The second installment of Producer Shout Out features Polow Da Don, one of the biggest producers in the industry right now. After some failed attempts to become a rap artist, Polow began making beats in 2001. His production debut was in 2005 with the song ‘Party Starter’ by Will Smith. The song was moderately successful, and gave Polow enough of a name to score a top 10 hit, ‘Pimpin’ All Over the World’, with Ludacris. 2006 was a breakout year for Polow. ‘London Bridge’ by Fergie was the third official single of Polows career to be released and his first number 1 on the Billboard Hot 100. With a number 1 single so early in his career, Polow was able to sky rocket to the top by being one of the most sought out producers by some of the biggest artist. In 2006 he produced the ‘Buttons’ by the Pussycat Dolls and ‘Runaway Love’ by Ludacris, both of which were top 5 hits. Ciara’s number 1 R&B song, ‘Promise’, was also Polow produced. Things only continued to get bigger in the next few years with him producing two more number 1’s on the Billboard Top 100 (‘Glamorous’ by Fergie and ‘Love in this Club’ by Usher) as well as numerous top 10 R&B songs. Most recently Polow can be heard on Christina Aguilera’s new single ‘Not Myself Tonight’. Although the actual song is not good, the production by itself great. He has worked with the likes of Mary J. Blige, Nas, Keri Hilson, Mario, 50 Cent, Robin Thicke, Chris Brown and Kelly Rowland. Generally Polow produces song with a hip-hop feel, but he has been known to add some euro-pop sounds in his recent beats. His songs are lead by very heavy bass and deep hip-hop drums, which give his R&B songs crossover potential to both pop and rap stations. Polow is know for leaving his mark on his beats by adding himself yelling “1,2,3,4” (as heard in Chris Brown’s song ‘Forever’). His ability to cross an artist over radio stations gives him more credibility. Fergie, for example, was able to be a success on the R&B/Hip-Hop stations even though she is labeled as a pop artist. Recently, Polow has teamed up with songwriter Ester Dean, who has been seeing a lot of success as one of the writers of Rihanna’s worldwide number 1 hit ‘Rude Boy’. The two have been writing and producing songs such as ‘Lil Freak’ by Usher, which is currently number 8 on the Hip-Hop/R&B chart. One of Polows best qualities is the chemistry that he is able to have with the artist that he works with. Many artists have stated that the creative process they experienced with Polow is one of the best that they had endured. Most notably the chemistry between Polow and Ciara can be seen in all the songs that they do together. Polow is able to bring out the true voice that Ciara has. He makes her sound like a powerhouse singer, even though her voice is a little weak. It has been exciting for me to watch Polows rise to fame, since I remember when ‘Party Starter’ came out. With Polow working on many new albums, including the sophomore album from Keri Hilson, we should be expecting some big songs from Polow in late 2010.
I have been meaning to do a feature on Bangladesh for a while. The Hip-Hop producer has seen a serge of popularity in the the last couple of years being recruited by some of musics biggest names like Lil Wayne and Beyonce. Bangladesh has a certain sound to all of his beats which distinguishing him from the rest of the pack.
