> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.hearingthings.co/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # Blockhead Breaks Down Seven Perfectly Produced Records - URL: https://www.hearingthings.co/blockhead-the-producers/ - Published: 2026-08-21T13:15:19.000Z - Updated: 2026-08-21T16:14:19.000Z - Description: The legendary New York hip-hop producer dissects tracks by Black Sheep, Prince Paul, Fiona Apple, and more. - Author: Dylan Green - Tags: The Producers, Feature, Interview, Blockhead, Brian Ennals, #4:3 [*The Producers*](https://www.hearingthings.co/tag/the-producers/) *is an interview series where our favorite artists discuss their favorite music production.* Alternative hip-hop remains in a state of [flux and mutation](https://www.hearingthings.co/earl-sweatshirt-mike-and-sideshow-are-proving-that-rap-doesnt-need-to-have-a-chosen-one/), but you can always count on Blockhead to be a constant. A veteran with nearly 30 years of experience, the New York-born producer and DJ has steadfastly kept to hip-hop fundamentals while sounding fresh in every era. He’s made beats for all of your favorites—he’s made full-length albums with Aesop Rock and Billy Woods and has collaborated with artists from Illogic and Hangar 18 to Vordul Mega and Open Mike Eagle—while keeping a steady drip of instrumental tapes. Blockhead, whose real name is Tony Simon, first embarked on his path from the time he was 14, when he was first digging through his mother’s cassette collection for samples. He recalls finding the drums from Jimi Hendrix’s “Little Miss Lover” and giving it “to an older rapper friend at the time.” Coincidentally, those drums would end up being picked and used by A Tribe Called Quest on the beat for “Scenario” years later, further solidifying Blockhead's penchant for good percussion. “When I was 18,” he remembers, “I got an ASR-10 for Christmas, and the rest is history.” Blockhead’s found-sound approach lends itself well to a style primed on the best hip-hop of the 1990s and 2000s. His exhaustive curiosity led him to reach out to the Baltimore rapper Brian Ennals, with whom he released the zonkily psychedelic [*Boatshoes*](https://blockheadnyc.bandcamp.com/album/boatshoes?ref=hearingthings.co)earlier this year. They’d collaborated before—Ennals contributed the song “[Sad Vampire](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1kV8sWaibSU&pp=ygUYYnJpYW4gZW5uYWxzIHNhZCB2YW1waXJl&ref=hearingthings.co)” to *The Aux*, Blockhead’s 2023 compilation for Backwoodz Studioz—and *Boatshoes* came from Ennals’s ear as much as Blockhead’s. “The beats on there are things I’ve been working on for years,” Blockhead says, “and he just picked the ones no rapper I work with would ever use.” *Boatshoes* is all clanging drums and psychedelic loops with just a touch of mania to match Ennals’s sardonic bouts of socioeconomic (looting your local imperialist supermarket) and personal truth-telling. That madcap energy defines *Boatshoes*, since both Brian and Blockhead are straightforward and raw in ways familiar and patently insane. Blockhead even had to stop Ennals from releasing “[Wet Noodle](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h%5FoFJXWdzGg&ref=hearingthings.co),” a song partly about erectile dysfunction,, as a single. As a hip-hop connoisseur, Blockhead’s choices for The Producers skew toward dreamy loops and pounding drums. He also threw in a few curveballs—a remix of a Björk deep cut; a full-length Fiona Apple album—but otherwise, this is a master of layered loops paying homage to the beats that raised him. --- ## Black Sheep: “[Similak Child](https://3b2fcdfb.streak-link.com/C%5FpJRJ5l5R06n81qVQzhmeYW/https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DGHy5F0vayl8?ref=hearingthings.co)” (1991) *Producer: Black Sheep (Mista Lawnge & Dres)* ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/72/f7/72f77b03-9993-4be5-b648-4115e28d0ad0/content/images/2026/08/00042284836821.rgb.jpg) **Hearing Things:** I’m excited you picked this one because the version you sent over—the “Homogenized Remix,” with the bass-heavy beat—is my favorite version of this song. **Blockhead:** Both versions are really good, but I actually picked the album version \[from 1991’s *A Wolf In Sheep’s Clothing*\] that has the sample of Jefferson Airplane’s “Today” on it. It was an early example of sample layering. My whole shit is layering—that’s my entire M.O. as a producer. I was struggling to pick a song from this album because it’s just full of it. That album is a sample layering masterclass. *Wolf,* The Pharcyde’s first album \[*Bizarre Ride*\], Gang Starr’s *Step In The Arena,* and, of course, De La Soul’s early stuff. “Similak Child” is one of those songs I heard early on and, as a producer, I was like, *So that’s what you do, then?