Stephen Anderson, better known as Bud'da, is an American producer,

songwriter A songwriter is a musician who professionally composes musical compositions or writes lyrics for songs, or both. The writer of the music for a song can be called a composer, although this term tends to be used mainly in the classical music ...

, composer and

rapper Rapping (also rhyming, spitting, emceeing or MCing) is a musical form of vocal delivery that incorporates "rhyme, rhythmic speech, and street vernacular". It is performed or chanted, usually over a backing beat or musical accompaniment. The ...

for artists such as

Ice Cube An ice cube is a small piece of ice, which is typically rectangular as viewed from above and trapezoidal as viewed from the side. Ice cubes are products of mechanical refrigeration and are usually produced to cool beverages. They may be p ...

Dr. Dre Andre Romelle Young (born February 18, 1965), known professionally as Dr. Dre, is an American rapper and record producer. He is the founder and CEO of Aftermath Entertainment and Beats Electronics, and previously co-founded, co-owned, and ...

Xzibit Alvin Nathaniel Joiner (born September 18, 1974), better known by his stage name Xzibit (pronounced "exhibit"), is an American rapper, actor, television presenter, and radio personality. Xzibit began his musical career after the release of his ...

and

Aaliyah Aaliyah Dana Haughton (; January 16, 1979 – August 25, 2001) was an American singer and actress. She has been credited for helping to redefine contemporary R&B, pop and hip hop, earning her the nicknames the "Princess of R&B" and "Q ...

. Through the successful Westside Connection stint, and the mutual acquaintance of fellow Pittsburgh producer

Sam Sneed Sam Sneed (born Sam Anderson; February 29, 1968) is an American producer and rapper. He originally got his start working as a producer for K-Solo and the Hit Squad. Biography Early years In 1993 he was signed to Death Row Records, releasing o ...

, Dr. Dre wanted to feature snippets of a Bud’da-produced track in the beginning and end of the 2pac & Dr. Dre video for “California Love,” off Tupac Shakur’s ''

All Eyez on Me ''All Eyez on Me'' is the fourth studio album by American rapper 2Pac and the last to be released during his lifetime. Released on February 13, 1996, by Death Row and Interscope Records, the album features guest appearances from Dr. Dre, Sno ...

''. Soon after Dr. Dre’s historic departure from

Death Row Records Death Row Records is an American record label that was founded in 1991 by The D.O.C., Dr. Dre, Suge Knight, and Dick Griffey. The label became a sensation by releasing multi-platinum hip-hop albums by West Coast-based artists such as Dr. Dre ...

, Bud’da was once again recruited by Dr. Dre to co-produce the lead single '' "Been There, Done That"'' off the ''

Dr. Dre Presents the Aftermath ''Dr. Dre Presents... The Aftermath'' is a compilation album by American and West Coast rapper Dr. Dre. It was released on November 26, 1996, as the first album on Aftermath Entertainment. Dre's scarce vocals, newly critiquing gangsta rap, ma ...

'' album.

Early life

Bud'da was born and raised in

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Western Pennsylvania, the second-most populous city in Pennsyl ...

, and began his career with production for

Da Lench Mob Records Lench Mob Records is an record label owned by Los Angeles rapper and actor Ice Cube. Founded as Street Knowledge Records, it was once home to many of Cube's former allies such as DJ Pooh, and Lench Mob's own Chilly Chill, Del the Funky Homos ...

' group Kausion. He went on to work with a wide range of artists including Xzibit, Nas,

Timbaland Timothy Zachery Mosley (born March 10, 1972), known professionally as Timbaland, is an American record producer, rapper, singer, songwriter, and record executive. He has received widespread acclaim for his innovative production work and distinc ...

, Shanice, Lenny Kravitz,

Tank A tank is an armoured fighting vehicle intended as a primary offensive weapon in front-line ground combat. Tank designs are a balance of heavy firepower, strong armour, and good battlefield mobility provided by tracks and a powerful e ...

Dawn Robinson Dawn Sherrese Robinson (born November 24, 1966 or 1968) is an American singer best known as a founding member of the R&B/pop group En Vogue, one of the world's best-selling girl groups of all time. Following her departure from En Vogue, Robinson ...

of En Vogue,

King T Roger McBride (born December 14, 1968), better known by his stage name King T (formerly known as King Tee), is an American West Coast Hip hop rapper from Compton, California. Emerging as one of Compton's earliest hip hop artists, he was signed ...

, Dr. Dre, Aaliyah, and

. It was with Ice Cube that Bud'da came into more prominence. Producing five tracks on the Ice Cube-led Westside Connection album “Bow Down”, along with WC and Mack 10, including the title track “Bow Down”.

