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Ah, the producer. It's one of the most thankless jobs in hip-hop. Apart from a few superstars like Danger Mouse and Timbaland, most producers are destined to be overshadowed by the MC on the track and displaced by a DJ in a club despite their vital role in the music-making process. But tomorrow night at the Church, a dozen local producers are going to get a chance to go head to head in a Red Bull-sponsored "producer battle." Twelve producer enter -- one producer leave (well, all twelve will leave, but only one will leave victorious).
Two producers at a time will share the stage and play original compositions (no samples of other bands' tunes allowed) on a set of CDJs and a mixer. The promoters promise "no celebrity judges and no gimmicks," so that's good news, unless you really dig celebrity judges and/or gimmicks. The winner and a runner up will be flown to Atlanta, Georgia for the national bracket. The winner of that one gets a trip to LA to collaborate with an "A-List" recording artist.
If You'd like to go and check out Denver's crop of up-and-coming beatmakers, hit the Red Bull Big Tune RSVP page. Producers, you missed your chance to register for this year, but keep working on those tracks -- there's always next year.
Keep Westword Free... Since we started Westword, it has been defined as the free, independent voice of Denver, and we would like to keep it that way. Offering our readers free access to incisive coverage of local news, food and culture. Producing stories on everything from political scandals to the hottest new bands, with gutsy reporting, stylish writing, and staffers who've won everything from the Society of Professional Journalists' Sigma Delta Chi feature-writing award to the Casey Medal for Meritorious Journalism. But with local journalism's existence under siege and advertising revenue setbacks having a larger impact, it is important now more than ever for us to rally support behind funding our local journalism. You can help by participating in our "I Support" membership program, allowing us to keep covering Denver with no paywalls.