* I never felt like it was “just loop it and that’s the beat,” which just molded my music into what it is—just take parts from this and parts from that, and somehow they work! I don’t know what equipment they were using back then, but I used an ASR-10 for my first three or four albums, and layering samples on that thing was fucking hard! It’s hard to make something in a different pitch or speed work with another thing and have it sound fluid. But Black Sheep did it in a way that I was amazed by, and that song in particular has some of the coolest sample layering because it’s all samples from well-known songs. --- ## Aceyalone: “[The Guidelines](https://3b2fcdfb.streak-link.com/C%5FpJRK2oKJVm4P5ksgPorOrp/https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3D9rry2a88P3o?ref=hearingthings.co)” (1998) *Producer: Mumbles* ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/72/f7/72f77b03-9993-4be5-b648-4115e28d0ad0/content/images/2026/08/886446027180.jpg) Little story behind this: I was in college when Ace’s first album, *All Balls Don’t Bounce,* came out. The one year I went to college, and I was on the internet and trading tapes with people all across the country. I got on this message board called Alt Hip-Hop, and I was talking to people from all over the world. I had all this crazy Stretch & Bobbito demo stuff and other stuff that no one else had, because the internet existed in a very different way. I befriended this dude who lived in Dallas who worked for Capitol Records and we were trying to see what we could trade, and he said “Well, I have this Aceyalone album.” I said “What, a solo album?” And he sent me *All Balls Don’t Bounce.* The original version he sent me had “Guidelines” on it, and that’s years before *A Book Of Human Language* came out. I had just a cassette of it and was obsessed with that album and ran the song over and over again. Productionwise, \[producer\] Mumbles was using an ASR-10, which I used, and he was probably the first sample-layer guy of the second generation, beyond the boom-bap guys like Prince Paul or DJ Premier. He was sampling different time signatures and other inventive stuff, and that was an incredibly influential style for me. The idea of taking a very simple bassline, like the one on “The Guidelines”—it’s got a bop to it and Aceyalone’s rapping his ass off to it. But then the layers come in and elevate things to a different level. The idea of taking something so simple and elevating it to something more epic just by layering things on top of it is so cool. I’m finding myself doing this more now. I used to think it was all about finding the best loop, and now it’s about finding a simple thing and building off of it. All the layers are what makes it complex and intriguing. **You mentioned you started out using an ASR-10, so a two-part question: What do you use to produce now, and how do you think the newer process you’ve described now manifests on *Boatshoes?*** I use Ableton now. I was using both for a while, but the sampler had limited time-stretching capabilities, In Ableton I can match anything. If I put it on a grid and use my ears, I can make anything work within reason. Not all things are gonna work well, but the realms of possibility change entirely. I was able to make [*The Music Scene*](https://blockheadnyc.bandcamp.com/album/the-music-scene?ref=hearingthings.co)once I used Ableton; I would not have been able to do that otherwise. The last album I made entirely without Ableton was [*Downtown Science*](https://blockheadnyc.bandcamp.com/album/downtown-science?ref=hearingthings.co)*.