Mr. Lee (producer)
Mr. Lee | |
|---|---|
| Mr. Lee Southern Music Producer Williams in 2013 | |
| Background information | |
| Birth name | Leroy Williams |
| Born | October 13, 1972 Pineville, Louisiana, United States |
| Origin | Houston, Texas, United States |
| Genres | |
| Occupation(s) |
|
| Years active | 1995–present |
| Labels | |
| Website | mrleeonthetrack |
Leroy Williams Jr. (born October 13, 1972), known by his stage name Mr. Lee, is an American record producer, recording engineer and entrepreneur. He is the founder and current CEO of Xclusive Music Group and Noddfactor Productions. He has produced albums for and overseen the careers of many rappers, including Slim Thug, Paul Wall, 2pac, Bun B, Scarface, and Iggy Azalea. He is credited as a key figure in the popularization of Houston music, a style of rap music characterized as synthesizer-based with slow, heavy beats.
Mr Lee began his career as a producer for Rap-A-Lot Records.His production landed him with platinum and gold albums the second year of his career. Mr Lee became the work horse for Rap-A-Lot Records going thru three 40 song contracts in less than 2 years. He later found fame with his influential production producing stand out records with Slim Thug which Mr. Lee contributed to Slim Thug landing a major deal with Interscope. His production would later be labeled as the sound of Houston. In 2013 he founded XMG Music with his artist and Co-Ceo Shaun Morrow were he later signed Houston artist Z-ro. In June 24, 2014 he released Z-ro album The Crown which was the first release from his label.
Early life[edit]
Leroy Williams Jr was born in Pineville La. on October 13, 1972. He Was the first child of Leroy and Patrica Williams. The Williams married in December 12, 1971. They had two children Mr. Lee and his sister Anitra Williams. He played the piano for his church at the age of 9. At an early age Leroy began to take his music serious. In 1986 Leroy attended Tioga High School (Louisiana) in Tioga La. His senior year he became the first black drum major of his high school. During his high school years playing in band he received classical music training. He remained the musician for his home church Mt Pilgrim for 11 years before becoming a music producer.
Music career[edit]
1997–2002: Rap-A-Lot[edit]
Late 1995, Mr. Lee met Tony (Big Chief) Randle the vice president of Rap-A-Lot. Big Chief recognized the talent in Mr. Lee early on and soon after they met he signed him to a production deal and a management contract. The two teamed up and Mr. Lee would become the go to producer for Rap-A-Lot. In 1996, Williams produced his first songs with group Too Much Trouble on their 3rd studio album Too Much Weight released in 1997. However the album was widely regarded as a failure. Later in 1997, Mr. Lee landed his first single P.W.A. with the 5th Ward Boyz from the album Usual Suspects the album peaked the Billboard 200 charts at 180. Mr. Lee produced his first platinum record certified by the Riaa with artist Scarface (rapper) with the 1998 release My Homies. After producing My Homies Mr. Lee teamed up with rapper Scarface to produce track One Day At A Time on Devin the Dude album the dude also in the year of !998. Later in 1998 he would land a gold album award producing & songs on rap group Do or Die album Headz Or Tailz. 1998 would prove to be a break through year for Mr.Lee as he would go on to produce songs for the Geto Boys - Da Good Da Bad Da Ugly and singer Johnny P - The Next. 1999 Rap-a Lot Records signed Luniz group member Yukmouth. Teaming up with producer Mike Dean, He Produced eight songs on Yukmouth double cd Thugged Out - The Albulation. The album went gold years later. Mr. Lee maintained Rap-A-Lot production for the next few year as a in house producer recurring production for Scarface album Last Of A Dying Breed (gold) in 2000 and also Do Or Die lp Victory. Although Victory did poor numbers Mr. Lee would remain a go to producer at Rap-A-Lot. He would later get the chance to head up the production for 2pac group Outlawz in 2002 under the Rap-A-Lot label.
2003–2008: Noddfactor Productions[edit]
After finishing his contract obligations with Rap-A-Lot in 2003 Williams established his own production company Noddfactor where he produced his very first LP with Slim Thug and Lil Keke called The Big Unit were he would place his bid as a rapper as well as executive producer. The album remained virtually underground with barely any promotions or radio play. In 2004 Mr. Lee continued to produce records for Rap-A-Lot with artist Z-ro making an impact on the Houston rap scene with the LP Let The Truth Be Told. Later 2004 he established what is called the Houston Sound with Slim Thug and Boss Hogg Outlawz producing the Boyz-N-Blue which would be an important piece to Slim Thug landing his deal with Interscope. Already Platinum was released in 2005 featuring three tracks by Mr. Lee despite the album going (gold) Slim Thug was later released from Interscope after his first release.
In early 2005 Mr. Lee produced Get Throwed and Keep On Pushing on Bun B debut solo album Trill on Rap-A- Lot. UGK member Pimp C was released from prison in early 2006 where he would team up with Mr. Lee on the LP Pimpalation released on Rap-A-Lot. Slim Thug would later ink a deal with E1 in late 2006, bringing his entire roster and Mr. Lee production with him, releasing Boss Hogg Outlawz LP Back By Blockular Demand with a large amount of the music produced by Mr. Lee. Noddfactor got its big chance, signing their artist Fat Pimp to Warner Bros. The success was short lived when contract disputes arrived with a former label Fat Pimp was signed to.
2008–2012: Back To The Music[edit]
After losing the Warner Bros deal in 2008, Mr. Lee put his focus back on producing songs like Thug on Slim Thug's Boss Of All Bosses and following up with an entire produced Serve & Collect III Boss Hogg Outlawz album on E1. He also would go on to spread his production producing songs like You're Everything on II Trill and Sippin' The Barre on Pall Wall album The Peoples Champ. During the course of 2008 Mr. Lee would produce song Pinky Ring for Ludacris which appeared on Greg Street mixtape. Late 2008 he discovered female rapper Iggy Azalea on Myspace. He would be instrumental in teacher her how to rap Mr. Lee would also assist rapper David Banner with his independent movement with song Believe on mixtape Sex, Drugs & Video Games.
2013–2014: XMG Music[edit]
Early 2013 Mr. Lee and Shaun (King Shaun) Morrow established their music label XMG Music in Fort Worth Texas. The label later signed Houston rap star Z-ro. The album The Crown would be released June 24, 2014 but fell short of its attended mark due to a lack of promotions and internal differences. The Xmg Music label also has r&b artist Adoni and up and coming artist Billy Brasco on their roster. [1]
2015: XmgHipHop[edit]
Late 2014 Mr. Lee became owner of a new music Blog Xmghiphop.com and is currently working with new artist who yet have a voice. The site's slogan "The Voice Of The South". Dropping July 2015 Slim Thug announced an album fully produced by Mr. Lee entitled "Hogg Life 2 : Still Surviving" [2]
References[edit]
- ↑ Crates, jake. "Mr. Lee: Texas' Low Key Hit Maker". allhiphop.com.
- ↑ https://twitter.com/MrLee713/status/608054138220498946
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