Stephen McGregor, known professionally as Di Genius, is a Jamaican record producer, singer, and songwriter. Di Genius comes from a musical family—his father is legendary veteran reggae artist Freddie McGregor and his siblings, Daniel "Chino" McGregor and Yeshemabeth "Shema" McGregor, are also singers. While Di Genius was primarily known for producing

riddim In Jamaican dancehall music, a riddim is the instrumental accompaniment to a song and is synonymous with the rhythm section. Jamaican music genres that use the term consist of the ''riddim'' plus the ''voicing'' (vocal part) sung by the deeja ...

s out of his "Big Ship" recording studio, he has gone on to produce and write songs for international artists such as

Sean Paul Sean Paul Ryan Francis Henriques (born 9 January 1973) is a Jamaican dancehall musician. Paul's first album, ''Stage One'', was released in 2000. He gained international fame with his second album, ''Dutty Rock'', in 2002. Its single "Get Busy ...

Drake Drake may refer to: Animals and creatures * A male duck * Drake (mythology), a term related to and often synonymous with dragon People and fictional characters * Drake (surname), a list of people and fictional characters with the family ...

Nelly Furtado Nelly Kim Furtado ( , ; born December 2, 1978) is a Canadian singer and songwriter. She has sold over 45 million records, including 35 million in album sales worldwide, making her one of the most successful Canadian artists. Critics have noted ...

, Lianne La Havas,

Shakira Shakira Isabel Mebarak Ripoll ( , ; born 2 February 1977) is a Colombian singer-songwriter. Referred to as the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Queen of Latin Music", she has had a Cultural impact of Shakira, significant impact on the ...

John Legend John Roger Stephens (born December 28, 1978), known professionally as John Legend, is an American singer, songwriter, and pianist. He began his musical career working behind the scenes for other artists, playing piano on Lauryn Hill's " Every ...

among others. ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' named him a "Reggae Veteran At The Age of 18." In 2017, Billboard.com listed Di Genius as one of the producers who brought dancehall back to the mainstream, noting his work on Drake's hit song "Controlla" off the multi-platinum selling album ''Views''. His work is also featured on multiple

Grammy Award The Grammy Awards, stylized as GRAMMY, and often referred to as The Grammys, are awards presented by The Recording Academy of the United States to recognize outstanding achievements in music. They are regarded by many as the most prestigious ...

s nominated albums.

Biography

Stephen McGregor is the son of legendary reggae singer Freddie McGregor. The year before, his father had passed up a record deal from

Arista Records Arista Records ( ) is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, the American division of the Japanese conglomerate Sony. The label was previously a division of Bertelsmann Music G ...

, choosing instead to create his own record label, which he named Big Ship after his 1982 hit single from the album of the same name. When he renovated the family home in 1995, Freddie McGregor had a small but high-tech recording studio built to produce music for the label, and Stephen took a shine to the studio at an early age. His father recalls of the period: "If we saw the door was open, we’d know Stephen was in there. He was just so short you couldn’t see him over the mixing desk." His father nurtured his interest in music by bringing him along on tour, and the young McGregor would often watch his father's performances from the side of the stage. Stephen McGregor wrote and recorded his first song at the age of five, a dancehall track titled "School Done Rule" which was featured on the compilation "Reggae For Kids." However, the young McGregor soon gravitated more towards the production end of songwriting, and by the age of seven he had taught himself to play bass, guitar, keyboards, and violin by mimicking the songs he heard on the radio. McGregor began his production career at the age of twelve, contributing to local production studios such as Outlaw. His first hit riddim came in 2004, while still attending Ardenne High School. McGregor and his brother Chino approached dancehall artist

Elephant Man Joseph Carey Merrick (5 August 1862 – 11 April 1890) was an English man known for his severe physical deformities. He was first exhibited at a freak show under the stage name "The Elephant Man", and then went to live at the London Hospital, ...

at his nearby Havendale home to ask him to deejay on the whimsical "Cartoon" riddim, and the artist accepted, the first of fifteen artists to vocalize on the track. In a radio interview, a local DJ gave McGregor the nickname " Di Genius," as his musical talent came at such a young age. What

MTV MTV (an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable television television channel, channel and the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group sub-division of the Paramount Media Networks division of Paramount Global. Launched on ...

described as Di Genius's "defining moment" came in 2006, when up-and-coming artist Mavado recorded the song "Weh Dem a Do" on his "Red Bull & Guinness" riddim. The riddim was co-produced with Delly Ranx the previous year, when Di Genius was fifteen years old. The single was a huge success in Jamaica and even made a mark internationally, placing on the

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 ...

Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs The Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart ranks the most popular R&B and hip hop songs in the United States and is published weekly by '' Billboard''. Rankings are based on a measure of radio airplay, sales data, and streaming activity. The chart had 100 ...

chart in the United States. The same year, he also released the successful "Power Cut" riddim and produced singles for several artists, including

Bounty Killer Rodney Basil Price OD (born 12 June 1972), known as Bounty Killer, is a Jamaican reggae and dancehall deejay. AllMusic describes him as "one of the most aggressive dancehall stars of the '90s, a street-tough rude boy with an unrepentant fl ...

, Da'Ville, and Big Ship labelmates Laden and Chino. He also began a project with Mavado's rival, the controversial deejay

Vybz Kartel Adidja Azim Palmer (born 7 January 1976), better known as Vybz Kartel, is a Jamaican dancehall Toasting (Jamaican music), deejay. Among his various nicknames, he is referred to as Worl' Boss, Teacha and King of Dancehall. As summarized by ''Roll ...

. The record '' The Teacher's Back'' was released two years later to a primarily Japanese market and featured eighteen original tracks, all produced by Di Genius. In addition to his riddim productions and solo work, Di Genius also produced the entirety of his brother Chino's eponymous album in 2011 and the majority of

's 2009 album '' Imperial Blaze'' and Mavado's '' Mr. Brooks...A Better Tomorrow'', also from 2009. He also wrote and produced several songs for international artists, including

Hasidic Hasidism () or Hasidic Judaism is a religious movement within Judaism that arose in the 18th century as a spiritual revival movement in contemporary Western Ukraine before spreading rapidly throughout Eastern Europe. Today, most of those aff ...

reggae artist

Matisyahu Matthew Paul Miller (born June 30, 1979), known by his stage name Matisyahu (; ), is an American singer, rapper, beatboxer, and musician. Known for blending spiritual themes with reggae, rock and hip hop beatboxing sounds, Matisyahu's 2005 sin ...

J-pop J-pop (often stylized in all caps; an abbreviated form of "Japanese popular music"), natively known simply as , is the name for a form of popular music that entered the musical mainstream of Japan in the 1990s. Modern J-pop has its roots in trad ...

singer

Mika Nakashima is a Japanese singer and actress. Five of her studio albums, one of her mini-albums and one of her compilation albums have reached number one in Japan's Oricon album chart. She also embarked on an acting career, most notably as Nana Osaki in th ...

, R&B singers

Ne-Yo Shaffer Chimere Smith (born October 18, 1979), known professionally as Ne-Yo ( ), is an American singer and songwriter. Regarded as a leading figure of Contemporary R&B#2000s, 2000s R&B music, he is the recipient of numerous accolades, includi ...

and Estelle,

and pop star

, whose Di Genius produced song "Don't Leave Me" appeared on her 2012 album '' The Spirit Indestructible''. In 2017, Billboard.com listed Di Genius as one of the producers who brought dancehall back to the mainstream, noting his work on Drake's hit song "Controlla" off the multi-platinum selling album ''Views''. In December 2019,

Warner Chappell Music Warner Chappell Music, Inc. is an American music publishing company and a subsidiary of the Warner Music Group. Warner Chappell Music's catalog consists of over 1.4 million compositions and 150,000 composers, with offices in over 40 countries. ...

announced that they signed a new writing deal with Di Genius. Production Style Di Genius has said in interviews that he admires songwriters such as

Stevie Wonder Stevland Hardaway Morris (; Judkins; born May 13, 1950), known professionally as Stevie Wonder, is an American and Ghanaian singer-songwriter, musician, and record producer. He is regarded as one of the most influential musicians of the 20th c ...

for his arrangements and

instrumentation Instrumentation is a collective term for measuring instruments, used for indicating, measuring, and recording physical quantities. It is also a field of study about the art and science about making measurement instruments, involving the related ...

