No I.D. Finds Himself At Def Jam, Lands Executive VP Position

Chicago hip-hop producer No I.D. is taking his talent to the Big Apple, announcing his role as music label Def Jam's newest executive vice president.

No I.D. made the announcement over the weekend in Hollywood.

"I'm (now) executive VP of Def Jam," the producer announced. "I'm going to keep on doing what I'm doing and take it to another level. No I.D. has worked with heavyweights such Jay-Z, Kanye West and Rihanna and said that he hopes to keep finding talent and making music. "Def Jam is a cultural staple," No I.D. said. "It's not just a label, it's part of the culture that I came up in and that I've been involved with for 20 years. It's very important that the next generation of executives grab it by the horns and keep it on track as it grows." (Billboard Biz)

Last year, producer Sha Money XL talked to SOHH about his move to Def Jam as Senior VP of A&R.

"Honestly, I'm from Hollis, Queens, born and raised in Queens Village, and Jam Master Jay was the first dude to really put me on being that when you think of Hollis, Queens, you gotta think of Run-DMC, Jam Master Jay, the illest rappers to ever do it," Sha told SOHH. "Coming from Queens, starting the whole sh*t for hip-hop on a platinum level and you take that legacy with Russell Simmons, mix it up with the same Hollis streets that I walked in, the fact that I was mentored by Jam Master Jay, who is d*mn near the f*cking Def Jam. You put all of that in a melting pot and then you got me, who knows how to do it from a street level to a corporate level in the music. I'm a music man, you know what I mean? Not just a snob, exec-type dude. I do this music sh*t for real and I know what's needed and they knew my vision was real and seen what I did with 50 [Cent], what me and 50 did with G-Unit. We built that brand from the basement to the building so it only made sense that my next step would be an executive calling shots to make sure hip-hop moves where hip-hop needs to move." (SOHH)

In addition to recently working with J. Cole, No I.D. made headlines in 2009 for putting together Jay-Z's "Death of Auto-Tune."

"Me and Kanye have been doing a lot of work, we worked on Blueprint together," No. I.D. revealed. "Most of the stuff, I kinda took an ego, stepped back and said, 'Hey, let's [Dr.] Dre and Mel-Man it. I played Mel-Man. I'm gonna say, we were doing Blueprint 3 when we did 'Heartless.' 'Heartless' made 808s & Heartbreak happen and all that is related but everything in Blueprint 3 is like 808s & Heartbreak but with more hip-hop. So it's kinda like they related and Jay brings it around to make it hip-hop credible. It's some records on there. That record is also gonna be something that's gonna grow on people in a certain way and in a certain amount of time it's gonna be a full fledged classic." (Real Talk Express)

Along with mentoring Kanye West, No I.D. has produced tracks for a number of rap stars.

No I.D.'s production credits including G-Unit's Beg For Mercy, DMX's Grand Champ, D.O.D.'s Do or Die, Jamie Foxx's Unpredictable, Bow Wow's Wanted, Jay-Z's American Gangster and Plies' Da Realist. (All Music)

It is not quite certain who No I.D. has replaced, specifically, at the label.