The Alchemist Names His Top 5 Hip Hop Producers
The Alchemist is often ranked among the greatest Hip Hop producers of all time, but the California beatmaker has now revealed his own starting five.
During an interview with Genius shared on Monday (July 10), the 45-year-old producer listed his Top 5 producers in no particular order.
He began with one of his greatest inspirations and âillegitimate father,â DJ Premier. Next up, the Alfredo hitmaker shouted out Dr. Dre, who he considers the âpinnacle of sound.â DJ Muggs, who also initially mentored Al, was the third pick for the âbeautiful messâ he always made inside the studio.
Large Professor, who âpersonified all the elements of rap,â was also included on the list, while The Alchemist rounded out his picks with Q-Tip, âthe masterâ who he believes does not get his due credit.
On Tuesday (July 11), a day after the clip was posted, the former Whooliganz members threw in another name that he previously forgot to mention. He wrote on Twitter: âI forgot to say Madlib.  My #1 inspiration. [trophy emoji]â
Check out The Alchemistâs comments below:
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I forgot to say Madlib. My #1 inspiration. đ
â Alchemist Type Beat (@Alchemist) July 11, 2023
Last month, Al dropped Flying High, an eight-track EP featuring four songs with Hip Hopâs most abstract spitters and four instrumental versions of those same cuts. Guests on the project include Earl Sweatshirt, Billy Woods, Boldy James, Larry June and Jay Worthy, among others.
Prior to that, his joint album with Vince Staples was leaked online in April, which the Long Beach rapper wasnât too happy about.
Back in July 2021, Staples revealed in an interview that heâd recorded 30 verses for an Earl Sweatshirt joint collab with The Alchemist. At the time, the âNorf Norfâ rapper told Apple Musicâs Ebro Darden that he wasnât happy about the projectâs progress.
âAlchemist had hit me, he was like, âI want this project. Me, you and Earl. I only need three weeks,ââ Vince explained. âIâm like, âAlright, Iâll do it.â So we go over there and they get high. So Iâm the only one over there rapping and I donât smoke, so it didnât really blend. I was getting headaches.
âSo next thing I know I got 30 verses on 30 beats⊠I thought we was collaborating. Whatever, boom. I got 10 songs, Iâm like, âAlright man, we finna put these songs out.â Alchemist moves at a very cryptic pace, you know, heâs hella slow.â
In response, Al took to Twitter to call Vince out. âVince is full of shit. Ive have a finished 6 song EP with JUST HIM for over 3 month!! MIXED!â the producer tweeted. âPlus mad songs with him and Thebe [Earl Sweatshirt].â
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It ultimately took Kenny Beats stepping in to save the day, but regardless, the project never officially dropped.
Fast forward to mid-April and Staples got word that someone allegedly leaked seven tracks â six complete, and one unfinished â online. In response, he posted a cryptic tweet that seemingly implicated the producer.
âLeaking means youâre tweaking,â he wrote, captioning a photograph of a young Michael Jackson. The MJ meme also featured the words: âYou raggedy bitch.â
While Staples didnât explicitly call out Alchemist by name, it might have appeared to some that he was trying to claim the producer leaked the project, though the motive behind the leak is unclear.