Anthony Parrino (born January 4, 1983), better known by his stage name Elite, is an American

hip-hop Hip-hop or hip hop (originally disco rap) is a popular music genre that emerged in the early 1970s from the African-American community of New York City. The style is characterized by its synthesis of a wide range of musical techniques. Hi ...

and R&B record producer and recording artist best known for his work with

J. Cole Jermaine Lamarr Cole (born January 28, 1985) is an American rapper and record producer. Born in a military base in Germany and raised in Fayetteville, North Carolina, Cole initially gained attention as a rapper following the release of his d ...

Dreamville Records Dreamville Records is an American record label founded by American rapper J. Cole and his manager Ibrahim Hamad. The label is currently distributed through Interscope Records, a unit of Universal Music Group. The roster includes Bas, Cozz, O ...

, and the

Ruff Ryders Ruff Ryders Entertainment is an American hip hop record label and management company founded by siblings and record executives Joaquin "Waah", Darrin "Dee" and Chivon Dean in 1988. It operated as a subsidiary of Universal, and distributed by Int ...

recording label in the early 2000s. Elite is from Byram, Connecticut and resides in Los Angeles, California.

Career

In mid 2000, Elite started working as an intern for

Ruff Ryders Entertainment Ruff Ryders Entertainment is an American hip hop record label and management company founded by siblings and record executives Joaquin "Waah", Darrin "Dee" and Chivon Dean in 1988. It operated as a subsidiary of Universal, and distributed by Int ...

and eventually caught the ear of rapper

Drag-On Melvin Jason Smalls (born January 4, 1980), known professionally as Drag-On, is an American rapper. He is best known for his time on Ruff Ryders, through whom he released his debut album, '' Opposite of H2O'' (2000). The album was successful, ...

, placing his first produced song on the ''Cradle 2 the Grave'' soundtrack in 2002. Working as an in-house producer for Ruff Ryders, Elite went on to produce "Shoot Outs" for

Jadakiss Jason Terrance Phillips (born May 27, 1975), better known by his stage name Jadakiss (, ), is an American rapper who began his career in the 1990s and formed the hip hop trio the Lox alongside Styles P and Sheek Louch in 1994. The group signed w ...

featuring

Styles P David R. Styles (born November 28, 1974), better known by his stage name Styles P (also known Mononymous person, mononymously as Styles), is an American rapper, best known as a member of East Coast hip hop group the Lox. Formed with fellow rappe ...

from '' Kiss of Death'' as well as the " Why Remix" featuring Anthony Hamilton, Styles P,

Common Common may refer to: As an Irish surname, it is anglicised from Irish Gaelic surname Ó Comáin. Places * Common, a townland in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland * Boston Common, a central public park in Boston, Massachusetts * Cambridge Com ...

, and

Nas Nas (born 1973) is the stage name of American rapper Nasir Jones. Nas, NaS, or NAS may also refer to: Aviation * Nasair, a low-cost airline carrier and subsidiary based in Eritrea * National Air Services, an airline in Saudi Arabia ** Nas Air (S ...

. In 2004 Elite graduated

cum laude Latin honors are a system of Latin phrases used in some colleges and universities to indicate the level of distinction with which an academic degree has been earned. The system is primarily used in the United States. It is also used in some Sout ...

from

SUNY Purchase The State University of New York at Purchase, commonly referred to as Purchase College or SUNY Purchase, is a Public college, public Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Purchase, New York. Established in 1967 by G ...

music conservatory studying Studio Production. In 2006 Elite produced "Wrong or Right (I'm Tired)" for DMX from the album '' Year of the Dog... Again''. In 2009, Elite began working with longtime friend and Roc Nation recording artist

on his mixtape ''

The Warm Up ''The Warm Up'' is the second official mixtape from American rapper J. Cole. It was released on June 15, 2009. J. Cole produced the majority of the mixtape with help from Elite, and Syience. The mixtape has been viewed over 3,100,000 times, st ...

''. Elite produced "Heartache" and a good portion of the mixtape was recorded at his home studio in New York. In 2010, Elite released his first mixtape entitled "The Groundwork" which was a collection of all of his production work up to that point. The mixtape featured an unreleased J. Cole song titled "Playground". Elite also produced "See World" for J. Cole off of his third mixtape, '' Friday Night Lights''. Elite co-produced J. Cole's first single "

Who Dat Who Dat (AAVE African-American Vernacular English (AAVE) is the variety of English natively spoken, particularly in urban communities, by most working- and middle-class African Americans and some Black Canadians. Having its own unique gramm ...

" which was featured as an iTunes bonus on '' Cole World: The Sideline Story''. In 2011, Elite released his first project as an artist entitled "Awaken" which featured

Omen An omen (also called ''portent'') is a phenomenon that is believed to foretell the future, often signifying the advent of change. It was commonly believed in ancient history, and still believed by some today, that omens bring divine messages ...

, Voli and Sean McVerry. Elite worked on multiple songs on

's second album ''

Born Sinner ''Born Sinner'' is the second studio album by American rapper J. Cole. It was released on June 18, 2013, by ByStorm Entertainment, Columbia Records, Dreamville Records and Roc Nation. The album serves as the follow-up to his debut album, ''Cole Wo ...

'', co-producing the title track "Born Sinner", and adding additional production to "Runaway". Cole sampled the song "Do She Got a Friend Tho?" from Elite's mixtape "Level Up" on the standout "Let Nas Down". In June 2013, J. Cole released his second single from ''Born Sinner'' titled "Crooked Smile" which was co-produced by Elite and features

TLC TLC may refer to: Arts and entertainment Television * ''TLC'' (TV series), a 2002 British situational comedy television series that aired on BBC2 * TLC (TV network), formerly the Learning Channel, an American cable TV network ** TLC (Asia), an A ...

. Elite worked together with J. Cole once more on the song "Folgers Crystals" from the 2015 work ''Revenge Of The Dreamers II'', he also produced the song "48 Laws" by Omen feat. Donnie Trumpet from the same album. In December 2016,

released his fourth studio album ''

4 Your Eyez Only ''4 Your Eyez Only'' is the fourth studio album by American rapper J. Cole. It was released on December 9, 2016, by Dreamville Records, Roc Nation and Interscope Records. The album was Cole's first release with Interscope—his previous albums w ...

'', which was co-executive produced by Elite. In April 2018,

released his fifth studio album KOD, which featured co-production from Elite on a majority of the album. In May 2019,

Ari Lennox Courtney Shanade Salter (born March 26, 1991), known professionally as Ari Lennox, is an American R&B singer-songwriter from Washington, D.C. She signed with J. Cole's Dreamville Records, an imprint of Interscope Records as the former label's ...

released her debut studio album

Shea Butter Baby ''Shea Butter Baby'' is the debut studio album by American singer Ari Lennox. It was released on May 7, 2019, by Dreamville and Interscope Records. The album was executive produced by Dreamville producer Elite. In addition, the majority of the al ...

, executive produced by Elite. Two of the album's lead singles (released in 2018) were produced by Elite; Whipped Cream and the title track

(feat.

), first appearing on the Creed II Soundtrack.

Discography

Mixtapes

*2010: ''The Groundwork'' *2011: ''Awaken'' *2013: ''Level Up''

Production discography

List of songs as producer or co-producer, with performing artists and other credited producers, showing year released and album name. * Indicates "Additional Production" credit + Indicates "Executive Production" credit

TV Scoring

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Elite American hip-hop record producers Living people Dreamville Records artists 1983 births