Patrick Denard Douthit (born January 15, 1975),
better known as 9th Wonder, is a hip hop music, hip hop record producer,

record executive A music executive or record executive is a person within a record label who works in senior management and makes executive decisions over the label's artists. Their role varies greatly but in essence, they can oversee one, or many, aspects of a re ...

, DJ, and

rapper Rapping (also rhyming, spitting, emceeing or MCing) is a musical form of vocal delivery that incorporates "rhyme, rhythmic speech, and street vernacular". It is performed or chanted, usually over a backing beat or musical accompaniment. The ...

from

North Carolina North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia and So ...

. He began his career as the main producer for the group Little Brother in

Durham, North Carolina Durham ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of North Carolina and the county seat of Durham County, North Carolina, Durham County. Small portions of the city limits extend into Orange County, North Carolina, Orange County and Wake County, North Carol ...

, and has also worked with

Jean Grae Tsidi Ibrahim (born November 26, 1976), known professionally as Jean Grae (formerly What? What?), is an American rapper from Manhattan, New York City. Jean rose in the underground hip hop scene in New York City and has built an international f ...

, Wale,

Murs Murs may refer to: People * Marc Athanase Parfait Œillet des Murs (1804-1878), French ornithologist * Olly Murs (born 1984), English singer-songwriter * Murs (rapper) (born 1978), American rapper Places * Murs, Indre, France * Murs, Vaucluse, ...

Buckshot A shotgun shell, shotshell or simply shell is a type of rimmed, cylindrical (straight-walled) cartridges used specifically in shotguns, and is typically loaded with numerous small, pellet-like spherical sub-projectiles called shot, fired thro ...

Erykah Badu Erica Abi Wright (born February 26, 1971), known professionally as Erykah Badu (), is an American singer-songwriter, record producer and actress. Influenced by rhythm and blues, R&B, Soul music, soul, and hip hop, Badu rose to prominence in the ...

David Banner Lavell William Crump (born April 11, 1974), better known by his stage name David Banner, is an American rapper, record producer, and actor. Born in Brookhaven, Mississippi, Banner's family moved to Jackson, Mississippi, where he was raised. Ban ...

Rapsody Marlanna Evans (born January 21, 1983), better known by her stage name Rapsody, is an American rapper. Her second album, ''Laila's Wisdom'' (2017), which was critically acclaimed, received two Grammy Award nominations for Best Rap Album and Be ...

, and

Talib Kweli Talib Kweli Greene (; born October 3, 1975) is an American rapper. He earned recognition early on through his collaboration with fellow Brooklyn rapper Mos Def in 1997, when they formed the group Black Star. Kweli's musical career continued with ...

. As of 2010, 9th Wonder raps under the name of 9thmatic. 9th Wonder's production often builds on samples from artists such as Al Green and

Curtis Mayfield Curtis Lee Mayfield (June 3, 1942 – December 26, 1999) was an American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and record producer, and one of the most influential musicians behind soul and politically conscious African-American music.

Music career

9th Wonder's first significant career breakthrough came in 2003 when, as an up-and-coming producer, he released an unofficial remix album of

Nas Nas (born 1973) is the stage name of American rapper Nasir Jones. Nas, NaS, or NAS may also refer to: Aviation * Nasair, a low-cost airline carrier and subsidiary based in Eritrea * National Air Services, an airline in Saudi Arabia ** Nas Air ( ...

' 2002 album '' God's Son'' entitled '' God's Stepson''. Released through internet outlets, the album garnered significant attention and acclaim. The producer has said that he was not thinking in terms of using it to generate a buzz or promote his skills at that point: "I never thought any of this of me as a producer was going to happen." The album has since been credited as starting the now regular trend for unofficial 'home-made' remixes of whole albums. 9th Wonder began his career as the main producer for the group Little Brother. As part of Little Brother he gained recognition and critical acclaim for his production on their debut 2003 release, '' The Listening''.

Jay-Z Shawn Corey Carter (born December 4, 1969), known professionally as Jay-Z, is an American rapper, record producer, entrepreneur, and founder of Manhattan-based conglomerate talent and entertainment agency Roc Nation. He is regarded as one of ...

