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From Snoop to Nas to 50 Cent… Ron Browz has produced for the best of them. The Situation caught up with the budding entrepreneur to find out what he has planned for 2006.
Ron
Browz, the producer of certified classics such as Big
L’s ‘Ebonics’ and Nas’
Jay-Z diss track ‘The
Ether’, has already earned his place in hip hop history. But now,
producing for some of the biggest artists in the game, such as Ludacris,
G-Unit and Fat
Joe, as well as launching his own label, Money Ave, Ron
is looking to move forward and claim the long-overdue mass recognition
he deserves.
Born and raised in Harlem, NYC, Ron grew up surrounded by the music, parties and personalities of the early hip hop scene. It is no surprise therefore, that this setting has had a major impact on his career. He described what it was like to live in Harlem in the late Eighties and early Nineties in what has since become known as the ‘golden age’ of hip hop. “Block parties. A lot of block parties and a lot of people came to Harlem to shoot their videos,” told Browz. “KRS-1 would come to Harlem to shoot a video, D-Nice… You gotta hear all the different music that came out. It was B.I.G. and Rakim back in the day, you know, music like Kool Moe Dee, Doug E Fresh. You start to fall in love with it.”
It was this
proximity to the biggest artists in hip hop that enabled Ron to get his
first break. Even as time has passed, you can still see the major players
walking the streets. “You could just be walking by and you could
see Remy Martin, you could
see Fat Joe, you could see Jadakiss.
You know, a lot of these artists you could just see walking by.”
In the streets one day, he was lucky enough to bump into fellow Harlem
native Big L. Having invited him up to listen to some of his beats, Big
L was impressed enough to take some away to work with. Eventually, one
of them was to become the backing for ‘Ebonics’, a stunningly
original breakdown of New York slang that was to become one of Big L’s
most enduring hits.
Production, though, wasn’t Ron’s first chosen discipline.
At the age of 12, Ron had been an aspiring young MC and signed to an independent
record label. However, when the label boss was incarcerated the label
was forced into receivership. Fortunately for Ron though, this gave him
the opportunity to gather up what was left of the recording equipment
and a chance to teach himself the art of beat-making.
It was only the success of the tracks he then produced, first for Big L and then Nas, that eventually led Ron to consider focusing his attention exclusively on production. “Right after I did the stuff for Big L, people were like, ‘You good at it’. But then still, after I did the Big L stuff, I still kind of wanted to be an emcee. But after the ‘Ether’, I was like, ‘This is a big record’. This must be the lane God has chosen for me.”
It’s easy to join the dots between the hip hop that had first enthused Ron and the productions that were eventually to lead to such success. Although Ron attests to the diversity of influences that can be heard in his music, you can still trace a clear line back to his roots in Harlem. “Somehow I can manage to keep that New York sound going,” he says. And in spite of the recent criticisms that have been aimed at New York hip hop, accusing the city’s stars of sacrificing their sound to follow trends and chase hits, Ron proudly affirms that New York retains its musical identity. “The airwaves are so cluttered with different types of areas of music; different regions of music, the South and the Midwest. But when you hear a New York record you can still tell that it’s New York.”
Ron attributes his distinctive sound to the methods of production he employs. By using original analogue sampling tools like the MPC series in conjunction with new computer software, Ron creates beats that are modern but that still have the sound quality and depth of classic hip hop. “Now, with Pro-Tools, it kind of thins the sound. It was more heavy when it was reel to reel,” he told. “What I’m trying to do is sonically make the beats sound heavy on the computer, like how it was sounding back in the days.”
Ron’s characteristic sound is now very much in demand. Having previously worked with Snoop, Lil’ Kim, DMX and many others, this year he has already contributed to major releases by Tony Yayo (‘Thoughts of a Predicate Felon’ LP) and 50 Cent (‘Get Rich or Die Trying’ OST) and is awaiting further pressings for projects he’s worked on with Jae Millz and Killer Mike. Ron however, is also very aware of the impact that his own visibility and public profile can have on his career, leading him to take steps into the boardroom, in front of the camera lens and maybe even back behind the mic.
His label Money Ave, named after Manhattan Avenue in reference to the street on which he’d see those original emcees shooting their videos, represents for Ron a fulfilment of the ambitions his early experiences spawned. “Manhattan Avenue… that’s where the dream came from,” he puts it. The label currently has a roster of four new young artists: T-Rex, Paper-Over, Severe and an R&B songstress called Angelique. He’s clearly very excited about their talents, but circumspect about stepping from the creative part of music into the business and promotional side. “It’s very challenging because you’re building something from the ground up. It’s like, ‘Hey listen to my artists. You play the records I do for 50, so why not listen to my artists?’ You know? It’s hard making the public and the industry believe.”
Ron’s also appeared in the recent Jae Millz video for ‘Who’, and is not averse to the idea of producers on the mic. He is also quick to dismiss the idea that producers getting in the spotlight is a modern phenomenon and seems eager to make a return to his first love. “If we go back, the producers back in the day, some were getting on songs. Pete Rock would get on a song, spit a 16; Diamond D would get on a song. It’s just like certain producers stand out and certain producers don’t.”
So, what does the future hold in store for Ron Browz? After having spoken to him and having gained a sense of the man’s ambition and energy I wouldn’t discount anything. He talked about wanting to do another full length Ron Browz album (following up from ‘Two-Browz and Four’), about wanting to visit London and a number of different ideas and projects. Wrapping up the interview, Ron is eager to point out: “People need to see who’s the person behind those beats.”
Ron has let his music do the talking for him up to this point, and now it is time for the world to know the man behind the boards. He wants to follow in the footsteps of Death Row and Bad Boy to bring Money Ave to prominence in the game. “We are the next biggest thing,” he explains. “Artists from Harlem are bringing a good deal back to music.”
