Large Professor

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Large Professor
Image:Replace this image male.svg
Background information
Birth name William Paul Mitchell
Also known as Large Professor, Large Pro, Large P., Extra P
Born March 21 1972 (1972-03-21) (age 37)
Origin Harlem, New York, United States
Genre(s) Hip Hop
Occupation(s) MC, Producer, DJ, Musician
Instrument(s) E-mu SP1200
AKAI MPC
Turntable
Ensoniq ASR-X
Years active 1988 – present
Label(s) Wild Pitch
Geffen Records
Matador Records
Associated
acts 		Pete Rock
Nas
Main Source
Eric B. & Rakim, Akinyele

William Paul Mitchell (born March 21, 1972 in Harlem, New York), best known as Large Professor, also as Large Pro and Xtra P, is a New York based hip hop record producer and rapper. He is best known as a member of the influential underground hip hop group Main Source, and for discovering popular rapper Nas.[1]

Contents

[edit] Biography

[edit] Early career

His production career started early in his adolescence. As a young teenager, he would make 'pause tapes' which he would pause a beat and blend it in with other sequences. Eventually, he mananged to own a Casio SK-1 sampling keyboard which allowed him to make his beats at the comfort of his own home. He became a protege of the late Paul C, a record producer and musician, with whom he credits for teaching him virtually everything he knows about record production as well as the associated technology used for making music. Paul C was doing production work with Eric B. and Rakim and then at age 17, Large was given the opportunity to program beats for Eric B. & Rakim's Let the Rhythm Hit Em' album while still attending high school. While working with Eric B. and Rakim, he discovered Nas. Nas got a deal with Serchlite Publishing (headed by MC Serch from former group 3rd Bass) and Large began to produce three tracks on Nas's debut album Illmatic. His work with Eric B. and Rakim album eventually led him to work on Kool G. Rap's Wanted Dead or Alive.

[edit] Career with Main Source

In 1989, he joined the group Main Source, which also consisted of K-Cut and Sir Scratch from Toronto. Main Source recorded one album with Large called Breaking Atoms which was released in 1991. It included hits such as "Just Hangin' Out", "Looking at the Front Door", and Nas makes his first public appearance on a track called "Live at the Barbeque" along with Akinyele and Joe Fatal. In 1992, their success allowed them to record "Fakin' the Funk", a track on the White Men Can't Jump motion picture soundtrack. Due to business differences, Large and Main Source quietly parted ways and Large went on to sign to Geffen Records. During and after his tenure with Main Source, he produced for Pete Rock & CL Smooth, a number of tracks with Nas, Busta Rhymes, Masta Ace, The X-Ecutioners, Tragedy Khadafi, Big Daddy Kane, Mobb Deep, and others during the 1990's.

[edit] Solo career

In 1996, he released two singles under Geffen Records called "Ijuswannachill" and "The Mad Scientist", which videos were directed for both tracks. He was to have his highly anticipated solo album The LP released around the same time, but was never released. Geffen and Large Professor eventually parted ways and signed to Matador Records, which generally specifies in marketing and promoting contemporary rock and alternative tracks as well as electronic music. His anticipated album, The LP it was released on the internet along with the purchase of another solo hip hop album 1st Class, which was originally released the previous year on Matador Records. Although 1st Class did not receive mainstream acceptance, it gained favorable reviews by fans and critics. The album includes guest appearances by Nas, Busta Rhymes, and Q-Tip. The album also includes the moderate street hit "Radioactive".

Large's publishing company is named 'Paul Sea Productions' as a homage to his late mentor.

For many years, people thought that Large Professor directly taught DJ Premier how to use the Emu SP-1200 drum/sampling machine, which Large used to help program many of his beats in the 1990s. However, according to Large Professor, he just showed DJ Premier to enhance what he already had. This is an excerpt from the November/December issue of Scratch Magazine:

Since people see 'professor' they say, 'He taught Preemo'. Nah, what happened was that we traded off. Preem showed me an ill beat and at the time I was filtering records like taking the bassline out of a record and filtering. I showed him how to do that on the Akai S-950. Premier does even use the 1200, he's never used the 1200. Just people throughout the years take sh*t and run with it. We just traded off. He shown me the "Brethren" (break) beat and I showed him how to muffle out the bassline. That's all it was"

Large Professor DJs at clubs, parties, and events worldwide and still engages in music production. He released an instrumental LP in 2006 called Beatz Vol. 1. Its sequel, Beats Vol.2 came out in 2007. He's currently doing production work for rappers Jin, Cormega, U-God, and Jurassic 5.

[edit] Discography

[edit] Albums

[edit] Production

[edit] Appears on

"The Come Up" (Cormega album The True Meaning)

[edit] External links

  • [1] Large Professor's My Space Proflie Page
  • [2] Large Professor Biography Sketch at Matador Records Website

[edit] References

  1. ^ http://www.matadorrecords.com/large_professor/biography.html
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