Ron Browz doesn’t get his just due. The Harlem-bred producer’s résumé reads like a who’s who list of New York notables and he’s responsible for the sonics of classic records like Big L’s “Ebonics” and Nas’s “Ether.” Still, Browz’s work yields skepticism. Over the last decade, he’s also emerged into a capable hitmaker—producing and performing on his own “Jumping Out the Window,” as well as Jim Jones’s “Pop Champagne” and Busta Rhymes’s “Arab Money.”
Though all of Browz’s previously mentioned hits have charted higher than “Ether,” he’s still primarily known for assisting God’s Son in his scathing rebuttal to Jay-Z’s “Takeover.” Now, 10 years after the release of the classic diss song, RB reveals to XXL that Jay’s A&R, Kyambo “Hip Hop” Joshua, had the “Ether” instrumental first, how producing the track barred him from working with the God MC and why it’s a better beat than the Kanye West-produced, “Takeover.”—Carl Chery (@cchery)
XXL: When you made that beat did you have Nas in mind or was it for someone else?
Ron Browz: No. Me, when I'm doing production...
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