Career

Bud'da started briefly with

, then in 1996 he joined Aftermath records to work with

and others. Bud'da met Dre while playing different beats including "

California Love "California Love" is a song by American rapper 2Pac featuring fellow American rapper-producer Dr. Dre and American singer Roger Troutman. The song was released as 2Pac's comeback single after his release from prison in 1995 and was his first si ...

". As Bud'da mentioned in a

HipHopDX ''HipHopDX'' is an online magazine of hip hop music criticism and news. The website's current president and publisher is Sharath Cherian and the Head Of Content is Jerry L. Barrow. ''HipHopDX'' is the flagship publication of Cheri Media Group. ...

interview, "that was my introduction into working with him. A couple of months started passing, and once he was gonna make that transition

way from Death Row Records Way may refer to: Paths * a road, route, path or pathway, including long-distance paths. * a straight rail or track on a machine tool, (such as that on the bed of a lathe) on which part of the machine slides * Ways, large slipway in shipbuil ...

he asked if I wanted to be down with the transition." His musical style was influenced by "California Love", "Been There, Done That", and the East Coast–West Coast rivalry. Eventually, Dr. Dre signed Bud'da as a producer and as an artist. ''Dr Dre Presents...The Aftermath'' was released on November 26, 1996. In spite of Dr. Dre's name being on the album, and it being certified platinum, it received mixed reviews and was not amongst the year's more commercially successful releases. At the end of his tenure with Aftermath, Bud'da reminisced about Dre: "I learned everything that I know from him. I think that those years that I was at Aftermath if anything, to me, I consider it like I went to college. ‘Cause the knowledge I got during that time, it’s priceless."

Aaliyah

Bud’da was introduced into

Blackground Records Blackground Records 2.0 (legal name Blackground Records, LLC, formerly known as Blackground Records) is an American record label founded and owned by Jomo and Barry Hankerson. Initially named Blackground Enterprises, the label switched its name t ...

in 1999, which acquired artists such as

Static Major Stephen Ellis Garrett (November 11, 1974 – February 25, 2008), known professionally as Static Major (and previously as Static), was an American singer, songwriter, and record producer from Louisville, Kentucky. He was a member of the R&B tri ...

, and

. One of the first projects Bud’da worked on was Aaliyah’s third and final studio album: ''

''. The approach of the project was to expand the boundaries of R and B. Aaliyah was wanted to go in a new direction, and Bud’da provided that new sound. As project was breaking new ground Bud’da said in an interview

“But if you create your own sound, your own path then you’re going to be a trendsetter and people are going to do what you want to do and then you’re going to be able to change and make some kind of a movement versus just doing something that everybody else is doing. Aaliyah didn’t want to do that and nobody involved with the project wanted to do that.”

With the darkness of Rock, the undertones of

UK Garage UK garage, abbreviated as UKG, is a genre of electronic dance music which originated in England in the early to mid-1990s. The genre was most clearly inspired by garage house, but also incorporates elements from dance-pop, R&B, and jungle. I ...

, hard hitting drums of Hip-hop, and the live percussions of

latin music Latin music ( Portuguese and es, música latina) is a term used by the music industry as a catch-all category for various styles of music from Ibero-America (including Spain and Portugal) and the Latino United States inspired by Latin Amer ...

, Bud’da mark on the “''Aaliyah”'' project where felt. On songs such as “ Never No More” and “ I Can Be” was his presence was felt most along with Static Major and Tank as well as other songs (See Discography). ''Aaliyah'' was released in July 2001. In the United States, it debuted at number two on the ''Billboard'' 200 albums chart, selling 187,000 copies in the week of August 4. She eventually sold 2,600,000 million albums and 13 million world wide. Additionally, ''Aaliyah'' was met with highly positive reviews from most critics. Unfortunately, On August 25, 2001, Aaliyah and the members of the record company, died in a plane crash after “filming rock the boat” music video.Schumacher-Rasmussen, Eric (August 26, 2001). "Aaliyah Killed in Plane Crash". MTV News. Archived from the original on April 18, 2009. Retrieved April 9, 2009.

Discography

Production

Remixes

*"Georgy Porgy (The Bud'da Sauce Remix)" on the single "Georgy Porgy" (1999) by

Eric Benét Eric Benét Jordan (born October 15, 1967) is an American R&B/neo soul singer-songwriter and actor, who has received a total of four Grammy nominations to date for his musical work. Biography Early life Benét was born on October 15, 1966 ...

*"How Long" on the album ''Dawn''(2002) by

*"Got To Give It Up (Remix)" on the album '' I Care 4 U'' (2002) by

*"Those Were The Days (Bud'da Remix)" (2001) by

- unreleased

Early life

Career

Aaliyah

Discography

Production

Remixes

Film and television composing

References

External links