Rsonist

The Heatmakerz is the production brand for American music producer and writer Rsonist (Gregory Green). The Heatmakerz have been crafting the sound of New York since the early 2000s. Having worked with or influenced almost every artist in the city, The Heatmakerz have accumulated a combined total of over 25 million albums sold worldwide to date. "Names like DJ Premier, Dr. Dre, and The Neptunes branded a sound that helped shape generations of rap music. Another name you can add to that list is The Heatmakerz," said The Hip-Hop Museum.

Widely known for The Diplomats’ hits “Dipset Anthem” and “I’m Ready” amongst others, the credits are a who’s who of hip-hop including Lil’ Wayne, Beyoncé, Kanye West, Ludacris, Fat Joe, Ghostface Killah, Jeezy, Nicki Minaj, Rick Ross, J. Cole, Joey Bada$$ and more. Rsonist defined the early-2000s Harlem sound, which quickly spread to all of rap music. He laid the groundwork for modern trap music almost 20 years before it happened.

History

Born in Mandeville, Jamaica, Rsonist moved to the Bronx, New York at the age of four. Talking about his childhood, Rsonist told Genius, “My parents had reggae music – that’s it. That’s all I grew up listening to. Whether it was Beres Hammond, whether it was Garnett Silk, whether it was Bob Marley – whoever it was, it was just reggae music.”

After high school, Rsonist attended Howard University in Washington, D.C. While there, he also worked as a DJ and developed a friendship with Young Guru, who would go on to work with many of the top artists in hip-hop, most notably becoming Jay-Z’s engineer for many years. Shortly into his tenure at the school, Rsonist was expelled from Howard University and forced to move back to the Bronx without any viable options and a newborn baby on the way.

Rsonist soon made his way into beat making as a last resort. It was at this time that the name and the team of The Heatmakerz came about. “So people understand the dynamic of Heatmakerz and why it’s still called Heatmakerz, Heatmakerz was my team growing up,” he explained to The Hip-Hop Museum. “Me, Thrilla, my cousin, a bunch of people I grew up with. Me and Thrilla were the only two that physically made music.”

Thrilla had bought an MPC and when he went out of town, he let Rsonist borrow it. During that time, Rsonist made two beats. Those beats eventually reached Todd Terry, a Brooklyn-based producer and DJ who was working with top artists at the time. Terry was intrigued and asked if he could purchase the tracks. “I made a joke and said, ‘Give me a stack ($1,000) for each beat,’” Rsonist told Genius. “He was like ‘Aight, bet,’ goes in the other room, goes in his safe, brings me back $2,000.” Afterward, Terry asked for more beats, to which Rsonist replied that he didn’t have the equipment. Terry then sent him $20,000 worth of gear to get him started.

It was at this point that Rsonist realized hip-hop could be more than a hobby. Soon after, he was in the studio with Bronx legend Big Pun and his protégé Fat Joe, playing them his beats. During the session, Rsonist asked Fat Joe what new producers typically earn per track. Fat Joe replied that they could expect $5,000 or more. “When Joe said $5,000, I just realized that if I take this seriously, I could really turn this into something,” he told HuffPost. “Because even then I knew it was all about relationships... From there, I knew it was always just going to be about figuring out that six degrees of separation. It was common sense. That’s when I knew.”

Early Career

2000-2007

The Heatmakerz first major label placement was the title “The C-Quel” which led off the Canibus album 2000 B.C. (Before Can-I-Bus) on Universal Records in 2000. That was followed up with Ghostface Killah’s “Ice” off the Bulletproof Wallets and Cam’ron’s “Come Home With Me” and “Boy Boy” on the Come Home With Me album released in 2001 and 2002 respectively.

In 2003, The Heatmakerz hit their stride writing and producing eleven songs on The Diplomats debut album Diplomatic Immunity which included the hit singles “Dipset Anthem” and “I’m Ready.” It was this pivot album with The Heatmakerz defining the “Harlem sound” that quickly transformed into The Heatmakerz being described as the “Sound of New York.” The Heatmakerz sound has been described as hip-hop mixed with rock and roll. With Rsonist describing it as, “It’s aggressive soul music. It’s that Crack Music.”

In 2007, the music business began to change and readjust with various new trends. It was at this point that Thrilla no longer viewed the business in the same way that Rsonist did. Thrilla stepped back from making music and ventured into various businesses such as real estate, starting a trucking company and more. At that point Rsonist continued under The Heatmakerz moniker and his writing and producing became a solo endeavor.

Rsonist Solo

2007-present

After Thrilla’s departure, Rsonist continued to write and produce on various projects across the hip-hop world for the next decade plus under the Heatmakerz brand. He made an album with Lil Wayne and Juelz Santana titled “I Can’t Feel My Face” which was never released. Over this time, The Heatmakerz distinct sound was heard on various records including with artists Fat Joe, Asher Roth, Slaughterhouse, Jim Jones, The Diplomats, Cam’ron, Joell Ortiz and more.

In 2015, Desiigner’s hit single “Panda” which went on to reach number one on the US Billboard Hot 100 and the US Hot R&B/Hip-Hop songs was recorded in Rsonist’s Diamond District Studios in midtown Manhattan. The following year, the Fat Joe and Remy Ma single featuring French Montana “ All The Way Up”, which reached number four on the US Rhythmic Billboard chart was also recorded at his studio.

Rsonist became known as the main producer of 2011 XXL Freshman class member and fellow Bronx native, Fred the Godson. The pair released critically acclaimed tapes, even teaming up with Joell Ortiz for a “Gorilla Glue” project in 2019 before Fred’s untimely passing in 2020 from Covid-19.

In 2019, Rsonist was the Executive Producer, as well the producer on every song, on the Jim Jones album “El Capo” that went on to have over two hundred million on-demand audio streams as a completely independent release. Jones talked about the creation of the album with Revolt, saying, “I got this thing where every night before I walk out, the last 30 minutes of the session, I always record a verse. I’m like ‘Yo, pull that up. Let me record before I leave out.’ This lbumis the result of all of those records I recorded before I left the studio. Rsonist called me one day like, ‘You got a lot of these records with dope verses on them. You might as well finish these records. Let’s do a project.’”

The Heatmakerz are also now a mainstay on every Joell Ortiz release, including his group work with fellow Slaughterhouse founder, KXNG Crook.

In 2024, The Heatmakerz wrote for the J. Cole album Might Delete Later on the song “ Ready 24” which featured Cam’ron. In 2025, The Heatmakerz were back lending the classic New York sound to the Joey Bada$$ single “Pardon Me.”

The Heatmakerz are currently continuing to collaborate with Joey Bada$$ on upcoming releases, contributing to The Game’s “Documentary 3”, working with Jim Jones on “El Capo 2”, some new work with Bishop Lamont, as well as a new M.O.P. project, he confirmed to Hot 97. Rsonist then went on to state, “When I made ‘Dipset Anthem,’ I was in my mother’s basement, broke, and channeling that raw aggression into the music. Now, I’m in a different place in life, and my music reflects how I’m living and feeling in the moment. I never create tracks with a specific artist in mind; I make what feels right, and whoever connects with it, does.”

Discography

Notes

References

External links

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MySpace profile

AllHipHop interview

nobodysmiling.com interview

Rsonist Video Interview on JumpOff.TV

{{DEFAULTSORT:Heatmakerz, The
American hip-hop record producers
The Diplomats
Living people
Record production duos
Year of birth missing (living people)
American songwriting teams