* I used it a bit on [*Uncle Tony’s Coloring Book*](https://blockheadnyc.bandcamp.com/album/uncle-tonys-coloring-book-2?ref=hearingthings.co)*,* but everything post-[*None Shall Pass*](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=%5FN9qg4wxZno&list=PLR2mD67FGuOY4D5i1tPI3iMm3AkSbQDO%5F&ref=hearingthings.co)was done in Ableton. And with Brian, it’s all the kind of stuff I’ve been doing for years. It’s more the beats he picked. You said you’d never heard beats like that before—I’ve had stuff like that, but no one knows they exist because no one picks them. No rapper I work with would use them or they didn’t fit for an instrumental project. He picked the beat “Roll Call,” which I’ve always been on the fence about. I remember thinking, “Really, that one?”when he picked it, but now it’s one of my favorites on the whole album. He turned this beat I’d never consider anything, into something that’s really dope. --- ## Juvenile: “[Ghetto Children](https://3b2fcdfb.streak-link.com/C%5FpJROm9%5FequEdeJnAbzkiUS/https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DEeImRrJ4sjc?ref=hearingthings.co)” (1998) *Producer: Mannie Fresh* ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/72/f7/72f77b03-9993-4be5-b648-4115e28d0ad0/content/images/2026/08/06UMGIM04297.rgb.jpg) I love *400 Degreez,* I think that album’s amazing. During that time, I was bumping that and Young Bleed a lot, specifically his album *My Own.* I don’t know if Timbaland had poked his head out yet, but people doing interesting shit with tapped-out hi-hats was more of a thing. Southern rap up to that point, excluding Dungeon Family, had been very keyboard-y and hadn’t really grabbed me. Songs like “Ghetto Children,” in particular, just had soul to them. It was live instruments—you could tell it was a live bassist playing on it. That song always made me feel good. I’ll always point to that song if people ever question Juvenile’s rapping ability. He goes fucking off on that song. It’s funny because I’m a guy who samples, but I like when the musicality of Southern production reached the musicality of their vocals. When they combined, it really elevated it for me. It’s an outside-the-box influence in an abstract way, but I love the production of it. **Were there any other staples of that era that influenced what you do?** The Young Bleed album has a song called “No Disrespect” which I just love. Can’t say it now, but Mystikal had some joints. At that time, I was very album-focused. I would get into certain albums, and it could be an artist whose other albums didn’t connect, but there’s one that just fully clicks. Bleed had multiple albums I liked, but *My Own* was the one I zeroed in on. It was partially slow funk production. He used samples, but there was also triplet hi-hats and stuff. Drum programming comes into the picture for me too; mixing those kinds of drums with samples was what intrigued me. Taking the pre-2002-style trap drums and mixing those with East Coast underground samples was dope to me. --- ## Justin Warfield: “[K Sera Sera](https://3b2fcdfb.streak-link.com/C%5FpJRJtiIjiIhixTaw4pknJv/https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DKhQ2i19jml8?ref=hearingthings.co)” (1993) *Producer: Prince Paul* ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/72/f7/72f77b03-9993-4be5-b648-4115e28d0ad0/content/images/2026/08/mzi.qtmzvxwx.jpg) Prince Paul’s probably my favorite producer of all time. He’s done so much cool shit. Reiterating what I said about sample-layering with Black Sheep, this song does that in an epic way, but where this hits me differently is how much in pocket it is with the mood of the shit I make. It’s a pretty beat, a little sad, but it makes you feel good at the same time. Whenever I’m going through samples, my ears are drawn to that vibe. I have so many beats that are just that vibe where I’m like, *Nobody raps over these kinds of beats anymore*, so they’re just chilling or I’ll use them for an instrumental project. There’s a wistfulness to it, and the way he builds this simple but catchy bassline with horns and an electric guitar that comes in on the hook. I legit thought it was a Q-Tip song the first time I heard it. --- ## Björk: “[Possibly Maybe (Lucy Remix)](https://3b2fcdfb.streak-link.com/C%5FpJRKWpqcbBLbLXEgIquc4H/https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DFOkaERBmJFg?ref=hearingthings.co)” (1996) *Producer: Mark Bell* ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/72/f7/72f77b03-9993-4be5-b648-4115e28d0ad0/content/images/2026/08/Screenshot-2026-08-21-at-4.30.18---AM.png) I probably heard this in ‘96 or ‘97\. I mostly listen to hip-hop with dalliances into old soul and things like that, and then every now and then something else would sneak in. It’s super trip-hop-era production, but it put something in my head that was like *Oh, I can do something that slow and spooky.