Politics As Usual

After fascinating hip-hop heads with songs like I Can't Get With That and In My Lifetime, Jay-Z inked a deal with Payday Records, which ultimately proved to be short-lived.

It was DJ Premier who connected the dots between Patrick Moxie and Rockefeller Records.

In a 1999 interview with Yahoo Music, Jay spoke on his time on Payday Records by saying,

Using the money from the deal with Payday, Jay Damon Biggs rented an office on 17 John Street, which was at the time a low-rent part of downtown New York, adjacent to the financial district.

Everything was in place.

The only thing left to do was to start recording the Reasonable Doubt album.

Rockefeller Records had in-house producers, and one of them was Will Ski, otherwise known as Ski.

Dart Adams, historian and journalist, explains the demand for Ski's production and his influence on Jay-Z's music.

When original flavors run, they kind of stole.

They made some joints that people liked, but they didn't really get over.

But Ski's production is what won people over.

So Ski was so hot that people were coming from everywhere to try to work with Ski.

And Ski had a sound that people gravitated to.

So he became the cornerstone of what Game Dash and Rockefeller did.

So he was the in-house producer.

So when I think of Jay-Z, I instantly think of Skeet.

He worked with a lot of producers that made him some dope shit.

But to me, the foundation is Skeet.

He had Camp Low early.

And how many Camp Low songs ended up becoming Jay-Z songs?

Well, I never really felt like it was competition.

I just felt like, you know, we all making some music for Jay.

And I'm not an edgy, primo type of producer, you know? I mean, I come from like a musical background, families.

Mom's a piano teacher.

Everybody's in the church choir.