's studio engineer Young Guru was impressed with his work, and contacted 9th Wonder, which led to 9th Wonder producing "Threat" for Jay-Z's 2003 '' The Black Album''. The cut proved to be a mainstream breakthrough for 9th Wonder, most immediately in the major production role he secured on Destiny's Child's 2004 ''

Destiny Fulfilled ''Destiny Fulfilled'' is the fifth and final studio album by American R&B trio Destiny's Child. It was released on November 16, 2004, by Columbia Records and Sony Urban Music. A comeback release, it marked the return of Destiny's Child after th ...

'' album that Jay-Z was instrumental in helping bring about. On the album, 9th Wonder produced the tracks "

Girl A girl is a young female human, usually a child or an adolescent. When a girl becomes an adult, she is accurately described as a ''woman''. However, the term ''girl'' is also used for other meanings, including ''young woman'',Dictionary ...

" and "Is She the Reason", plus the bonus track "Game Over". 9th Wonder left Little Brother in 2007.

Recent and current projects

In August 2010, Drake exchanged tweets with 9th Wonder on

Twitter Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...

, expressing his desire to work with him again (the first time being the production of "Think Good Thoughts" featuring

Phonte Phonte Lyshod Coleman, known mononymously as Phonte (born December 28, 1978), is an American rapper, singer, and producer. He is currently of the North Carolina hip-hop trio/duo Little Brother (revived in 2019 without producer 9th Wonder) an ...

and

Elzhi Jason Powers (born May 12, 1978), better known by his stage name Elzhi (stylized as eLZhi), is an American Rapping, rapper from Detroit, Michigan. He is a former member of Slum Village and now records as a solo artist. In his youth, he made nume ...

for his 2007 mixtape ''

Comeback Season ''Comeback Season'' is a 2006 film directed by Bruce McCulloch. It stars Ray Liotta as Walter Pearce, a married man who, with the help of local football star Skylar Eckerman (Sipos), tries to win back his wife (Headly) after cheating on her. Fil ...

''). It was revealed in October 2010 that 9th Wonder would be producing for Drake on his second album, '' Take Care'', which was released on November 15, 2011. However, a month prior to the release, 9th Wonder said in an interview that he would not appear on ''Take Care'' due to A&R issues. Singer

Chris Brown Christopher Maurice Brown (born May 5, 1989) is an American singer, songwriter, dancer, and actor. According to '' Billboard'', Brown is one of the most successful R&B singers of his generation, having often been referred to by many contempo ...

recorded a series of rap freestyles over 9th Wonder beats. The first was released on July 18, 2011, on

YouTube YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...

under the title "Real Hip Hop #3". This was followed a day later by "Real Hip Hop #4" featuring

Kevin McCall Kevin Lamar McCall Jr. (born July 25, 1985) is an American singer, songwriter, and record producer. He is best known for his association with fellow singer Chris Brown. McCall signed to Brown in a joint venture with RCA Records in 2012. He was fe ...

. These tracks were included in Brown's rap mixtape ''Boy in Detention'', released on August 5, 2011. On June 25, 2020, 9th Wonder,

Terrace Martin Terrace Jamahl Martin (born December 28, 1978) is an American musician, rapper, singer, and record producer. He is perhaps best known for producing records for several prominent artists in the music industry, including Kendrick Lamar, Snoop Dog ...

Kamasi Washington Kamasi Washington (born February 18, 1981) is an American jazz saxophonist, usually playing tenor saxophone. Archived July 9, 2015. Career Washington was born in 1981 and raised in Los Angeles, California. He is a graduate of the Academy of ...

, and

Robert Glasper Robert Andre Glasper (born April 6, 1978) is an American pianist, record producer, songwriter, and musical arranger with a career that bridges several different musical and artistic genres, mostly centered on jazz. To date, Glasper has won fou ...

announced the formation of a supergroup, Dinner Party. They released a single, "Freeze Tag". Their debut album was released on July 10, 2020.

Hip hop professor and academia

2007 saw a sideline move into music academia for 9th Wonder when he, along with

Christopher "Play" Martin Christopher Martin (born July 10, 1962) is an American rapper and actor, who is the latter half of the late 1980s/early 1990s hip-hop/comedy duo Kid 'n Play. Career Martin's stage name, Play, is derived from his original MC name, Playboy, which h ...

from hip hop group

Kid-n-Play Kid 'n Play is an American hip-hop duo from New York City that was most popular in the late 1980s and early 1990s. The duo was composed of Christopher Reid ("Kid") and Christopher Martin ("Play") working alongside their DJ, Mark "DJ Wiz" Eas ...

