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.

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