Large Professor facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Large Professor
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Large Professor performing in 2016
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| Background information | |
| Birth name | William Paul Mitchell |
| Also known as |
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| Born | March 21, 1972 Manhattan, New York City, U.S. |
| Origin | Queens, New York City, U.S. |
| Genres | Hip hop |
| Occupation(s) |
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| Years active | 1989–present |
| Labels | |
William Paul Mitchell (born March 21, 1972), known by his stage name Large Professor, is a famous American rapper and music producer. He is also called Extra P. or Large Pro. He is from New York City and helped start the hip hop group Main Source. Large Professor is also known for working a lot with the famous rapper Nas and helping him early in his career. Many people think he is one of the best hip-hop producers ever.
Contents
Early Life
Large Professor, whose real name is William Paul Mitchell, was born in Harlem, a part of New York City. He grew up in Flushing, Queens, another part of New York City, and went to John Bowne High School there.
Music Career
Large Professor began making music beats using simple tools. He used two record players, a Casio SK-1 sampler (a device that records and plays back sounds), and even pause-tape cassettes. His mentor, Paul C, later taught him how to use a more advanced machine called an E-mu SP-1200. Large Professor developed his own unique ways of sampling sounds from records.
Main Source Group
In 1989, Large Professor joined the hip-hop group Main Source. The group also included Toronto artists K-Cut and Sir Scratch. In 1990, Large Professor produced three songs for the famous hip-hop duo Eric B. & Rakim's album Let the Rhythm Hit 'Em. One of these songs was "In the Ghetto."
Main Source released their first album, Breaking Atoms, in 1991. This album became very popular and included hit songs like "Just Hangin' Out" and "Looking at the Front Door". The album also featured the very first public appearance of the rapper Nas on a song called "Live at the Barbeque." Other rappers like Akinyele and Joe Fatal were also on that track. Large Professor has said that "Looking at the Front Door" is one of the most emotional songs he ever made. He felt it showed his pure heart as an 18-year-old writing music.
In 1992, Main Source recorded a song called "Fakin' the Funk" for the movie soundtrack of White Men Can't Jump. After this, Large Professor and Main Source decided to go their separate ways due to business disagreements. Large Professor then signed with Geffen Records as a solo artist.
Working with Other Artists
While he was with Main Source and after he left, Large Professor worked with many other famous hip-hop artists. He produced songs for Pete Rock & CL Smooth, Busta Rhymes, Masta Ace, The X-Ecutioners, Tragedy Khadafi, Big Daddy Kane, Mobb Deep, and A Tribe Called Quest.
One important moment was when he produced "Keep It Rollin'" for A Tribe Called Quest's album Midnight Marauders. This helped him gain more recognition and respect as a solo artist and producer.
In 1994, Large Professor produced three songs on Nas's highly praised album Illmatic. These songs were "Halftime", "One Time 4 Your Mind", and "It Ain't Hard to Tell". He produced the same number of songs as another famous producer, DJ Premier, on that album. The beat for "Halftime" was originally meant for Busta Rhymes, who later regretted not using it. Large Professor said they wanted to create a "gritty" sound for the world, similar to the raw sound of old park jam tapes. Nas even wanted to give him a special credit for his big role in Illmatic, but Large Professor humbly refused.
In 1996, Large Professor finished his first solo album, The LP, for Geffen Records. Songs like "The Mad Scientist" and "I Juswannachill" were released to promote it. However, the album faced many delays and was not officially released until 2009, thirteen years later. A bootleg (unofficial) version came out in 2002.
In 2001, Large Professor produced two songs, "You're da Man" and "Rewind," for Nas's album Stillmatic. He had first played the beat for "You're da Man" to Nas a few years earlier. Nas liked it but decided to save it for a future project.
On December 22, 2002, the original members of Main Source performed together again in Toronto. It was their first performance together in almost 10 years.
