On Ma$e’s Harlem World album, D-Dot worked as an executive producer. He has credited The Neptunes for contributing expertise to the project that his Hitmen collective lacked.
The Bad Boy producing wizard, real name Deric Angelettie, appeared with Torae and Bonsu Thompson on an episode of Hard2Earn. He talked about working on Ma$e’s 1997 debut album and paid tribute to Pharrell and Chad Hugo, two songwriting Hall of Famers.
“Some songs you hear on here, for example, the Pharrell song [‘Lookin’ at Me’] they walked in with that joint,” D-Dot said. “Pharrell walked in and Chad and they popped in and by the time maybe they got to number two or three we were in there like, ‘Oh shit!’ But it was them on it. It was them. I was like, ‘These dudes are on fire!”
“We already had some run-ins with them.” Prior to Ma$e, they were already on with Total, they had already done the shit with Dr. Dre, so by the time they came to us, these dudes had – they were The Hitmen. But just the two of them had the beats, the hooks, the instrumentation, and a sound that was like, ‘We need that!” “Thank you.’”
D-Dot revealed that when he wanted to add a scoop of The Neptunes’ excellence to the equation, his A&R instincts kicked in, which occasionally led to Diddy wanting to get on a record.
The production team behind The Hitmen, which included artists like D-Dot, Nashiem Myrick, Sean C & LV, Stevie J, Chucky Thompson, Mario Winans, Carlos “6 July” Broady, and Younglord, was crucial to Bad Boy’s enormous financial success from the 1990s to the 2000s. Kanye West even made a brief appearance on the roster in 2015.
