And The Winner Is . . . ?

After years of flying under the radar and often being ignored altogether, Chicago hip-hop finally busted the mainstream seal during the last two years with the help of high-profile releases by Common, Twista, and Kanye West. And while it’s easy to credit those artists with lighting the spark, the truth is producer/rapper The Legendary Traxster started threading the fuse years ago.

West might be the current face of Chicago hip-hop, but to many, Traxster is Chicago hip-hop. For more than a decade now, the born-and-bred Chicagoan has been making beats and producing records in his South Side studio for some of the city’s most legit acts, including Do Or Die, who called on Traxster to produce, engineer, and mix their 1996 hit single, “Po Pimp,” and the majority of their 1996 platinum release, Picture This. Traxster was also the man behind Twista’s debut, Adrenaline Rush, and worked with the rapper on Kamikaze as well. And he’s the ring leader of CWAL Mob, a collection of local rappers and producers that, at one time or another, has included names like Snypaz, Psycho Drama, and Twista.

Despite all this, The Chi isn’t Traxster’s first conversation topic with “Studiophile,” it’s Los Angeles, the location of the 2006 Grammy Awards. Traxster will be in the crowd at the Staples Center, hoping Mariah Carey’s *The Emancipation Of Mimi*, a record that contains the Traxster-produced “One And Only,” takes home the Album Of The Year honor.

“I feel like I’ve won already because now when they mention my name they have to say the Grammy-nominated, multi-platinum producer Legendary Traxster,” he says with a laugh. “It’s a wonderful feeling, I feel real good about it; it’s an honor.”

Carey was a fan of Traxster’s work with Do Or Die and invited him to submit material for possible inclusion on Emancipation. According to Traxster, she chose a couple she liked and “One And Only” made the final cut, and, ultimately, earned him a Grammy nod.

“It was a wonderful experience,” Traxster says about the collaboration. “I really had the opportunity to just do my sound and then her just do her thing on top of it. She’s such a songwriter, and she allowed me to do what I do naturally.”

The timing of couldn’t be better; it coincides with the release of The Return Of Gangsta Music (Traxster, Inc.) in February, the rapper/ producer’s most recent solo release and first to receive national distribution.

Beat making and production have been Traxster’s main gigs since he got his start in 1995, but learning those trades were, at the time, merely means to boost his career as an MC. “Bein’ a rapper and not having a lot of money in the early days, I had to get beats somewhere so I started making beats for myself,” he explains. “A lot of the people I worked with over the years would hear what I was doing and then want me to do beats for them, and it just snowballed into me learning how to produce.

“See, there’s a difference between makin’ beats and being a producer,” he continues. “I actually produce, engineer, mix, compose, write, I do the entire gamut of what it takes to make a record. When I started out, because I didn’t have a lot of resources, I had to learn each thing, and then the people who came to me to do beats for them didn’t know that stuff either. So when I assumed that responsibility — to make sure the record sounds right, to make sure the mixes was right, every aspect of the record was right — that was the transition from just makin’ beats to being a producer.”

Traxster calls The Return Of Gangsta Music his way of “taking it back to the streets,” an element he firmly believes has been missing from rap music lately. When you’re off doing projects with the likes of Mariah Carey, it can be easy for people to forget your roots; The Return, Traxster insists, will remind everyone where he comes from.

“I titled it The Return Of Gangsta Music because it’s me going back to my basics, back to the beginning. I’m an ambassador for the streets when it comes to music,” he says. “So I wanted this album to be, definitely something that is authentic and something that reminds everybody what good street music sounds like.”

Yes, now is a good time to be The Legendary Traxster. It goes without saying it will be even better if he returns to Chicago with Grammy hardware. Cool and calm, though, Traxster isn’t sweating it either way.

“I’m definitely gonna celebrate [if Carey wins], but I’ma celebrate anyway,” he says. “Just the fact that I have a nomination is cause for celebration in itself. If we win, then I’ll definitely celebrate while I’m there, celebrate when I get home because you gotta understand, being a independent producer, a rap producer, and then an MC, there’s not a lot of times that — what’s happening for me right now with this nomination — has happened before.

“I get to bring that Grammy home to the hood,” he says at the thought of winning, “and show my neighborhood this little boy who grew up in this house on this block, made this accomplishment. That’s the greatest reason for celebration in my opinion.”

For more information on The Legendary Traxster, visit www.traxster.com.

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Educated Cowboys guitarists Bobby Lipar and Billy Denk wrapped up their next CD, Broken Inn Saloon & Other Assorted Biker Songs, at Al Purvey’s CURVED AIR STUDIO in Crystal Lake. Cimarron, featuring Sammy Camden and former Johnny Cash/JuJu Bees drummer Robert Broz, contributed.

Chicago-based metal band Enforsaken finished the follow up to their 2004 album, The Forever Endeavor (Century Media). The new album, Sinner’s Intuition, was tracked at STUDIO ONE in Racine, Wisconsin. The sessions were engineered by Chris Djuricic and Aaron Brigman. The album was mastered at Chicago’s Boiler Room Studios by Collin Jordan. Sinner’s Intuition has a release date of March 7th on Phoenix-based Crash Music Inc. (formerly Pavement Music).

A demo recorded & engineered by Mathieu LeJeune at Chicago Recording Company in Chicago for the band Spyder Monkey has been selected by Ultrashort Media Inc. as part of their MobileVoltage mobile music and video channels. Those channels are playing on several third generation mobile networks including Sprint and O2 (U.K.).

Craig Bauer, owner of HINGE STUDIOS in Chicago, garnered a Grammy nomination in the Album Of The Year category for mixing some of Kanye West‘s Late Registration. Bauer mixed several key tracks on the record including “Late,” “Roses,” “Addiction,” and the current single “Heard ‘Em Say” (featuring Adam Levine of Maroon 5). In addition, Bauer picked up two more nominations in the the Best Gospel Choir Or Chorus Album category for his recording and mixing of Donald Lawrence’s I Speak Life and Hezikiah Walker’s 20/85 The Experience.

At MILLION YEN STUDIOS in Chicago, the Smoking Popes reunion concert was mixed. Smoking Popes At Metro is set for release as a DVD and CD February 28th on Victory . . . The Silents recorded and mixed demos for Silent Partner Management.

The Goldstars finished tracks to what will be their second full-length album, Purple Girlfriend, at CLAVA STUDIO in Chicago with producer Ted Cho. They anticipate an early-2006 release date.

— Trevor Fisher

Category: Monthly, Studiophile