Discography
Albums
- with Main Source
- 1991: Breaking Atoms
- Solo albums
- 2002: The LP (officially released in 2009)
- 2002: 1st Class
- 2008: Main Source
- 2012: Professor @ Large
- 2015: Re:Living
- Collaboration albums
- 1993: ... Diner (with Akinyele)
- 2014: Mega Philosophy (with Cormega)
- Instrumental albums
- 2006: Beatz Volume 1
- 2007: Beatz Volume 2
- 2022: Beatz Volume 3
Guest appearances
- 1990: "Money in the Bank" (Kool G Rap & DJ Polo; Wanted: Dead or Alive)
- 1990: "Gots Ta Get This" (Powerule; Volume 1)
- 1992: "Apparantly Nothin'" (Large Pro Mix) (Young Disciples; 12")
- 1993: "Keep It Rollin'" (A Tribe Called Quest; Midnight Marauders)
- 1994: "Stress (Remix)" (Organized Konfusion; 12")
- 1995: "To Each His Own" (INI; Lost & Found: Hip Hop Underground Soul Classics)
- 1996: "Extra Abtract Skillz" (Mad Skillz; From Where???)
- 1996: "Actual Facts" (Lord Finesse; The Awakening)
- 1996: "The Rap World" [Pete Rock; High School High (soundtrack)]
- 1998: "Truly Yours '98" (Pete Rock; Soul Survivor)
- 1998: "Exotic's Raw" (Neek the Exotic; 12")
- 1999: "... on Plastic" (Large Professor Remix) (Rob Swift; 12")
- 1999: "Hardcore"; "Rhyme Mania" (Neek the Exotic; 12")
- 1999: "CT to Queens (Uncut Action) (Chris Lowe; 12"
- 1999: "Yo Yo" (Street Smartz; Bottom Line, Vol. 1)
- 2000: "The Last Shall Be First" (Cella Dwellas; The Last Shall Be First)
- 2002: "XL" (The X-Ecutioners; Built from Scratch)
- 2002: "Hip Hop on Wax" (Rob Swift; Sound Event)
- 2002: "Originate" (The Beatnuts; The Originators)
- 2002: "The Come Up" (Cormega; The True Meaning)
- 2002: "Love Is Love" (Craig G; This Is Now!!!)
- 2004: "Sugar Ray and Hearns" (Cormega; Legal Hustle)
- 2004: "Out da Box" (Tony Touch; The Piece Maker 2)
- 2005: "Another Friendly Game Of Baseball...Xtra Innings" (Rob Swift; War Games)
- 2006: "United" (MF Grimm; American Hunger)
- 2007: "The Radar" (Marco Polo; Port Authority)
- 2007: "Did What We Had to Do (Showoff Mix) (Statik Selektah; Spell My Name Right: The Album)
- 2007: "The Purist" (Polyrhythm Addicts; Break Glass)
- 2007: "Front Lines" (Killa Sha; Gods Walk on Water)
- 2008: "Conquer Mentally" (Presto; State of the Art)
- 2008: "Chill" (Deal; Changes of Atmosphere)
- 2009: "Fans" (Masta Ace & Edo G; Arts & Entertainment)
- 2009: "Same Old Drama" (Grand Puba; Retroactive)
- 2009: "New Classic" (U-God; Dopium)
- 2009: "Sweet 16s" (Satchel Page; Young Patriarch)
- 2009: "Like This" (DJ JS-1; No Sellout: Ground Original 2)
- 2011: "Beats By the Pound" (Soulbrotha; The Connexion EP)
- 2011: "The Quickening" (Funkoars; The Quickening)
- 2011: "Through Good & Bad" (The Funk League; Funky As Usual)
- 2012: "Forever" (Gensu Dean; Lo-Fi Fingahz)
- 2012: "When You Sleep" (DJ Nu-Mark; Broken Sunlight)
- 2012: "Loco-Motive" (Nas; Life Is Good)
- 2012: "Catch the Thrown" (Public Enemy; Most of My Heroes Still Don't Appear on No Stamp)
- 2012: "Back & 4th Scrambler" (Yu Mamiya)
- 2013: "Built Pyramids" (N.O.R.E.; Student of the Game)
- 2013: "Astonishing" (Marco Polo; PA2: The Director's Cut)
- 2014: "Naturally Born" (Big Noyd & Kool G Rap; 12")
- 2015: "World Premier" (Czarface; Every Hero Needs a Villain)
- 2016: "Glorify N Praise" (Powerule; The Anomaly)
- 2016: "Everybody Everywhere" (Mighty Mi; Everybody Everywhere)
- 2016: "Here We Go" (Southpaw Chop; 12")
- 2017: "Come a Long Way + Remix" (Son of Sam; Cinder Hill)
- 2021: "Legendary" (Grand Daddy I.U.; The Essence)
- 2022: "Entourage"; "Attack" (Truth; For All Intents and Purposes)
See also
In Spanish: Large Professor para niños
