It’s no secret that Atlanta has been running the round table as of late when it comes to Hip-Hop. Right now, it looks like they have whatever the people need, from snap, to dance, to crunk, or what have you. It was only natural for another region to take the reigns sooner or later. Lets face it, that’s just the nature of the beast. Even those that have no interest in Hip-Hop whatsoever all know that it first originated from New York City. But like all things, evolution is inevitable.

After you factor in production from Southern beat smiths like Jazze Pha, Lil’ Jon, Shawty Redd, Drumma Boy, and Mannie Fresh, it’s no wonder why Hip-Hop now speaks with more of a Southern twang than before. Those names have mastered the art of making noise by engineering a big percentage of what’s being played on your local radio stations, and your favorite music video shows.

And speaking of producers from the South, lets see if you can figure out this riddle: If you catch me in one of my "Heavy Chevys" going "Two Miles An Hour", then most likely that means I’m "Ridin’ Big" and living the "Good Life." Because before I had "Mouths To Feed", but I had the "Motivation" to get a "Pocket Full Of Paper", and man "I Luv It". So besides the fact of "What You Know"about how "I Got Money", "U Don’t Know Me", and "Can’t Tell M e Nothing". So "Be Easy", reason being is that’s "How It Goes", and just because you "Come See Me", doesn’t mean I’ll "Say Hello".

If you’re having a little trouble connecting all those song titles, you can trace them back to artists such as Ludacris, T.I., Young Buck, Blak Jak, Young Jeezy, Kanye West, Jay-Z, Pastor Troy, and Pitbull. Then take those songs and artists, and connect them all to producer Aldrin Davis, better known as Toomp, just another reason why the South is on cruise control. This Atlanta native has been pretty much in the thick of things since he was born.

With his father being a professional singer back in the 1970’s it was only natural for him to follow that path as well. After teaching himself how to loop beats on a cassette deck by using the pause button, he started to get notoriety for his DJ’ing skills also. By the time he was out of high school, and had a few credits under his belt, he sought Miami as a place of refuge working with the legendary 2 Live Crew. But after a while he returned back to his home of Atlanta where he met Lil’ Jon and the Eastside Boyz where he produced "Shawty Freak A Lil Somethin’". And by now you should be up to speed on how the rest of his career is turning out. 

So did you come from a musical background?

Oh yeah definitely. My dad was the lead singer in a group called the MVP’s and they were signed to Buddha Records back in the early 70’s.

How did you first get into producing?

Basically just from the love of music man, from digging in the crates and all of that. And just from learning how songs were put together. Like as a kid I was learning all the breakdowns, and I knew all the instruments. Like how they were mixed. I was learning this stuff when I was around 8-9 years old. Then I just thought to myself like as soon as I get around this stuff, I’ll know how to do it, and that’s how I was with DJ’ing too. Nobody showed me that either. And that’s exactly how it went. As soon as I put my ears on it, I knew it.   

What was the first track you did that started to get you a lot of attention?

Well I produced my first track back in ’85. But back then people weren’t really concerned about who did the track, it was more like; “Oh man!” “There’s a new song on the radio!” So that was in ’85. But when people actually started getting familiar with producers and what we do, I would say that happened in ’88. I did a record called Shake It by MC Shy D.

So that was the one that first put you out there?

Yeah people started to notice my skills outside of DJ’ing, and people caught onto my production skills. That song was playing every night in the club and it was on the radio. And we went on like three different tours just on the strength of that one record. And that’s when I knew I had something going on. But I still didn’t understand the bigger picture, because I really wasn’t up on the business side of it. I just knew the physical side of it. As far as putting music together and getting a drum machine. But I didn’t know anything about publishing. I wasn’t educated on none of that stuff. 

So how would you say your education is on that side of the business now? [Laughing]

Oh, it’s immaculate. I’m still learning more. But the basics as far as points, publishing, and all the other stuff, I’ve been on that for about the past 5-6 years.    

Speaking of businesses, how do you manage to see over all your business ventures and still focus on music? Does it ever get a little hectic?

Not really because I make sure whatever that type of business it is, it’s not something that I have to be standing over it with my hands folded. I buy real estate, and I buy property. That’s what I’m able to do, just buy a lot of land. So when it comes to that, it’s not like I have to go back and check on it every week and what not. But I’m slowly getting it developed now. But once I start building sub divisions and stuff like that, I’ll still go down there like once a month, just to check on my investments. Thank God that I have good people around me to where I don’t have to be there 24/7. I can be out in Hawaii or just on another vacation while things are going on at the crib. So I always make sure that whatever type of things I invest in can be ran whether I’m there or not.  