* It definitely influenced my first solo album \[2004’s [*Music by Cavelight*](https://blockheadnyc.bandcamp.com/album/music-by-cavelight?ref=hearingthings.co)\]. Portishead was great and I could’ve easily chosen some of those for this list, but hearing the “Possibly Maybe” remix and going home and making a beat right after that didn’t sound like it, but was at the same mood or same speed, and it eventually became part of the [*Triptych*](https://blockheadnyc.bandcamp.com/track/triptych-pt-2?ref=hearingthings.co) series. I was locked into underground hip-hop at that time, so you have an expanded view of what you can do, but then you hear something else out of your genre and realize you could take this somewhere else. I haven’t kept up with Björk’s career like that in the last 20 years, but this was one of my favorite ones. The way he mixed the vocals—how he sampled the vocals and put a crazy effect on them—sounds like you’re fucking dissociating while listening to it. --- ## Fiona Apple: [*The*](https://3b2fcdfb.streak-link.com/C%5FpJRKGpKdGUDEhougt5wmjd/https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DlLeBD%5FF%5Fhto%26list%3DPLNPGM2D7aODciKXjf5EHaiL8J7sHosW0d?ref=hearingthings.co)[*Idler Wheel*](https://3b2fcdfb.streak-link.com/C%5FpJRKGpKdGUDEhougt5wmjd/https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DlLeBD%5FF%5Fhto%26list%3DPLNPGM2D7aODciKXjf5EHaiL8J7sHosW0d?ref=hearingthings.co)*…* (2012) *Producers: Fiona Apple and Charley Drayton* ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/72/f7/72f77b03-9993-4be5-b648-4115e28d0ad0/content/images/2026/08/886443478671.jpg) **You didn’t choose a song from this; you chose the whole album. Why’s that?** That album’s one of my favorite albums ever, and also out of left-field. I don’t have many non-rap albums in my top albums ever, but I’ve always had a great appreciation for Fiona Apple—I think she’s a genius. Like I said, this just came from hyperfixating on an album. I’ll like stuff from her other albums, but this one is front-to-back amazing. It sounds like it was recorded in an open room with children’s toys. What I like about it is that it feels so DIY and raw. It’s not recorded to be bumped; it’s recorded to put emphasis on her songwriting and lyrics and voice. This doesn’t really apply to the music I make at all because she plays every instrument and has glockenspiels and wood blocks as drums—there’s almost no drums on this album, just percussion things. But the mood of it is so enchanting to me. I couldn’t pick one song because it wouldn’t encompass the whole thing. I got it when I was on tour in Europe in the iPod era and I was running it over and over and over. It’s just an amazing album. --- ## RJD2: “[Smoke and Mirrors](https://3b2fcdfb.streak-link.com/C%5FpJRJhAQLo2rx499wuDKm43/https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3D1jVaKBB0jHU?ref=hearingthings.co)” (2002) *Producer: RJD2* ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/72/f7/72f77b03-9993-4be5-b648-4115e28d0ad0/content/images/2026/08/600x600bb.jpg) This one’s from a technical perspective. RJ and I have put out our albums within a year of each other before. I would say we’re contemporaries. I knew his work a little bit—he was a guy around Def Jux—but when this album \[*Deadringer*\] came out, I was like *Goddamn!* My album was already finished at this point, but I was like *Damn, so this is what people are doing??* “Smoke and Mirrors” is another sample-layering masterclass. From a technical standpoint—and I still don’t know how he did this, since we didn’t have stems or stem-removers back then—he took the Marion Black vocals, which were in a swing rhythm, somehow filtered out all the instruments and put it over something that was in regular 4/4 boom-bap. I had dinner with him once before a show and I asked him and he probably forgot, but as a producer, I was like *How did he do that?* Also, he can put together a song and is a sample-layering genius. It’s funny, because I don’t really like instrumental music. The only instrumental albums I’ve ever listened to are his and \[DJ Shadow’s\] *Endtroducing*—and even then, I can’t say I bumped them a lot. I like rap! But “Smoke and Mirrors” is one of the greatest songs of that era. In the genre that I make, it’s top three songs ever.