Mr. DJ
Encyclopedia
Mr. DJ, born David Sheats, is a Grammy Award
-winning American
hip-hop record producer
and DJ
from Atlanta, Georgia
.
, Mr. DJ entered the music industry as a DJ
for Atlanta-based hip-hop group OutKast
. According to Sheats,
After touring with the group for a year, he began to focus more on production
rather than deejaying. By sharpening his beat making skills, Mr. DJ got the opportunity to help produce OutKast's 1996
second album ATLiens
. Following his work on OutKast's “Elevators (Me & You)
” and several songs from their album Aquemini
, Mr. DJ formed Earthtone III production group with Andre 3000
& Big Boi
. Collectively, they produced roughly 80% of all the OutKast
albums, from Stankonia
on to their latest album, Idlewild
. In addition, Mr. DJ continued to DJ on every OutKast album, except Speakerboxxx/The Love Below
, which he mostly produced. To date, his most notable hits include "Da Art of Storytellin'
," "B.O.B.," "Ms. Jackson
," and "The Whole World
." He is also a part of the Atlanta-based hip-hop
/R&B
/soul
musical collective The Dungeon Family
.
Mr. DJ has won two Grammy Awards, one in 2002 for Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group
for "Ms. Jackson
," and another in 2004 for Rap Album of the Year
for his work on OutKast's Speakerboxxx/The Love Below
. In 2008, he started his own record label
, Camp David Records, with several new artists including Jeff B., Chinkie Brown and Shawty Redd
. Public Relations Associate Keith Kemp was quoted as saying:
Mr. DJ recently worked with Mos Def
on his new album The Ecstatic
, and produced four tracks on Common's 2008
album, Universal Mind Control
. In addition to OutKast
, Mr. DJ has worked with Lenny Kravitz
, Bubba Sparxxx
, Goodie Mob
, Killer Mike
, Field Mob
, Rich Boy
and 8Ball & MJG
.
Grammy Award
A Grammy Award — or Grammy — is an accolade by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States to recognize outstanding achievement in the music industry...
-winning American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
hip-hop record producer
Record producer
A record producer is an individual working within the music industry, whose job is to oversee and manage the recording of an artist's music...
and DJ
Disc jockey
A disc jockey, also known as DJ, is a person who selects and plays recorded music for an audience. Originally, "disc" referred to phonograph records, not the later Compact Discs. Today, the term includes all forms of music playback, no matter the medium.There are several types of disc jockeys...
from Atlanta, Georgia
Atlanta, Georgia
Atlanta is the capital and most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia. According to the 2010 census, Atlanta's population is 420,003. Atlanta is the cultural and economic center of the Atlanta metropolitan area, which is home to 5,268,860 people and is the ninth largest metropolitan area in...
.
Biography
Raised on the southside of College Park, GeorgiaCollege Park, Georgia
College Park is a city located partly in Fulton County, Georgia and partially in Clayton County, Georgia, in the United States. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 13,942...
, Mr. DJ entered the music industry as a DJ
Disc jockey
A disc jockey, also known as DJ, is a person who selects and plays recorded music for an audience. Originally, "disc" referred to phonograph records, not the later Compact Discs. Today, the term includes all forms of music playback, no matter the medium.There are several types of disc jockeys...
for Atlanta-based hip-hop group OutKast
OutKast
Outkast is an American hip hop duo based in East Point, Georgia, consisting of Atlanta native André "André 3000" Benjamin and Savannah, Georgia-born Antwan "Big Boi" Patton. They were originally known as Two Shades Deep but later changed the group's name to OutKast...
. According to Sheats,
After touring with the group for a year, he began to focus more on production
Record producer
A record producer is an individual working within the music industry, whose job is to oversee and manage the recording of an artist's music...
rather than deejaying. By sharpening his beat making skills, Mr. DJ got the opportunity to help produce OutKast's 1996
1996 in music
This is a list of notable events in music that took place in the year 1996.-January:* January – At the trial of two American teenagers, Nicholaus McDonald and Brian Bassett, for the murder of Bassett's parents and young brother, defense lawyers attempt to lay the blame for the murders on the fact...
second album ATLiens
ATLiens
Upon its release, ATLiens received positive reviews from music publications such as The Hartford Courant, Rolling Stone, and The Washington Post...
. Following his work on OutKast's “Elevators (Me & You)
Elevators (Me & You)
"Elevators " is the first single from hip-Hop group OutKast's second studio album, ATLiens. It peaked at #12 on the Billboard Hot 100, being OutKast's biggest hit on the chart until the release of "Ms. Jackson" in 2000. The single also peaked at #1 on the US Hot Rap Tracks chart. It was later...
