Music

Twitter Is Furiously Arguing Over Who The World’s Best Producer Is

If you could pick anyone to produce your debut album, who would it be?

by Junkee  17 July 2019
Pharrell Williams or Kanye West? Twitter is arguing over who the best producer is

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Like most heated online debates, a Twitter conversation over who is the best producer started innocuously before spinning out of control.

Earlier today, lyric site Genius asked its followers “who would you ask to produce your debut album?”, and now people are arguing over the kings and queens of production.

First, the big names. Naturally, Pharrell popped up repeatedly on the thread.

Considering he’s worked with essentially every huge name in the world and contributed to the decade’s best albums (Solange’s When I Get Home, Ariana Grande‘s Sweetener, Frank Ocean’s Blonde, Beyoncé’s Beyoncé), it’s a bit of a no-brainer. And that’s before you consider his work with The Neptunes or the many ear-worms he’s behind (remember how ubiquitous ‘Happy’ was in 2013?).

As one user points out, Pharrell “makes hits”, and that’s what you need to get more power later on — it’s a good idea to be strategic here.

The other most-named producer was Kanye West, who beyond his own career as a rapper has been steadily producing since the mid ’90s. Last year alone, he worked across eight albums, including the critically acclaimed K.T.S.E by Teyana Taylor and Pusha T’s DAYTONA. Again, West’s a safe bet — and it means you’ll probably meet the family, right? He can also see into the future, so there’s that too.

For many, he’s simply the only option.

Other popular names? Odd Future alumni Earl Sweatshirt and Tyler, The Creator both made appearance more than a few times, as did cross-genre maestro James Blake and Grimes, who has only ever produced her own work. Weirdly, people mostly forgot about Timberland and Dr. Dre; time is a fickle thing.

Overall, the list leans pretty male, with a few stray shout outs to Solange, SOPHIE, Arca and Mariah Carey. We’d like to add to the list, for starters, Janet Jackson, Björk, M.I.A., Sia and Nina Kravitz: not, uh, all working together, of course.

For some, though, the choice was clear. Find the full thread here.