, was appointed Artist-In-Residence by the Chancellor of

North Carolina Central University North Carolina Central University (NCCU or NC Central) is a public historically black university in Durham, North Carolina. Founded by James E. Shepard in affiliation with the Chautauqua movement in 1909, it was supported by private funds from ...

, and began instructing a hip hop history class in NCCU's Music Dept. His role as a music professor has proven an ongoing one as in January 2010 it was announced that 9th Wonder would co-teach a class titled "Sampling Soul" with Dr. Mark Anthony Neal at Duke University. In an interview with

HitQuarters HitQuarters was an international music industry publication and contact database founded in 1999. It was noted for its in-depth interviews with industry figures, as well as its A&R and manager contact directory, free artist promo pages and song ...

, he explained the reason for the move into academia: "Educating the youth on where hip-hop comes from and the history of it, using the records we use, gives hip-hop a longer life. I decided to become an advocate of that." 9th Wonder also recently took on a course titled "Intro to Hip Hop Production". In May 2021, Douthit joined the Faculty at Roc Nation School of Music, Sports & Entertainment at

Long Island University Long Island University (LIU) is a private university with two main campuses, LIU Post and LIU Brooklyn, in the U.S. state of New York. It offers more than 500 academic programs at its main campuses, online, and at multiple non-residential. LIU ...

as a

visiting professor In academia, a visiting scholar, visiting researcher, visiting fellow, visiting lecturer, or visiting professor is a scholar from an institution who visits a host university to teach, lecture, or perform research on a topic for which the visitor ...

. His courses include the history of hip hop and The Making of an Album.

Discography

Solo albums

* 2005: '' Dream Merchant Vol. 1'' * 2007: '' Dream Merchant Vol. 2'' * 2011: ''

The Wonder Years ''The Wonder Years'' is an American coming-of-age story, coming-of-age situation comedy, comedy/Drama (film and television), drama television series created by Neal Marlens and Carol L. Black, Carol Black. It ran on American Broadcasting Company ...

'' * 2012: ''Tutankhamen (Valley of the Kings)'' * 2013: ''Bladey Mae (Grandma's Blades)'' * 2016: ''Zion'' * 2017: ''Zion II'' * 2018: ''Zion III'' * 2019: ''Zion IV'' * 2020: ''Zion V: The Ballad of Charles Douthit'' * 2021: ''Zion VI: Shooting In The Gym'' * 2022: ''Zion VII''

Group albums

* 2003: '' The Listening'' (with

and

Rapper Big Pooh Thomas Louis Jones III (born February 12, 1980), better known by his stage name Big Pooh (or Rapper Big Pooh), is an American rapper, who, along with fellow rap artist Phonte, is a member of the acclaimed North Carolina hip hop group Little Bro ...

as Little Brother) * 2005: ''

The Minstrel Show ''The Minstrel Show'' is the second studio album by hip hop trio Little Brother. It followed the critical success of their 2003 debut, '' The Listening''. The album was highly anticipated and touted as a probable breakthrough for the group, e ...

'' (with Phonte and Rapper Big Pooh as Little Brother)

Collaborative albums

* 2003: ''Shake N Beats (Instrumental LP)'' (with Spectac) * 2003: ''Legsclusives'' (with L.E.G.A.C.Y.) * 2004: '' Murs 3:16: The 9th Edition'' (with

) * 2005: ''

Chemistry Chemistry is the science, scientific study of the properties and behavior of matter. It is a natural science that covers the Chemical element, elements that make up matter to the chemical compound, compounds made of atoms, molecules and ions ...

'' (with

) * 2005: ''Spirit of '94: Version 9.0'' (with

Kaze Kaze may refer to: * KAZE, an American radio station located in Texas * KAZe, a Japanese video game developer * Kazé, a French publishing company * Kaze-Forces for the Defense of Democracy, a political party in Burundi Fiction * ''Kaze'' (tel ...

) * 2005: ''9th Gate'' (with Access Immortal) * 2006: '' Murray's Revenge'' (with

) * 2006: '' Cloud 9: The 3 Day High'' (with

Skyzoo Gregory Skyler Taylor (born December 24, 1982), known professionally as Skyzoo, is an American Songwriter and rapper. He has released a number of notable solo and collaborative albums, including '' Cloud 9: The 3 Day High'' with 9th Wonder in ...

