Timbaland Agrees With ATL Jacob On The Importance of Producers

ATL Jacob isn’t alone when it comes to his feelings about a producer’s place within the framework rap music. ATL Jacob and Akademiks got into it on Twitter on Tuesday (October 8) and have since traded shots back and forth across multiple social media platforms.

In the heat of the argument, the “Wait For You” producer made a bold claim about the importance of producers compared to artists. Not only that, he appeared to suggest that producers could utterly halt the creative workflow, should they one day up and decide to rally for their worth.

“N###as forget the producer just as important as the artist,” ATL Jacob wrote in the tweet in part. “What n###as gon rap on if every producer woke up and decided they deserved more points and bonuses and said no beats til they get it.”

In another tweet, ATL Jacob further defended the value of his input and stressed how hands-on he is when it comes to the music he produces.

“Aye lil bruh @Akademiks u sound dumb as hell .. n###a said ‘u can’t have an opinion cause u a producer’ what u think got me here?,” he wrote in the tweet. “I got a opinion about every song i work on.”

Timbaland quickly caught wind of the exchange and took the conversation over to Instagram, where he asked his followers to chime in.

“What’s yall thoughts I think he has a good point !! @atljacob,” Timbaland wrote in the caption of the post he shared featuring the tweet.

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Using the opportunity to vent his frustrations, Three 6 Mafia legend DJ Paul chimed in with a hypothetical situation undermining producers that has unfortunately become the norm within the music industry.

“What about the rappers that get beats from producers, don’t pay them and won’t even do a feature for him…. Let me stop,” DJ Paul wrote in the comment.

Jozzy also jumped in to represent for the songwriters, who are often overlooked themselves, writing, “Mane lol yall get mo love then the songwriter .. sooooo i mean hey.”

Regardless of the smoke between Akademiks ATL Jacob, there is certainly a point to be made when considering how instrumental a producer can be when it comes to making a hit record. Take, for instance, ATL Jacob’s role in aiding Drake, Future and Tems with their chart-topping collaboration for the aforementioned “Wait For You” which he not only produced himself, but composed as well. On the flipside of that, Timbaland has been credited as both a producer and writer/composer on numerous hit songs throughout his career, contributing to the commercial success of several artists.

For example, he produced and co-wrote Justin Timberlake’s “SexyBack” in 2006, which topped the Billboard Hot 100 for seven weeks and earned a triple-platinum certification by the RIAA. He also played a major role in Nelly Furtado’s “Promiscuous” which was also released in 2006, producing and co-writing the track, which reached No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 and sold over 4 million copies in the U.S. alone. Another example is his work on Missy Elliott’s “Work It” in 2002, where Timbaland’s production and co-writing skills helped the song peak at No. 2 on the Hot 100, eventually earning platinum certification.

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