Ayatollah (record producer)

Lamont Dorrell, known as Ayatollah, is a hip hop record producer. He has mainly produced music for New York–based rappers, including Mos Def, Talib Kweli, R.A. the Rugged Man, Tragedy Khadafi, Wordsworth, Vast Aire, Afu-Ra, Guru, M.O.P., Inspectah Deck, Cormega, and Ghostface Killah.

Career

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Ayatollah first received mainstream recognition after producing Rawkus rapper Mos Def's 1999 single "Ms. Fat Booty", the first single off his Black on Both Sides album.[1] He went on to produce Cormega's "Rap's a Hustle", from the 2001 album The Realness, and Styles P's "The Life", featuring Pharoahe Monch (2002), among others.

Ayatollah has also released numerous solo albums, starting with his 2003 debut, So Many Reasons to Rhyme.

In 2015, he formed the trio COLOSSUS with the hip hop production team Widowmaker. Their debut instrumental album, Ayatollah Presents: COLOSSUS, was released digitally in June of that year,[2] and a limited vinyl pressing was issued in mid-August.[3]

Selected discography

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Albums

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  • So Many Reasons to Rhyme (2003)
  • Personal Legend Vol. 1 (2003)
  • Listen (2006)
  • Now Playing (2006)
  • Louder (2008)
  • Drum Machine (2008)
  • The Quixotic (2010)
  • The Quixotic Remix EP (2010)
  • Cocoon (2010)
  • Live from the MPC 60 (2010)
  • Fingertips (2011)
  • Bridges with Moka Only (2012)
  • Avant Garde (2013)
  • Be Real Black for Me (2014)
  • Who Is My Soul Brother? (2015)
  • Wendee (2015)
  • Ayatollah Presents: COLOSSUS (2015) (with Widowmaker)
  • The Box Cutter Brothers (with Drasar Monumental) (2015)
  • Box Cutter Brothers II (with Drasar Monumental) (2015)
  • Weapons of Mass Production: Episode 1 (with Budget Money)
  • Blaxplotiation: A Piece of the Action (with Hell Razah) (2017)
  • Box Cutter Brothers – B.C.B. 4 (with Drasar Monumental) (2017)
  • Box Cutter Brothers – 5 (with Drasar Monumental) (2018)
  • Karmic Points (2018)
  • Phantom of the Chakras (2018)
  • The House of Trapdoors (with Bin Grim) (2023)

Production

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References

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  1. ^ Strock, Owen (2005) "Ayatollah Now Playing", CMJ New Music Monthly, Issue 137, 2005, p. 40, retrieved February 5, 2010
  2. ^ Bandcamp. "Ayatollah Presents: COLOSSUS". Bandcamp.com. Retrieved June 25, 2015.
  3. ^ Fleamarketfunk (May 18, 2015). "Ayatollah Presents: COLOSSUSS". Fleamarketfunk.com. Retrieved June 25, 2015.