Pete Rock mp3

Pete Rock (born Peter Phillips, June 21, 1970 in Bronx, New York) is an American hip hop DJ, producer and rapper. He rose to prominence in the early 90s as one half of the critically acclaimed group Pete Rock & CL Smooth. After the duo went their separate ways, Rock continued with a solo career that has garnered him worldwide respect, if little in the way of mainstream success. Rock played a major role in the merging of elements from jazz into hip hop music, along with Stetsasonic, A Tribe Called Quest and Gang Starr. Considered one of the greatest hip hop producers of all time, he is often mentioned alongside DJ Premier, and RZA, as one of the mainstays of 1990s East Coast hip hop production. Pete Rock is also the younger cousin of rapper Heavy D.

The third of seven children, Pete Rock was born in the borough of Bronx, New York. His family moved to Mount Vernon in 1977, when he was 7 years old. He attended High School in Mount Vernon, where he would meet his future recording partner CL Smooth. According to Rock, his Jamaican father was also a part time DJ, who had an impressive record collection. Rock would often accompany his father to a cricket club called Wembley in the Bronx, and watch as he spun records for the people present.

His first major exposure to the hip-hop audience was in 1988 with Marley Marl, as a DJ on New York's WBLS radio show "In Control With Marley Marl." Pete was recognized by the listening audience as the man "puttin' in work," as he would use double copies of each record to cut up every song he played, when most New York DJs would only use double copies on every 3rd or 4th song. Propelled by the growth of his popularity, he began producing in the early 1990s. In 1991 he joined with CL Smooth to released the EP All Souled Out. Two full length albums followed, 1992's Mecca and the Soul Brother - considered by many to be a classic, and 1994's The Main Ingredient. Both albums were released to wide critical acclaim, cementing their positions as classics in hip hop history.

Soon after The Main Ingredient, the duo went their separate ways. Rock continued production work, contributing a track ("The World Is Yours"), to Nas' Illmatic, as well remixing singles for Jeru The Damaja ("You Can't Stop The Prophet"), Lords of the Underground ("Chief Rocka"), and The Notorious B.I.G. ("Juicy" - the original of which was allegedly based on Rock's own demo - see trivia).

The following year, he formed the group INI, with Grap Luva, Rob-O and Rass and released the classic 12" "Fakin' Jax". The trio recorded an album, Center Of Attention, which was heavily bootlegged and remained unreleased until 2003, through BBE Records. The release of this album was coupled with another mid-90s Pete Rock-produced album, DeDa's The Original Baby Pa.

While working as a DJ with Marley Marl on Hot 97's Future Flavas show, Rock was able to forge a relationship with Loud Records, allowing him to release his solo album Soul Survivor in the summer of 1998. After being dropped from the Loud imprint, Rock signed with Rapster/BBE under his own label Soul Brother Recordings. He has since continued to release solo albums, including PeteStrumentals in 2001 and 2004's Soul Survivor II. In that same year he also produced the bulk of Edo G's My Own Worst Enemy, as well as a track for the all-girl rap group Northern State.

Recently, Pete Rock has returned to greater visibility, mainly through a closer relationship with the Wu-Tang Clan. This began with Soul Survivor, which featured Inspectah Deck, Method Man, Ghostface Killah and Raekwon on various tracks, and also its follow-up, which featured both GZA and RZA. More recently, he has produced for Ghostface's newest release Fishscale and Nature Sounds labelmate Masta Killa's sophomore album, Made in Brooklyn.

Pete Rock has recently cultivated a relationship with Brooklyn, NY based Nature Sounds Records. He recorded the song "The PJs," which features Raekwon and Masta Killa, released on the Nature Sounds compilation Natural Selection. He also plans to release an album entitled NY's Finest in the spring of 2007 featuring Raekwon, Masta Killa, Ghostface Killah, Cappadonna, MF Doom, D-Block, Redman, Papoose, Slum Village & Jim Jones, among others, also on Nature Sounds. The lead single from the album is entitled "914" and features rappers Sheek Louch and Styles P. He is scheduled to appear on albums by Bishop Lamont, Cannibal Ox, Termanology, Freddie Foxxx, Royal Flush, Verbal Threat, Pitch Black, JoJo Pellegrino, La The Darkman, Cormega, R.A. The Rugged Man, and others. He is also working with DJ/Rapper Doo Wop under the name Tango & Cash (taken from the film of the same name).