” and several songs from their album Aquemini
Aquemini
Aquemini is the third studio album by hip hop duo OutKast, released September 29, 1998 on LaFace Records. The title is a portmanteau of the two performers' Zodiac signs: Aquarius and Gemini...
, Mr. DJ formed Earthtone III production group with Andre 3000
André 3000
André Lauren Benjamin , better known by his stage name André 3000 is an American rapper, singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, record producer and actor, best known for being part of American hip-hop duo OutKast alongside fellow rapper Big Boi...
& Big Boi
Big Boi
Antwan André Patton , better known by his stage name Big Boi, is an American rapper, song-writer, record producer and actor, best known for being a member of American hip hop duo OutKast alongside André 3000. His work in the duo has produced six studio albums. During the duo's hiatus, he and André...
. Collectively, they produced roughly 80% of all the OutKast
OutKast
Outkast is an American hip hop duo based in East Point, Georgia, consisting of Atlanta native André "André 3000" Benjamin and Savannah, Georgia-born Antwan "Big Boi" Patton. They were originally known as Two Shades Deep but later changed the group's name to OutKast...
albums, from Stankonia
Stankonia
Stankonia is the fourth studio album by American hip hop duo OutKast, released October 31, 2000 on La Face Records. The album debuted at number 2 on the U.S. Billboard 200 chart, selling over 530,000 copies the first week. Stankonia received general acclaim from music critics, based on an aggregate...
on to their latest album, Idlewild
Idlewild (OutKast album)
Idlewild is the sixth studio album by American hip hop duo OutKast, released August 22, 2006 on LaFace Records. It also serves as the soundtrack album to the duo's musical film of the same name, released by Universal Pictures in August 2006...
. In addition, Mr. DJ continued to DJ on every OutKast album, except Speakerboxxx/The Love Below
Speakerboxxx/The Love Below
Speakerboxxx/The Love Below is the fifth studio album by American hip hop duo OutKast, released September 23, 2003 on LaFace Records in the United States. Issued as a double album, it clocks in at over two hours and consists of a solo album from both of the group's members...
, which he mostly produced. To date, his most notable hits include "Da Art of Storytellin'
Da Art of Storytellin' (Pt. 1)
"Da Art of Storytellin' " is the third and final single to be released from hip-hop duo OutKast's third studio album, Aquemini. It was released as a single in 1999, but failed to chart on the Billboard Hot 100, although it managed to peak at #67 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart...
," "B.O.B.," "Ms. Jackson
Ms. Jackson
"Ms. Jackson" is a song by OutKast and the second single from their fourth album Stankonia. It topped the U.S. charts for the week of February 17, 2001, and won a 2002 Grammy Award for Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group. It also reached number one in Germany and number two in the United...
," and "The Whole World
The Whole World
"The Whole World" is the first single to be released from OutKast's first compilation album, Big Boi and Dre Present...Outkast. The song managed to peak at number 19 on both the Billboard Hot 100 and the UK Singles Chart. The single features Killer Mike and Joi...
." He is also a part of the Atlanta-based hip-hop
Hip hop music
Hip hop music, also called hip-hop, rap music or hip-hop music, is a musical genre consisting of a stylized rhythmic music that commonly accompanies rapping, a rhythmic and rhyming speech that is chanted...
/R&B
Rhythm and blues
Rhythm and blues, often abbreviated to R&B, is a genre of popular African American music that originated in the 1940s. The term was originally used by record companies to describe recordings marketed predominantly to urban African Americans, at a time when "urbane, rocking, jazz based music with a...
/soul
Soul music
Soul music is a music genre originating in the United States combining elements of gospel music and rhythm and blues. According to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, soul is "music that arose out of the black experience in America through the transmutation of gospel and rhythm & blues into a form of...
musical collective The Dungeon Family
Dungeon Family
The Dungeon Family is a hip hop/R&B/soul musical collective, based in Atlanta, Georgia and specializing in Southern hip hop with heavy funk and soul influences. The group derives its name from "The Dungeon", the name given to record producer Rico Wade's basement studio where many of the early...
.
Mr. DJ has won two Grammy Awards, one in 2002 for Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group
Grammy Award for Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group
The Grammy Award for Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group was awarded between 1991 and 2011, alongside the Grammy Award for Best Rap Solo Performance. Previously a single award was presented for Best Rap Performance....
for "Ms. Jackson
Ms. Jackson
"Ms. Jackson" is a song by OutKast and the second single from their fourth album Stankonia. It topped the U.S. charts for the week of February 17, 2001, and won a 2002 Grammy Award for Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group. It also reached number one in Germany and number two in the United...