I dig that. Is there any artist out there you haven’t worked with, but want to?

I wanna get with Lil’ Wayne. I think I can bring Lil’ Wayne some fire, man. I would love to play with Snoop, I would love to get with him on some stuff. And as far as other producers I’d like to see what me and Doctor Dre can come up with. 

Since we’re on the subject of artists, how did you and Kanye [West] hook up for his album?

I was up here in New York for a totally different meeting, and I missed my flight. Then I called the people up, and they were like; “Well since you missed your flight and you’re going to be hear for the next 3-4 hours why don’t you go into the studio with Kanye?” So I went in there and sat with him and we were going over a few ideas and he was like; “Yo, crank up the keyboard” “I wanna see what you got.” So I started putting beats together on the spot. Then I put a real hot-ass track together within the first 20 minutes, and that’s when he knew we had some type of chemistry, and I even noticed it myself. Then he was like; “Well since you have to go back to Atlanta, I’ll catch up with you in the ‘A’.” Then we hooked up about a week or two later, he had came to Atlanta. Then we went to work on his album, and the rest is history.       

You’ve also done a lot of work with T.I., the chemistry you two must be really good.

It’s a beautiful chemistry. I met him though an old time friend of mine that I grew up with. You know how everybody comes up to you and they tell you that they have a little cousin that raps or what not. So when I finally gave him a listen, I was blown away. When I heard him, afterwards I was like; “Yo lets bring him to house.” So after that everything fit right into place, and it all made sense, know what I mean. And at that time I had a sound that I was trying to introduce the world to, and a lot of people weren’t really feeling it. Like I was trying to get on Goodie Mob’s album, Outkast’s album, and a few other people. I had a whole ‘nother flavor that I needed another artist to introduce, and “BOOM” it ended up being T.I. 

How would you describe your style of production if you could put it into words?

Well my stuff definitely varies. I’m like a chameleon, I can adapt to anything or any type of environment. But at the same time I create my own. So it’s really just how Kanye said on the song "Big Brother", its stadium status. It’s big anthems you know what I mean. I try to pull anthems out, and make it really orchestrated. I listen to a lot of classical music, and I listen to a lot of classic rock. So I would just say big music, because it’s real big.    

Do you think there’s a competitive nature between producers? Or a mutual admiration?

I think it’s a little bit of both know what I mean. Even producers in my camp, there’s competition there, and that really keeps the juices flowing. You definitely don’t want anyone around you feeling too comfortable or laid back. You always want somebody to feel like; “Aw man, I got to step it up.” I might be a new track, or I might go sit in with a producer and hear some sh*t he worked on, and then I’ll be like; “Oh my God!” “I gotta go back to the lab!” You know what I mean.    

How did the deal come about with you and L.A. Reid for you to develop new talent?

Just on the strength man. L.A. [Reid] has been following me ever since the first T.I. album back when he was on LaFace Records. Because the first deal T.I. had was with LaFace Records. So at one time L.A.’s brother who’s the same guy who discovered Usher Raymond was managing me at the time. He used to always tell L.A. like; “Hey L.A. I got this producer and he’s hot.” “You’re going to definitely hear about him.” And “BOOM” it ended up being a situation like that.

Is there a certain something you look for when scouting new talent?

I look for a lot of uniqueness. Sometimes you’ll get a star to show up right in your face, and you’ll see it right then. But sometimes you got to build a star; you know what I mean. You have feel like they got a lot potential and they’re good and talented, with a good personality and a lot of charisma, and a lot of drive. I’ve ran into talented people who were lazy at the same time, and I’ve ran into talented people who just didn’t have that star appeal. If it’s not 100% in each category and the person just has 50% here and 50% there, I know I can take it up to 100% in each category.

Just from my know-how, and taking them to vocal coaching and what not. Or if it’s a rapper, they have to be able to tell a story. You can’t be rapping about what everybody else is rapping about. You got to be able to bring people into your world; you know what I mean. Whether you’re a singer or a rapper. You got to bring people into your world.

Like a lot of people didn’t understand the uniqueness of a Quentin Tarantino movie he had to bring people into his world. [Doctor] Dre brought people into his world. We understood the L.A. lifestyle, when they came with that whole movement. That’s what it’s about. Just how Outkast introduced people to how we kick it in Atlanta, and T.I. introduced everybody to the trap, and the Southern slang side of Atlanta from a younger perspective and “BOOM” he’s one of the biggest rappers in the world now.