) * 2007: ''Class is in Session'' (with Pete Rock) * 2008: '' The Formula'' (with

) * 2008: ''

Jeanius ''Jeanius'' is the third studio album by American rapper Jean Grae. She worked on it with hip hop producer 9th Wonder and intended to release it in 2004, but the album Music leak, leaked prematurely and spawned various pirated versions of the unf ...

'' (with

) * 2008: '' Sweet Lord'' (with

) * 2008: ''The Corner of Spec & 9th'' (with Spectac) * 2010: '' Fornever'' (with

) * 2010: '' Death of a Pop Star'' (with

) * 2012: '' The Solution'' (with

) * 2012: '' The Final Adventure'' (with

) * 2013: ''Where Do I Come From?'' (with Explicit) * 2015: ''Indie 500'' (with

) * 2015: '' Brighter Daze'' (with

) * 2017: ''The Lost Tapes – EP'' (with Mr. Cheeks) * 2019: ''The Iliad Is Dead And The Odyssey Is Over'' (with

) * 2020: '' Dinner Party'' (with

) * 2022: ''The Don & Eye'' (with The Musalini)

Collaborative mixtapes

* 2006: ''Battle of the Beats Round 1–2'' (with The Alchemist & DJ E.Nyce) * 2007: ''9th Year Freshman'' (with

CHOPS CHOPS is the stage name of Scott Jung, also known as Scott Chops Jung, an Asian American hip hop producer, rapper and former member of the Asian American Hip-Hop group, the Mountain Brothers. Jung grew up in Philadelphia and has Chinese ancestry ...

) * 2007: ''The Graduate'' (with Kanye West, Mick Boogie & Terry Urban) * 2008: ''The W.ide W.Orld of W.Rap'' (with E.Ness) * 2008: ''Album Mixtape Volume One'' (with Cans) * 2008: ''9 Wonders (NYOIL verses 9th Wonder)'' (with NYOIL) * 2009: ''The R&B Sensation Mixtape'' (with Tyler Woods) * 2009: ''Back to the Feature'' (with Wale & LRG) * 2009: ''The Hardy Boy Mystery Mixtape: Curse of Thee Green Faceded'' (with Thee Tom Hardy &

Don Cannon Donald Cannon (born August 2, 1979) is an American DJ, record producer, songwriter, and record executive. Cannon is a co-founder of the Atlantic Records imprint, Generation Now. He was also a member of the prominent Atlanta mixtape collective, ...

) * 2010: ''To Hanes Mall'' (with Akello Light) * 2010: ''Album Mixtape Part 2'' (with Cans) * 2010: ''The (Free) EP'' (with Actual Proof) * 2011: ''TP Is My Hero'' (with TP) * 2012: ''Hanes Mall 2: Silas Creek Parkway EP'' (with Akello Light)

Compilation and remix albums

* 2003: ''9th Invented the Remix'' * 2003: '' God's Stepson'' –

(Remix of Nas's '' God's Son'') * 2004: ''

Black Is Back! ''Black Is Back!'' is an album by hip hop producer 9th Wonder. It is an unofficial remix of Jay-Z Shawn Corey Carter (born December 4, 1969), known professionally as Jay-Z, is an American rapper, record producer, entrepreneur, and foun ...

'' –

(Remix of Jay-Z's '' The Black Album'') * 2005: ''The Remix EP'' (Remixed Songs of Smif-N-Wessun) * 2009: ''Wonder Years – 9th Wonder Golden Years Remix LP'' * 2010: ''9th's Opus: It's a Wonderful World Music Group Vol.1'' * 2010: ''9th Invented the Remix...Again'' * 2010: ''Loose Joints'' * 2010: ''Food for Thought'' * 2012: ''Tutankhamen'' * 2013: ''Black American Gangster'' –

(Remix of Jay-Z's '' American Gangster'') * 2014: ''9th Wonder Presents: Jamla Is the Squad '' * 2018: ''9th Wonder Presents: Jamla Is the Squad II''

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Wonder, 9th American hip hop record producers African-American male rappers American male rappers Southern hip hop musicians North Carolina Central University alumni Rappers from North Carolina Musicians from Durham, North Carolina Musicians from Winston-Salem, North Carolina 1975 births Living people Atlantic Records artists African-American record producers American hip hop DJs 20th-century American rappers 21st-century American rappers 20th-century American male musicians 21st-century American male musicians 20th-century African-American musicians 21st-century African-American musicians FL Studio users