," and another in 2004 for Rap Album of the Year
Grammy Award for Best Rap Album
The Grammy Award for Best Rap Album is an award presented to recording artists for quality albums with rapping at the Grammy Awards, a ceremony that was established in 1958 and originally called the Gramophone Awards...
for his work on OutKast's Speakerboxxx/The Love Below
Speakerboxxx/The Love Below
Speakerboxxx/The Love Below is the fifth studio album by American hip hop duo OutKast, released September 23, 2003 on LaFace Records in the United States. Issued as a double album, it clocks in at over two hours and consists of a solo album from both of the group's members...
. In 2008, he started his own record label
Record label
In the music industry, a record label is a brand and a trademark associated with the marketing of music recordings and music videos. Most commonly, a record label is the company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the production, manufacture, distribution, marketing and promotion,...
, Camp David Records, with several new artists including Jeff B., Chinkie Brown and Shawty Redd
Shawty Redd
Shawty Redd is an Atlanta-based, Grammy nominated record producer, rapper, and songwriter. In November 2007, producer Shawty Redd gained fame when he produced "Sensual Seduction", the first single from multi-platinum rapper Snoop Dogg's Ego Trippin...
. Public Relations Associate Keith Kemp was quoted as saying:
Mr. DJ recently worked with Mos Def
Mos Def
Dante Terrell Smith is an American actor and Emcee known by the stage names Mos Def and Yasiin Bey. He started his hip hop career in a group called Urban Thermo Dynamics, after which he appeared on albums by Da Bush Babees and De La Soul. With Talib Kweli, he formed the duo Black Star, which...
on his new album The Ecstatic
The Ecstatic
The Ecstatic is the fourth studio album by American hip hop artist Mos Def, released June 9, 2009 on Downtown Records. The album was recorded during 2007 to 2009, and production was handled by J Dilla, Mr. Flash, Madlib, Mos Def, Oh No, Preservation, and The Neptunes...
, and produced four tracks on Common's 2008
2008 in music
2008 was a huge year in music history with the emergence of pop superstars Lady Gaga and Katy Perry into the mainstream. Also, this is the year that is widely agreed upon by critics as the start of the fall of hip hop from the mainstream and the rise of Synthpop into the mainstream due to acts such...
album, Universal Mind Control
Universal Mind Control
-Chart positions:In its first week, Universal Mind Control sold 81,663 in the United States.As of December 31, 2008, the album has sold 211,781.- Release history :-External links:* at Metacritic*...
. In addition to OutKast
OutKast
Outkast is an American hip hop duo based in East Point, Georgia, consisting of Atlanta native André "André 3000" Benjamin and Savannah, Georgia-born Antwan "Big Boi" Patton. They were originally known as Two Shades Deep but later changed the group's name to OutKast...
, Mr. DJ has worked with Lenny Kravitz
Lenny Kravitz
Leonard Albert "Lenny" Kravitz is an American singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, record producer and arranger, whose "retro" style incorporates elements of rock, soul, R&B, funk, reggae, hard rock, psychedelic, folk and ballads...
, Bubba Sparxxx
Bubba Sparxxx
Warren Anderson Mathis , known by his stage name Bubba Sparxxx, is an American Southern rapper. His biggest hit is "Ms. New Booty" featuring The Ying Yang Twins which peaked at #7 in the United States...
, Goodie Mob
Goodie Mob
Goodie Mob is a Hip Hop act based in Atlanta, Georgia that formed in 1991 and currently consists of members Cee-Lo Green, Khujo, T-Mo and Big Gipp.-History:The group's name acts as a double backronym...
, Killer Mike
Killer Mike
Michael Render , better known by his stage name Killer Mike, is an American rapper, signed to Grind Time Official through the SMC/Fontana Distribution...
, Field Mob
Field Mob
Field Mob is an American Hip-Hop group from Albany, Georgia composed of artists Shawn Timothy Johnson and Darion Crawford better known by their stage names Shawn Jay and Smoke respectively...
, Rich Boy
Rich Boy
Marece Richards , better known by his stage name Rich Boy, is an American rapper from Mobile, Alabama. He is best known for the hit single "Throw Some D's". His self-titled debut album was released in early 2007.- Early career :...
and 8Ball & MJG
8Ball & MJG
8Ball & MJG is an American Rap and Crunk duo from Memphis, Tennessee. The two rappers met at in 1980.They first appeared on the rap scene with their 1992 underground album Listen To The Lyrics...
.