Nicholas Piantedosi (born November 8, 1984), professionally known as Decap, is an American record producer from

Nashua, New Hampshire Nashua () is a city in southern New Hampshire, United States. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it had a population of 91,322, the second-largest in northern New England after nearby Manchester, New Hampshire, Manchester. It is on ...

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. Decap has worked with and produced for artists such as

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, J-Essential and many more. In 2013, Decap released his full length debut instrumental album, ''Omni Love''.

Early life

Nicholas Piantedosi was born in

Waltham, Massachusetts Waltham ( ) is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States, and was an early center for the labor movement as well as a major contributor to the Technological and industrial history of the United States, American Industrial Revoluti ...

and relocated to

as a young child. As early as Junior High School, Decap was fascinated with music and began to study the art of producing. In 1995, after purchasing

Snoop Dogg Calvin Cordozar Broadus Jr. ( ; born October 20, 1971), better known by his stage name Snoop Dogg (previously Snoop Doggy Dogg), is an American rapper, record producer, and actor. Rooted in West Coast hip-hop, he is widely regarded as one of t ...

“Doggystyle” album, Decap was fully committed to making his presence felt in hip-hop. Decap began to collect and study the genre and drew inspiration from hip-hop pioneers such as

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, and

A Tribe Called Quest A Tribe Called Quest was an American Hip hop music, hip hop group formed in Queens, New York City, in 1985,Q-Tip< ...

. Decap began rapping and started a 9 member rap group named, “Young Tribe.” Inspired by marginal success and wanting original material for Young Tribe, Decap bought his first drum machine and began to record beats and instrumentals.

Music career

In 2007, Decap moved to

New York City, New York New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on New York Harbor, one of the world's largest natural harb ...

to pursue his career in music. In January 2013, Decap relocated to

San Francisco, California San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

and began work on his solo album, “Omni Love”. Decap produced and mixed several tracks on the

album, “

Gravitas () was one of the ancient Roman virtues that denoted "seriousness". It is also translated variously as weight, dignity, and importance and connotes restraint and moral rigor. It also conveys a sense of responsibility and commitment to the task ...

”. In June 2015, Decap released the single, “Feeling”, which reached 550,000 streams on

Spotify Spotify (; ) is a List of companies of Sweden, Swedish Music streaming service, audio streaming and media service provider founded on 23 April 2006 by Daniel Ek and Martin Lorentzon. , it is one of the largest providers of music streaming services ...

and led to a collaborative performance video with

Ableton Ableton AG is a German music software company that produces and distributes the production and performance program Ableton Live and a collection of related instruments and sample libraries, as well as their own hardware controller Ableton Push. ...

. Also in 2015, Decap produced several tracks on the

album, “Why Am I So Happy” which peaked at number 1 on

Billboard charts The ''Billboard'' charts tabulate the relative weekly popularity of songs and albums in the United States and elsewhere. The results are published in ''Billboard (magazine), Billboard'' magazine. ''Billboard'' biz, the online extension of the ' ...

. In July 2016, Decap produced a non-album single alongside Teeko (producer) THRPY (producer) and AzizTheShake (rapper). The song, titled "Hot Box", charted at #6 on

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

, and #6 on

USA Viral 50 Charts. Also In 2016, Decap founded the label/collective "Future Knock". Beyond a label, Decap considers "Future Knock" a new subgenre with its own signature sound. Decap also curates a bi-weekly “Future Knock” podcast promoting up-and-coming artist and producers. Decap released his Drums That Knock downloadable sound kit series (volumes 1-10) for electronic producers, which received 180,000 downloads and charted at #1 on Splice for the month of December 2016. In 2017, Decap produced ‘The Calling” and “Sanity” off of

album, “Olive Branch” and produced the first single, “Ultrasound” off of the

album, “ (508) 507-2209”. In April 2017, Decap produced the single “In The Bay” by Capitol Fr artist Ted Park.

Discography

Studio albums

Singles

Production discography

Singles produced

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Decap 1984 births Living people American hip-hop record producers Musicians from Massachusetts Musicians from San Francisco Record producers from California