Patrick Douthit
(born January 15, 1975 in Winston-Salem, North Carolina), [1] better known as 9th Wonder
is a hip hop producer from Raleigh, North Carolina, U.S.. He began his career as the main producer for the hip hop group Little Brother, and has also worked with Nas, Mary J. Blige, Jean Grae, Wale, Jay-Z, MURS, Buckshot, and Destiny's Child. As part of Little Brother he gained widespread recognition and critical acclaim for his production on their debut release, The Listening
. He has since left Little Brother [2]. 9th Wonder stated that as long as both Phonte and Big Pooh welcomed a reunion somewhere down the line, he would be completely open to the idea. [3]
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9TH WONDER TICKETS
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Background
In the mid-1990s, 9th Wonder was a DJ at the radio at
North Carolina Central University while attending school there. He was doing production work for local artists with his keyboards. By his senior year, he was introduced to a relatively new music
DAW production software called Fruity Loops (now
FL Studio) by a friend who was also a producer. Around the same time, he met two younger schoolmates Phonte and Big Pooh, who were local emcees in the Durham area and joined to become the group known as
Little Brother. He then began DJ'ing for them at shows and produced a number of their beats on underground records during the rest of the 1990s.
As an up-and-coming producer, he released a remix album of
Nas' 2002 album
God's Son
entitled
God's Stepson
. This album began what is now a regular trend of remixing whole albums. 9th Wonder has a smooth and soulful production style that relies on samples from artists such as
Al Green and
Curtis Mayfield.
[4] He attributes the bass lines that he uses in production to
DJ Premier,
Pete Rock and
J Dilla, while he claims to have learned "moans" from
RZA.
With the help of filmmaker Tee Smith and sound engineer Young Guru, 9th Wonder landed a coveted production credit on
Jay Z's then highly-anticipated
The Black Album
. The producer continued to produce for Little Brother and many other Hiphop artists/groups, including
Jean Grae (
Jeanius
), and
Murs. 9th Wonder has also produced for more widely known artists such as
Destiny's Child,
Mary J. Blige,
Erykah Badu,
De La Soul,
Mos Def,
Memphis Bleek,
Buckshot from
Black Moon, and more recently, artists such as
The Game,
Lloyd Banks, and
Sean Price.
Recent & Current Projects
On October 29, 2007, he also made a rare public appearance on
BET's
Rap City, alongside collaborator
Talib Kweli.
Madlib,
Jean Grae and
Erykah Badu appeared as well.
Recently, 9th Wonder, along with
Christopher "Play" Martin from the Hiphop group
Kid-n-Play, were appointed Artist-In-Residence by the Chancellor of
North Carolina Central University, and instruct a Hiphop history class in NCCU's Music Dept.
[5]
9th Wonder hosts True School Radio every Friday night. This 5-hour show is a project of the True School Co.
[6]
9th Wonder still resides in
North Carolina. He has announced his dedication to the community in Durham, NC by joining P'Tones Records, whose Mission Statement statement is "to create constructive opportunities for inner city youth through no-cost neighborhood music programs."
[7] The organization's goal is to give students the opportunity to learn about the music industry and further their education, potentially earning scholarships to NCCU. Professor Kawachi Clemons and founder (of P'Tones) Oren Rosenbaum will be opened their project January 2008, with 9th serving as a spokesperson.
In January 2009, 9th Wonder announced plans to start two record labels, Jamla & The Academy. Jamla consists of Skyzoo, Gee-Q, Rapsody, Tyler Woods & Big Remo. The Academy consists of Median, Tom Hardy & Actual Proof.
Discography
Solo albums
- 2005: Dream Merchant Vol. 1
- 2007: Dream Merchant Vol. 2
- 2009: The Wonder Years
Collaboration albums
- 2003: The Listening
with Little Brother
- 2004: Murs 3:16: The 9th Edition
with MURS
- 2005: The Minstrel Show
with Little Brother
- 2005: Chemistry
with Buckshot
- 2005: Spirit Of '94: Version 9.0
with Kaze
- 2005: 9th Gate (The Clear Album)
with Access Immortal
- 2006: Murray's Revenge
with MURS
- 2006: Cloud 9: The Three Day High
with Skyzoo
- 2007: Class Is In Session
with Pete Rock
- 2008: The Formula
with Buckshot
- 2008: Jeanius
with Jean Grae
- 2008: Sweet Lord
with MURS
- 2008: The Corner of Spec & 9th
with Spectac
- 2008: "The W.ide W. Orld of W. Rap" with E Ness
- 2009: The R&B Sensation Mixtape
with Tyler Woods
- 2009: Back To The Feature
with Wale
Remix albums
- 2003: ...Invented the Remix
- 2003: God's Stepson
- Nas (remix of Nas's album God's Son
)
- 2004: Black is Back!
