One of the architects of R&B and pop music is bringing his years of experience in the music business to help expand the Hip-Hop genre.
Legendary Motown producer/songwriter Lamont Dozier is planning to work with a number of rappers and producers on an upcoming project, he revealed exclusively to AllHipHop.com.
Dozier was first introduced to Hip-Hop through his two sons and later via rappers, who have sampled from his lengthy catalog.
“My attorneys told me over 150 of my songs had been sampled, bits and pieces here and there,” Lamont Dozier told AllHipHop.com. “They started showing the many people that had sample stuff of mine, Kanye West, Lupe Fiasco, Nas, Mary J. Blige, Faith Evans, 36 Mafia, Remy Ma, Big Pun, Notorious B.I.G., Tupac, Common, Just Blaze to name a few.…
“It’s flattering and I am glad,” Dozier said. “I started realizing there was an opportunity here for us to join forces, so I am going to be working with these people. And it started out because of the sampling.”
Dozier is a founding member of the hit making Holland-Dozier-Holland (H-D-H) Motown songwriting/production team, that has sold – literally – billions of records, since the late 1950’s.
He will be speaking at the 3rd Annual Master Class, which is presented by the Songwriters Hall of Fame Awards on June 16 in New York.
R&B historian/journalist Nelson George will moderate the Q&A session with Dozier.
H-D-H launched their careers at Motown, where they penned hits for The Supremes, The Four Tops, Martha Reeves & The Vandellas and others.
A split with Motown occurred in 1967 and the H-D-H collective formed the Hot Wax/Invictus labels and immediately scored hits on artists like Freda Payne, Chairmen of the Board, Dozier himself and others.
The Hot Wax/Invictus releases, as well as Dozier’s classic solo albums like Out Here On My Own and Black Bach, have been sampled throughout Hip-Hop’s history by countless producers.
On June 16, Dozier will speak and answer questions during the 3rd Annual Songwriters Hall of Fame Masters Class.
Dozier, who is a teacher the USC Thornton, said that he is looking forward to working with a new crop of artists.
“I really get excited when I hear songwriters that are good, have the passion to succeed and are in relentless pursuit of this thing,” said Dozier, who also turns 68 on June 16.
“In my classes, I talk about the passion that you must have. We are in a business where you deal with rejection everyday…but technology has always been the launching for a lot of historic stuff happening, from the day of the first atomic bomb, to the invention of the eight track. It’s limitless and there’s a lot of territory there we can all participate in.”
The Songwriters Hall of Fame Master Class takes place Tuesday (June 16) at 8:00 Pm at the Kaufman Center on West 67th Street.
At press time, there were no more details were available about Dozier’s upcoming album with rappers.
Check AllHipHop.com tomorrow (June 16) for the full Q&A with Lamont Dozier.