Jake One's Greatest Beats

Rah Digga ft. Lloyd Banks: "Party Over Here"
Lloyd and Digga blessed this funny track off last summer's game-changing Green Lantern Invasion Pt. II, with Jake One demonstrating a crucial mastery of unshowy mixtape beats.

E-40 ft. B Legit & Rankin Scroo: "Bust Yo Shit"
Jake laces the Ballatician with sub-bass DJ Quik squelches and tinkly, "Who Shot Ya"–style piano in what's hopefully the first of many future trips down to the Bay.

Lord Tariq & Peter Gunz: "Eyez on the Prize"
For any head who ever wanted those "Déjà Vu" intro horns teased out to a whole track, Jake sets a low milky bottom in the mix that's very subtly professional, even (or especially) for the '99 middle ground.

Snoop Dogg ft. J.T. the Bigga Figga and Kutfather: "Trump Tight"
A stretchy, silken West Coast track for a rejuvenated No Limit–era Snoop, who should probably holla back at Jake again now for that nü G-funk instead of poppin' useless twitches with the Neptunes.

G Unit: "Betta Ask Somebody"
50 Cent, Lloyd Banks, and show-stealer Young Buck get punch-lined up on drawn-out keyboards, sharp, clockwork drums, and that old-skool Hamburglar/Abbott and Costello sneak melody (kinda like the grandma detective theme Jake flipped on his remix of Encore's "Filthy"). Beg for Mercy's producers were respected underground already, but Jake does fake Jay Dilla 10 times nicer than Hi-Tek.

De La Soul ft. MF Doom: "Rock Ko.Kane Flow"
You could always hear the Ummah warmth of a Jake One beat even before he ever officially hooked up with De La, but this cut off their new Grind Date connects the Stakes Is High/Beats, Rhymes & Life dots to Doom's own weirdo time-travel experiments.

Planet Asia: "As Long as I'm Alive"
An effortlessly pretty blend of C-N-N's "Live on Live Long" and Ja Rule's sublime "Mesmerize," where the '80s R&B hits and twinkling keyboards prop up a stunning backdrop for Asia's dedication to fallen soldiers.

Krondon: "Feels Good"
It's just a 2Pac/Scarface piano lope, cut "Crooklyn Dodgers"–style (or maybe "NY State of Mind"–style, with that Illmatic chorus scratch), but for respected Westside lyricist Krondon, Jake was able to fall back to '90s feel-good sincerity without getting faded or watery.

Encore: "Layover"
Encore was originally spitting his Big Daddy Kane sound-alikes over number-one Premier biter Architect's tracks until Jake's beats on his sophomore LP put him in the modern context he needed, dripping crate-digger soul onto rattling drums and hard, Cali underground bass hits to bang like King Tee or '90s Xzibit.

Semi Official: "P.A.A. (Remix)"
I Self Divine of Atlanta's Micranots does a cop killer all over Jake's sputtery remix, with enough stabs and gully menace to approximate the paranoid Efil4zaggin-era Dr. Dre.

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