Swizz Beatz

The emerging profile of the producer in the '90s shoved aside their status as sidekicks or guns-for-hire. The most powerful producers became kingmakers. Swizz Beatz came into the game with a chip on his shoulder, having grown up in the shadows of his uncles, founders of the Ruff Ryders. Eager to make his own name, he seemingly came out of nowhere in 1998, when everyone from Busta Rhymes to Cam'ron to Noreaga rocked his beats. However, his partnership with DMX cemented his rising rep, especially in producing "Ruff Ryders Anthem." Swizz perhaps the Triton's best-known adopter created party music that was incredibly sparse, favoring banks of synthesized horns, basic baselines, drum patterns, and, for dramatic effect, pounding quarter-note stabs. The oft-limited style was barebones, simplistic even, but highly effective. All that open space gave rappers and crowds the opportunity to fill the vacuum with rhymes, yells, and, in DMX's case, barks. Call it new minimalism for a new millennium.