9th Wonder 'The Wonder Years' album

From grass roots Hip Hop to mainstream pop music, the name 9th Wonder has become synonymous with quality production. The North Carolina native has earned his rank as one of the nation’s top producers through his work with the likes of Little Brother, Jay-Z, Mary J. Blige, Destiny’s Child, Lloyd Banks, De La Soul, Masta Ace, Jean Grae and more. While a great deal of his notoriety comes from his flare for classic boom bap records, he is taking a ride on the smoother side of things with his upcoming album The Wonder Years, due for release January 29, 2008 on Asylum Records.

9th Wonder’s successful Dream Merchant series brought together an incredible array of underground rap artists, while The Wonder Years will team R&B sensations with some of Hip Hop’s lyrical masters. “Sonically people can expect bigger sounding beats, more expansion of my sound,” says 9th of the project. “There will be an element of classic, throwback R&B, but with a current twist.” 9th Wonder has also been developing some new talent, and will present his first R&B artist Tyler Woods on the album.

The Wonder Years includes appearances from a diverse array of Hip-Hop and R&B greats, including Erykah Badu, Talib Kweli, Q-Tip, Teedra Moses, Mos Def and Little Brother. While it’s never easy for someone to pick favorite songs on their own album, 9th Wonder expresses his excitement for the tracks “Let It Go” featuring Little Brother and Mos Def, and “Ms. Diva” featuring Talib Kweli and Tyler Woods.

Putting things in perspective, the mission has become bigger than music for 9th. “This is a lifestyle album,” he states. “You're going to get some younger people who will enjoy this, but my main demographic is women who have careers, women who like to sit in the house and relax as they listen to it. My album is not for the club. A lot of women my age don’t go out, because they don’t like the music being played. I want my album to be played in the beauty salon or a Coach bag store just as much as anywhere.”

Always aware of keeping himself grounded in the business, 9th Wonder has taken a hands-on approach to the evolution of his music. He firmly believes that there is a purpose behind his art, and he aspires to be remembered for his contributions. “The diversity of the artists that I work with has contributed most to the expansion of my sound. I've worked with a variety of talented people, from Destiny's Child to M.O.P., and there are few producers that can actually say that they've worked with that range of artists and still stayed themselves.

“My calling is soul music - just good for the soul and good to listen to. As regular, uneventful and boring as that may sound, once you get a taste of some soul music it's like, ‘Finally something I can listen to around my kids, something I can listen to at cookouts.’ It's more reminiscent of the great pantheon of Black music, and I want to be mentioned in that somewhere. Somebody has to come along and join what Common and all of these other great MCs started, we really have to start looking at the situation of how we affect young Black men and women. In the past music has been used for good, music has always had a message in it, and I just want to be a part of that legacy.”

An avid record collector, 9th is able to share his love for good music at the many parties he personally DJ’s at around the world. “I play the music that I grew up on. I'm 32, and if I grew up on it there are at least 500,000 other 30-year-olds that grew up on it too. They want to hear it, they can’t hear it because there are no radio station that play that stuff. People may come to my parties and say, ‘Wow, I didn’t know he DJ's parties too.’ That's something I learned from Pete Rock - to produce records and at the same time DJ - because there's nothing like people watching you spin your own records. I’m happy that I cater to my demographic.”

Taking into account his collective experiences, 9th has accepted responsibility as a tastemaker for his peers, and has translated the connection into The Wonder Years project. “With this album I'm not only defining myself, but I'm defining people in my age group. There's no music that suits them wholeheartedly - you either have young for the young or old for the old. You still want to hear Hip-Hop, but you want Hip-Hop that's your age. It's not necessarily an underground or overground thing, you just want to find the music that fits you and where you are in your life right about now. That's what The Wonder Years is for me.”

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9th Wonder - The Wonder Years