I love reading stories like this one. When we listen to music we usually have no idea who is responsible for the foundation of the sounds our ears gravitate towards. So much is taken for granted and often the real originators/innovators are not the ones who are given the main spotlight. After reading this article, I walked away realizing that Chucky Thompson is someone I should learn more about. He is the true defintion of a music legend.
Despite mogul and marketing wizard Sean “Diddy” Combs’ bold assertion, he and his Bad Boy Records in-house production team, the Hitmen, didn’t invent the remix.
They did, however, during the label’s indomitable peak in the mid- to late 1990s, popularize and glamorize the remix, as hip-hop and R&B began to supplant rock as the sound of popular music. Producer Carl “Chucky” Thompson, who died Aug. 9 from COVID-19 complications at age 53, was a pillar of the Hitmen — which included Deric “D-Dot” Angelettie, Nashiem Myrick, Stevie J and Mario Winans — and his fingerprints are all over some of the greatest hip-hop/R&B records of the ‘90s and 2000s. Quietly, Thompson’s resume and musical acumen reflect so much of what remains singular about those genres during that era — particularly their fusion.
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