Mike Dean (record producer)

Mike Dean
Birth name Michael George Dean
Also known as
  • Freaky Dean
  • Vador
Born (1965-03-01) March 1, 1965
Angleton, Texas, United States
Genres
Occupation(s)
Instruments
Years active 1983–present
Labels
Associated acts
Website deanslist.net

Michael George Dean (born March 1, 1965) is an American hip hop record producer, audio engineer, and multi-instrumentalist from Houston, Texas. Dean is best known for recording and mixing songs for major artists across the American hip hop industry such as Kanye West, 2Pac, Scarface, Travis Scott, 2 Chainz, Jay-Z, and Desiigner.

Career

Mike Dean started doing collaborations with numerous Texan artists, including Selena, for whom Dean served as musical director and producer. Dean first became widely known for pioneering the Dirty South sound in the 1990s, particularly in work for artists from Rap-A-Lot Records.[1][2] Dean has most notably worked alongside Scarface of the Geto Boys, Do or Die, Tha Dogg Pound, Yukmouth of the Luniz, C-Bo, Nate Dogg, Tech N9ne, UGK, Z-Ro, Devin the Dude, Outlawz, and 2Pac.[3]

Dean went on to mix, produce, and master widely throughout American hip hop. He has become known for his work with Kanye West. After initially contributing to the mixing of West's albums The College Dropout and Late Registration, Dean contributed as producer on West's Graduation, My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, Yeezus, The Life of Pablo, and Ye albums.[4] He also co-produced with West on his collaboration album with Jay-Z, Watch the Throne. Dean was an additional producer on "Mercy" and "Higher" on GOOD Music's 2012 compilation album Cruel Summer. Dean has made particularly heavy contributions on West's last albums, and is credited on most tracks.

In recent years, Mike Dean has served as a regular guitarist and keyboardist for Kanye West and Travis Scott at their live performances, headlining numerous music festivals, the Watch the Throne Tour, and the Yeezus Tour and Travis Scott’s Birds In The Trap Sing McKnight tour. Dean has also been a frequent collaborator with Travis Scott. Dean's production has appeared on every one of Scott's musical bodies of work from 2013 to the present. In 2016, Dean mastered Frank Ocean's visual album Endless, wrote and produced tracks on Desiigner's mixtape New English, and produced Desiigner's single "Tiimmy Turner".[5][6]

In May 2017, Dean announced he was launching a record label by the name of M.W.A.[7] When asked what made him decide that now would be the best time to unveil his new record label, Dean responded: "Just a lot of new young artists that's been asking to get down with me and have me work on their projects and help them get deals. I figured I'd start a label and sign some new acts. Seems like a good time to start it. I got a studio out here [in Los Angeles] and I'm able to meet a lot of new artists."[7] When asked the meaning of M.W.A., Dean answered: "That's just what I call myself when I DJ. Mexican Wrestling Association. It's something that I've done with the merch, so I just figured I'd keep the name going."[7] He also revealed Dice Soho the first artist he signed to M.W.A.: "One of my homies Gustavo Guerra brought [Dice Soho] to me. I think he's gonna be the next wave out of Houston. I picked him up. Dice has a nice swag."[7]

Production discography

1990s

1992

1993

1994

1995

1996

1997

1998

2000s

2000

2001

2002

2003

2004

2005

2006

2007

2008

2009

2010s

2010

2011

2012

2013

2014

2015

2016

2017

2018

Upcoming

Awards and nominations

Grammy Awards

Year Nominee/work Award Result Ref.
2006 "Gold Digger" (as engineer/mixer) Record of the Year Nominated
Late Registration (as engineer/mixer) Best Rap Album Won
Album of the Year Nominated
2008 Graduation (as engineer) Nominated
Best Rap Album Won
"Good Life" (as songwriter) Best Rap Song Won
2012 My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy (as engineer/mixer) Best Rap Album Won
2013 "Ni**as In Paris" (as songwriter) Best Rap Song Won
2014 "New Slaves" (as songwriter) Nominated
2015 "Bound 2" (as songwriter) Nominated
2016 "All Day" (as songwriter) Nominated
Beauty Behind the Madness (as producer) Album of the Year Nominated
2017 Lemonade (as producer) Nominated [10]
[11]
[12]
Purpose (as producer) Nominated
"Famous" (as songwriter) Best Rap Song Nominated
"Ultralight Beam" (as songwriter) Nominated

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Mike Dean On Working With Selena, Scarface And Kanye". Retrieved 2015-08-30.
  2. ↑ Pablo, J. "Kanye Producer Mike Dean Talks Yeezus". Retrieved 2015-08-30.
  3. ↑ HipHopDX. "Producer's Corner: Mike Dean". Retrieved 2015-08-30.
  4. ↑ "Beat Construction: Mike Dean". Retrieved 2015-08-30.
  5. ↑ Schwartz, Danny (28 June 2016). "5 Producers You May Not Know On Desiigner's "New English"". Hotnewhiphop. Retrieved 5 August 2016.
  6. ↑ Boykins, Austin (29 June 2016). "Desiigner Teases Upcoming "Timmy Turner" Track With Mike Dean". Hypebeast. Retrieved 5 August 2016.
  7. 1 2 3 4 "Mike Dean Talks Launching New M.W.A. Label & Signing First Artist Dice Soho". Retrieved 1 December 2017.
  8. ↑ "Sherm – Sherm Smoke". Discogs. Retrieved 2016-05-17.
  9. ↑ "Listen To Kid Cudi's Passion, Pain & Demon Slayin' Now". Retrieved 1 December 2017.
  10. ↑ "Complete List of Nominees for the 2017 Grammys". Billboard. Retrieved 6 January 2017.
  11. ↑ "Awards". 30 April 2017. Retrieved 1 December 2017.
  12. ↑ https://www.grammy.com/files/59thpresslist12072016.pdf
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.