Pharrell is the Hip-Hop Producer of the Year (2013 RefinedHype Awards) Posted by Nathan S. on 12/18/13 | Filed under Opinion, Debates, RefinedHype Awards

It's that time of the year when everyone does their "Best of the Year" lists, but how many of those can you really read? So around these parts we do things a little different. Ladies and gentlemen and intelligent animals with the ability to read things on the interwebs, welcome to the 2013 RefinedHype Awards!  Here are the rules. First, this isn't a democracy, it's more like a benevolent dictatorship. I chose the nominees after careful consideration drinking. But instead of whining that your favorite rapper/song/whatever didn't make it in, I'm allowing write in votes. Whoever gets the most votes wins that category, even if y'all override my nominations with a write-in vote. Period. I'll announce all the winners on Wednesday, December 18. And I'll be explaining the criteria and nominees for each category every time. Got it? Good.  

Next up, it's time to give some love to the men behind the boards and the Producer of the Year. In typical RefinedHype fashion, we're judging by a combination of two factors: inherent dopeness, and overall impact. How you weight those two factors and measure them is why this is an art, not a science. If you're neighbor is making better production than Kanye but no one knows about him, he's not the producer of the year. If someone has multiple #1 hits but all of them are terrible, he's not the producer of the year. We're looking for the highest combined score. And last but not least, as hard as it can be, especially with producers who also rap, we're really just focused on the beats and the beats only here. 

And with that said, let's move onto the nominees....

UPDATE: The voting is now closed. Scroll to the bottom for the winner. 

Pharrell Williams

Pharrell was really in a slump, by Pharrell standards, just a couple years ago. But then he started picking up momentum in 2012 and had an enormous 2013. In terms of impact, half the artists named in end of 2013 lists - Jay Z, Miley Cyrus, Pusha T, 2 Chainz, Mac Miller, etc. - had some of their best work produced by Pharrell. Plus he produced one of the year's biggest non hip-hop songs, "Blurred Lines", plus he did some dope work for lesser known artists like Mayer Hawthorne, PLUS his own dope shit. Sweet baby jesus, it didn't quite sink in how much work that man did this year until just now, and all of it was dope as fuck.  

Kanye West

Controversial pick because Kanye and controversy go together like Rick Ross and man titties (inseperable). Those who loved "Yeezus" seem to love it primarily as an exercise in dope production, and even those who hated it have to admit the production is, in many cases, truly next level. The impact and dopeness of that alone would be enough to earn him a spot here, but he also produced a large chunk of Pusha T's excellent album and John Legend's "Love in the Future". He may not be the next Steve Jobs, but he's still one of the best producers on the planet. 

Timbaland

If you thought Pharrell had a comeback year, talk to Timbo. The man not only had some of his best production in years on Jay Z' "Magna Carta Holy Grail", but he handled nearly all the production on both of Justin Timberlak's "20/20 Experience" albums, which both went platinum. And more than just top sellers, it seemed like whatever spark Timbo had a few years ago truly came back. 

Jake One

No one had a more versatile and far ranging year than Jake One. We're talking a beat on huge albums like "Nothing Was the Same" and breakthrough mixtape/albums like "Acid Rap" and straight up rap nerd shit like Grynch. And all of them were some of, if not the, best beats on every album. He may not be as well known as the other names here, but let me repeat: "Acid Rap" AND "NWTS"! Who else is touching that versatility and quality? 

J. Cole

Really struggled with this last pick, and that's a testament to the width of great production out there (see below) than any shot at Cole. But ultimately, the man produced all of one of the biggest albums of the year, and the production on that album was often excellent. Plus some of the best beats he did this year didn't even make the album. The case against him is that he only produced for himself this year, but still, he belongs here. No question. 

Honorable Mentions: Statik Selektah, Big K.R.I.T., Oddisee, Noah "40" Shebib, Madlib. Really tough leaving any of them out as official nominees, it was down to Statik and Cole for me for the last pick. On any given day I could easily be argued into any of them. Also, this. 

Allright folks, get to voting. And a write-in vote option is available for those who think my nominations are dumber than a can of paint. Voting is now closed. 

And The Winner Is......Pharrell

Man, Pharrell is cleaning up like Jay Z will at the Grammys (except, you know, he deserves it). With 73 votes (30.17%) Pharrell won with ease; Kanye was a distant second with 38 votes. Two RefinedHype Awards in one year? Man, this must be the highlight of his year....only he just doesn't know it...yet. What makes it even more impressive is the fact that Pharrell went from a  ghost (seriously, he like dropped of the face of the earth) to producer of the year. If there was a comeback artist of the year he would take that home too.

Other Categories:

Booty of the Year
Non Hip-Hop Song of the Year
General Awesomeness of the Year
Producer Of The Year
Crew of the Year
Banger of the Year
Song of the Year
Rapper of the Year
Album of the Year

*Word to Krispy Kreme/Froggy Fresh on the art work for this year's RefinedHype Awards. Why is James cryin?