. He also stated that he draws inspiration from producers such as

Timbaland Timothy Zachery Mosley (born March 10, 1972), known professionally as Timbaland, is an American record producer and rapper. Born and raised in Norfolk, Virginia, he is widely acclaimed for his distinctive production work and "stuttering" rhythm ...

and

The Neptunes The Neptunes were an American record production duo composed of Pharrell Williams and Chad Hugo, formed in Virginia Beach, Virginia, in 1992. Williams often provided backing vocals and music video appearances on the duo's productions, while H ...

for their instantly recognizable production styles. Vivien Goldman described his productions in ''

'' as having "a challenging sound that combines playfulness, the spatial drama of a movie soundtrack and orchestral brio" characterized by "sparse, punching jabs of sound and lush snatches of melody." She also wrote that while his tense urban riddims are well suited for American hip hop audiences, he displays a great amount of versatility, with productions ranging from lovers rock to

reggae fusion Reggae fusion is a Music_genre#Subtypes, fusion genre of reggae that mixes reggae and/or dancehall with other genres, such as pop music, pop, rock music, rock, hip hop music, hip-hop/rap, Contemporary R&B, R&B, jazz, funk, soul music, soul, disco ...

. Equipment-wise, Di Genius stated that he started out producing with a single

drum machine A drum machine is an electronic musical instrument that creates percussion sounds, drum beats, and patterns. Drum machines may imitate drum kits or other percussion instruments, or produce unique sounds, such as synthesized electronic tones. A d ...

MPC, but has since moved on to multiple MPCs, keyboards, and a variety of audio editing programs, including

Pro Tools Pro Tools is a digital audio workstation (DAW) developed and released by Avid Technology (formerly Digidesign) for Microsoft Windows and macOS. It is used for music creation and production, sound for picture (sound design, audio post-productio ...

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Logic Pro Logic Pro is a proprietary digital audio workstation (DAW) and MIDI sequencer software application for the macOS platform developed by Apple Inc. It was originally created in the early 1990s as Notator Logic, or Logic, by German software devel ...

, and

REAPER A reaper is a farm implement that reaps (cuts and often also gathers) crops at harvest when they are ripe. Usually the crop involved is a cereal grass, especially wheat. The first documented reaping machines were Gallic reapers that were used ...

Discography

As producer/composer/writer : Mavado – "Weh Dem A Do" (Producer/Writer)

– "Bigger Love" (Producer) Shenseea – "Run Run" (Writer/Producer)

Khea Ivo Alfredo Thomas Serue (born 13 April 2000), known by his stage name Khea, is an Argentine rapper and singer. He is a member of the Argentine Latin trap scene along with artists such as Cazzu and Duki (rapper), Duki. Early years Ivo Alfred ...

Julia Michaels Julia Carin Michaels (''Birth name, née'' Cavazos; born November 13, 1993) is an American singer and songwriter. She has received six Grammy Award nominations, including twice for Grammy Award for Song of the Year, Song of the Year and Grammy A ...

Becky G Rebbeca Marie Gomez (born March 2, 1997), known professionally as Becky G, is an American singer and actress. Born and raised in Inglewood, California, she first gained recognition in 2011 for her cover version, cover versions of popular song ...

– "Only One" ft Di Genius (Producer/Writer)

- "Don't Walk Away" ft Koffee (Producer/Writer)

– "I Want You To Know" (Producer/Writer)

– "Speak In Tongues" ft Jada Kingdom (Producer/Writer) Raye - "Flip A Switch" (Producer/Writer) Raye - "Flip A Switch Remix" ft

Coi Leray Coi Leray Collins (born May 11, 1997) is an American rapper and singer. The daughter of rapper and media executive Benzino, she began her musical career in 2018 with the release of her debut mixtape, ''Everythingcoz''. She signed with Republic ...

(Producer/Writer)

Myke Towers Michael Anthony Torres Monge (born January 15, 1994), known professionally as Myke Towers, is a Puerto Rican rapper and singer. He was recognized as New Artist of the Year by the ''Billboard'' Latin Music Awards in 2021 and has been nominated ...

– "Flow Jamaican" (Producer/Writer)

– "En Nadie" (Producer/Writer)

- "Rotate" ft Burna Boy (Producer/Writer)

- "My Man" (Producer/Writer)

– "Don't Leave Me (Producer/Writer)

French Montana Karim Kharbouch (Moroccan Arabic, Arabic: IPA pronunciation, æɾiːm χɑɾbuːʃ born November 9, 1984), better known by his stage name French Montana, is a Moroccan-American rapper. Born and raised in Morocco, he immigrated to New York ...

