Bass Brothers

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Bass Brothers is the professional name for the team of Mark and Jeff Bass, the Detroit producers responsible for grooming rapper Eminem in his early days and collaborating on much of his subsequent music. Before that they worked with George Clinton. Tracks from those sessions ended up on the P-Funk All Stars album Dope Dogs.

On their work with Eminem Mark and Jeff Bass are credited as F.B.T. Productions. Although Interscope marketed Dr. Dre as Eminem's major producer in order to boost his credibility as a white rapper in the hip-hop community, the Bass Brothers have in fact produced more individual tracks for the rapper than Dre. Jeff Bass perfomed the "Public Service Announcements" that introduce both The Slim Shady LP and The Marshall Mathers LP.

However, all of Eminem's hit singles have been either produced by Dre ("My Name Is," "The Real Slim Shady," and "Just Lose It") or himself ("Without Me" and "Lose Yourself,") although Jeff Bass did help Eminem produce the latter two songs.

Both have won Grammy Awards for their work with Eminem. Jeff Bass won a Best Song Oscar in 2003 for cowriting "Lose Yourself" from the film 8 Mile.

The Bass Brothers also head a Detroit record label called Web Entertainment, home to both rock artists (The Romantics) and hip-hop acts (King Gordy).

Mark Bass: "In 1990, Jeffrey and I landed a deal to produce a hip-hop rap project called Tycie & Woody for Elektra Records, operating for the first time as the 'Funky Bass Brothers (later changing to F.B.T. due to the addition of Mike Wilder to the team).' We met George Clinton and started working as a production team for George and for his label, Westbound Records. Unfortunately, most of the acts that we produced for Westbound were never released, and we feel it was some of our best work. Generally speaking, we always worked with black artists, although not intentionally. That changed, of course, when Mark heard a white rapper freestyle on a local radio show in 1992 and invited him to the studio for free time."

[edit] Production credits

• The Slim Shady LP: Every track except for "My Name Is," "Guilty Conscience," and "Role Model."
• The Marshall Mathers LP: "Marshall Mathers," "Drug Ballad," "Amityville," "Kim," "Under the Influence," and "Criminal."
• The Eminem Show: Several Eminem-produced tracks are co-produced by Jeff Bass.