- Jay-Z (Remix of Jay-Z's The Black Album
)
Production
- 2003: "Threat" - Jay-Z (The Black Album
)
- 2004: Sleepers
- Rapper Big Pooh (produced 6 of 14 songs)
- 2004: "Supa Love", "Don't Rush Me" - Jean Grae (This Week
)
- 2004: "Good Ol' Love" - Masta Ace (A Long Hot Summer
)
- 2004: "Illuminate Part 1" (ft. Vursatyl) - Lightheaded (Never Square
)
- 2004: "I See Now" - Consequence (Take 'Em to the Cleaners
)
- 2004: "Girl", "Is She The Reason", "Free", "Game Over" - Destiny's Child (Destiny Fulfilled
)
- 2004: "Church" - De La Soul featuring Spike Lee (The Grind Date
)
- 2005: The Ripple Effect
- Splash (produced 7 of 14 songs)
- 2005: Project Mayhem
- L.E.G.A.C.Y. (produced 11 of 19 songs)
- 2005: "Good Woman Down" - Mary J. Blige (The Breakthrough
)
- 2005: "Heartburn" - Sean Price (Monkey Barz
)
- 2005: "Smoke the Pain Away", "Alright" - Memphis Bleek (534
)
- 2006: "Dreams" - Saigon (The Return Of The Yardfather
)
- 2006: "Live from Amsterdam" - Memphis Bleek
- 2006: Where's Calvin
- Binky Fingers (produced 9 of 15 songs)
- 2006: Floe Almighty
- Edgar Allen Floe (produced 5 of 12 songs)
- 2006: "Special" - Strange Fruit Project (The Healing
)
- 2006: "Here We Come", "Take a Look (In the Mirror)", "So Focused" - Boot Camp Clik (The Last Stand
)
- 2006: "One Night Stand" - Lloyd Banks (Rotten Apple
)
- 2006: "Instigator" - M.O.P. (Ghetto Warfare
)
- 2007: "Brooklyn In My Mind" - "Crooklyn Dodgers" Single
- 2007: "P-Body", "Violent", "You Already Know", "Let It Be Known" - Sean Price (Jesus Price Supastar
)
- 2007: "How Big is Your World?" - Median
- 2007: "First They Love You" - Bishop Lamont featuring Prime and Indef (N*gger Noise
)
- 2007: "I Just Want the Money" (ft. Bokey) - Bishop Lamont (The Pope Mobile
)
- 2007: "I Need More" - Boot Camp Clik (Casualties of War
)
- 2007: "Breakin' My Heart" - Little Brother (Getback
)
- 2007: "Think Good Thoughts" - Aubrey Graham (ft Phonte and Elzhi) ("Comeback Season"/"This Is Me")
- 2008: "Cold Success" - Jay Z & Coldplay ("Viva La Hova")
- 2008: "Honey" - Erykah Badu (New Amerykah
)
- 2008: "Be prepared" - Akrobatik feat. Little Brother (Absolute Value
)
- 2008: "Here We Go" - DJ K.O. feat. East & Silent Knight (Picture This
)
- 2008: "There You Go", "Water feat. Edgar Allen Floe & Lazurus" - Kooley High ("The Summer Sessions EP")
- 2008: "Do the Right Thang" - Ludacris feat. Common & Spike Lee (Theater of the Mind
)
- 2008: "Left 4 Dead" - EPMD feat. Skyzoo (We Mean Business)
- 2008: "I'm Innocent", "Love and Appreciate II", "Breakthrough" - MURS (Murs for President)
- 2009: featured on The Boondocks soundtrack
References
- 9th Wonder Biography, Muze Ltd.
- HipHopGame.com- Hip Hop News Audio, News, Videos, Albums, Ringtones, Lyrics, Urban Wear
- 9th Wonder Interview
- An interview with 9th Wonder — producer 9th Wonder on working with Jay-Z and his group Little Brother
- North Carolina Central University. http://www.nccu.edu/directory/details.cfm?id=pdouthit&search=&department=Music. Accessed Mar 2, 2009.
- The True School Co. http://www.trueschoolcorp.com. Accessed Mar 2, 2009.
- P'Tones Records. http://www.ptonesrecords.com. Accessed March 2, 2009.