- "Writing On The Wall" ft

Post Malone Austin Richard Post (born July 4, 1995), known professionally as Post Malone, is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, record producer, and actor. His music blends various genres including hip-hop, Pop music, pop, Contemporary R&B, R&B, Tra ...

Cardi B Belcalis Marlenis Cephus (; born October 11, 1992), known professionally as Cardi B, is an American rapper. Noted for her unfiltered public image and lyrics, Cardi B is one of the most successful female rappers. From 2015 to early 2017, she ga ...

(Producer/Writer)

Rvssian Tarik Johnston (born 12 April 1988), commonly known as Rvssian and previously as Russian (stylized in all caps), is a Jamaican record producer, singer, and entrepreneur. He is the founder of Head Concussion, a music production company situate ...

- "IDKW" ft Shenseea Swae Lee

Young Thug Jeffery Lamar Williams II (born August 16, 1991), known professionally as Young Thug, is an American rapper. Known for his eccentric vocal style and fashion, he is considered an influential figure in modern hip hop music, hip hop and trap music ...

(Producer/Writer) Paloma Mami - "RDMDA" (Producer/Writer)

– "Controlla" (Producer/Writer) Will.i.am – "it's my birthday" (Writer)

- " Amarillo" (Producer) Shenseea - "Blessed" ft.

Tyga Micheal Ray StevensonMicheal Ray Stevenson

(Producer/Writer) Neyo Shenseea - "Major Moves" (from the movie "Sprinter") (Producer/Writer) Teamarrr – "Cool Enough" (HBO Insecure) (Producer/Writer) Damian Marley - Upholstery (Producer/Writer) Damian Marley - Slave Mill (Producer/Writer) Lianne La Havas – "Midnight" (Producer/Writer) Lianne La Havas – "Fairytale" (Writer)

" Imperial Blaze" : "So Fine" (Producer/Writer) "Lace it" (Producer/Writer) "Press it up" (Producer/Writer) "Now That i've got your love" (Producer/Writer) "Birthday Suit" (Producer/Writer) "Evening Ride" (Producer/Writer) "Daddy's Home" (Producer/Writer) " Don't Tease Me" (Producer/Writer) "She Wanna Be Down" (Producer/Writer) "Lately" (Producer/Writer) "She Want Me" (Producer/Writer) "Watch Dem Roll" (Producer/Writer) Michael Franti – SoulRocker (Album) (Producer/Writer) FuseODG – "Dangerous Love" (Producer/Writer) Kalash – "Taken" (Producer/Writer) Mali music – "One" (Producer/Writer)

– "Motivate"

– "Smash Lies"

– "Struggla"

Nicky Jam Nick Rivera Caminero (born March 17, 1981), known professionally as Nicky Jam, is an American singer. He is best known for hits such as " X", " Travesuras", " El Perdón", " Hasta el Amanecer", and " El Amante"; the latter three are from his 20 ...

– "Me Enamoras" (Writer)

Wretch 32 Jermaine Sinclaire Scott (born 9 March 1985), better known by his stage name Wretch 32, is a British rapper, singer and songwriter from Tottenham, North London. He was a member of the grime collective Combination Chain Gang, before forming The ...

– "Alright With Me" ft Anne Marie & prgrshn (Producer) Maverick Sabre – Emotion (Producer/Writer) Collie Buddz - " i got you" (Producer/Writer) Collie Buddz - "Defend your own" (Producer/Writer) Lali Esposito - Sin Querer Queriendo (feat. Mau y Ricky) (Producer/Writer) Burna Boy - "Destiny" (Writer) Paloma Mami - "RDMDA" (Producer/Writer)

Compilation albums

* ''Labwork Vol. 1'' (2010) * ''Labwork Vol. 2'' (2010) * Lab work Vol. 3

Riddims

2000s

2010s

Awards and nominations

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Di Genius Jamaican reggae singers Jamaican dancehall musicians Jamaican record producers Jamaican male singers People from Saint Andrew Parish, Jamaica Living people Year of birth missing (living people)