Creative Loafing – “The biggest rap producer you’ve never heard of”

“They’re hood niggas from New Orleans,” Bangladesh says, none too gingerly, of the label’s brass. “In the streets you use your muscle — you don’t pay niggas. You don’t do certain things you’re supposed to do.”

But who, might you ask, is this guy to be talking shit? Well, as an A-list beatmaker for more than a decade, Bangladesh has earned the right to speak his mind. Having gotten his start on Ludacris’ 2000 major label debut, Back for the First Time, the 31-year-old unsung hitmaker has remained fiercely independent, declining invitations to join such established rap labels as Disturbing tha Peace and Bad Boy. While career decisions like those have probably cost him the chance to become a household name, they’ve also afforded him something money can’t buy: the ability to stay relevant and true to his art. He’s found time to craft a pair of upcoming solo albums — both of which sound pretty far out there — while simultaneously securing singles with the hottest artists going.

“He comes with big records, records that don’t sound like anything else,” says DJ Drama, the influential Atlanta mixtape impresario. “You don’t hear five songs on the radio from him at a time, but the ones you do hear are always very big records. He’s very smart about who he chooses for his production.”

Yet in many ways, Bangladesh has struggled as an outsider. He’s got no guaranteed income, and, per the Cash Money situation, even when he does make a hit he doesn’t know for sure if he’ll be paid. But by not associating himself with any particular sound, or any particular movement, he’s been able to transcend fads and forge something somewhat unique in hip-hop — a long-term career.