketball-tournament style, commencing with the Top 32, then the Sweet 16 and so on, until one winner is determined. Thirty producers were pre-selected by a panel of experts, and two slots will be reserved for wild-card entries, including the possibility for write-in candidates, to ensure no deserving beat maker is neglected.
The third installment of Ambrosia For Heads’s annual battle series features Hip-Hop’s greatest producers vying for the #1 spot.