No I.D. to Produce JAY-Z's '4:44'

JAY-Z has worked with many talented producers throughout his illustrious career, but only one will be producing on his 13th album, 4:44.

Despite his recent work with Swizz Beatz and Zaytoven, Billboard reports that Young H.O.’s next album will only feature production from his frequent collaborator No I.D.

The combination has been a fruitful one for about a decade, generating memorable hits like “D.O.A. (Death of Auto-Tune),” “Run This Town,” and “Holy Grail.”

In addition to the aforementioned work, Hov and No I.D. also collaborated on tracks like “What We Talkin’ About,” “Thank You,” “A Star Is Born,” “Already Home,” “Success,” “Fallin’,” Kanye West’s “So Appalled,” and Watch the Throne’s “Primetime.”

Earlier today, filmmaker Chris Black announced that 4:44 would be “produced entirely by No I.D.” Aside from Billboard’s report, however, the news has not been officially confirmed.

https://twitter.com/TheBlack/status/876773295869239297

No I.D. has had quite an interesting career in hip-hop. After working as a producer and mentoring the likes of Kanye West, he became a music executive and is currently the executive vice president at Capitol. He also has his own label, ARTium Records, which boasts a lineup that includes Common, Jhené Aiko, and Vince Staples, among others.

In 2007, he began to work with JAY-Z through Jermaine Dupri. Together, they worked on Hov’s Nas-assisted “Success.” “So we’re in the studio and LeBron’s there, and Beyonce’s there, and I was off to the side with my headphones on doing the beat on my laptop,” No I.D. told Complex in 2011. “Everyone kept looking at me like ‘What’s this guy doing over there on his computer?’ No keyboard–I was just on my MacBook. I’m sure they thought I was just surfing the net or something.

“Jay and Jermaine looked over at me like ‘What do you got?’ So I play it and Jay’s like ‘Awww shit that’s it. Get that laptop back out and let’s do some more,'” he continued. “So that was the first time we jousted like that in the studio. It was also my first Nas collaboration, and the record really put me back in motion.”

A preview of their song “Adnis” is featured in an album promo, which stars Mahershala Ali and Danny Glover. The song is an ode to Hov’s father, Adnis Reeves.

4:44 is due June 30.