Photo credit: Mark Batson

Mark Batson has carved out a singular space in modern music with a career that bridges classical composition, Hip Hop innovation, and chart-topping R&B. A Grammy-winning producer and classically trained pianist, Batson has collaborated with some of the biggest names in the industry—Dr. Dre, Eminem, Alicia Keys, Beyoncé, Jay-Z, Anthony Hamilton, and Seal, to name just a few. His ability to seamlessly blend lush musicality with raw emotion has helped shape some of the most memorable records of the past two decades.

But Batson’s journey goes far deeper than the liner notes. From his early days in a Rap group with his brother, Get Set V.O.P., to scoring films and mentoring new talent, he’s consistently pushed creative boundaries while staying rooted in his craft.

The Hip Hop Museum caught up with Mark Batson for an in-depth discussion about his creative process, Eminem, why Dr. Dre is the greatest producer ever, his unique experience working with Jay-Z, and much more.

Adam Aziz: What’s your earliest Hip Hop memory?

Mark Batson: I mean, there’s a bunch of them. They all string together into a collective consciousness. I started seeing Hip Hop very early. I grew up in Brooklyn in the projects. I lived on the fifth floor. And outside of my window, they would have African drummers, Jamaican drummers, and Latina drummers in a drum circle on Saturdays. And then at one point, somebody started plugging in the DJ equipment, and the drum circles turned into those first Hip Hop jams.

And what I saw at the beginning of Hip Hop was it was an electronic version of the drum circle because the DJs would lean into playing the drum breaks from songs, mostly mixing back and forth the drum breaks. We had a crew called the Natural Force Crew in New York and Brooklyn. And so, they were like the first ones in the neighborhood.

My brother and sister worked in a summer youth program in Harlem. So, when I was very young, we used to go to some of the jams in Harlem and see Imperial Master Jazzy Jay and all the other crews.

AA: What are your thoughts on producers today being more prominent and focused on branding their own names, in some cases more than the artists?

MB: When I came into the game as a producer, my brother and I had a Rap group called Get Set V.O.P. We were signed to Polygram. My goal was to become a rapper. When we didn’t succeed, I started to get behind the careers of other artists as a producer and writer, helping them avoid the same mistakes that I made.

When I met Pharrell, I was inspired by his ability to take his Hip Hop knowledge and his Soul knowledge and turn it into this thing. I think the first artist that I was serious about producing was India.Arie, her first album. And there was no place for me to be branding myself and saying this is my thing. Like say, “yo, yo it’s Mark Batson” on the record. The next record I worked on after that was Seal’s fourth album.

AA: I don’t think you have a sound as a producer. Do you agree?

MB: My sound is whatever artist I’m working with. It’s never been me first. It has always been can I find out who the artist is and present them in an environment that’s maybe not the most artistically friendly, like when India. Arie’s first album came out; nothing sounded like that. No one sounds like her. How do I isolate her voice and get her voice to be this magical thing? That’s why a lot of these voices have lasted so long. India.Arie with “Brown Skin,” Anthony Hamilton’s “Charlene.” They are definitive songs.

AA: Speaking of specific songs, what were you guys thinking in the studio when you made Eminem’s “Rain Man?”

MB: There were a couple of records on that album. I was like, yeah, I don’t know. When we first started making ‘Encore,’ that was Eminem’s first project that he had ever recorded sober. I’ll never forget he came into the studio. And I was in there with Che Pope and Dre. And then Marshall came to the studio. And he’s like, “Hey, man, I’m having some difficulties because I’m not drinking anymore. I’m not taking any drugs anymore. I’m really trying to find out where I am creatively.” And then Che Pope leans over and says, “Hey, man, I can’t help you with that. I just had a beer for breakfast.”

It was a good time watching him find himself. “Evil Deeds” is one of my favorite Eminem songs and productions ever. It blew my mind. And then there is the record “Big Weenie” where I was like, I don’t know. I have questions. When he’s making those types of records, I don’t want to get in the way of that. I want to encourage him because if it were up to me, he would make all “Evil Deeds” type records.

And the thing about “Big Weenie,” I think a year and a half or so ago on TikTok, somebody sped the song up, and it was like the number one song in Hip Hop for a while. I like to support artists and their dreams. And that’s what happened between ‘Encore’ and ‘Relapse.’ To me, ‘Relapse’ is straight dangerous.

The funny thing about Eminem is that when he makes the meanest, evil, and vicious record, he finds it so comical. For him, it’s more like comedy. He’s laughing the whole time while he’s making it. ‘Relapse’ to me is his biggest laugh because it’s a very mean, grimy, and horrific record, which I describe to people as his version of Edgar Allan Poe’s ‘Tell Tale Heart.’

AA: My favorite record you’ve worked on is Jay-Z’s ‘Lost One.’ The song is so personal. What was it like working on that record?

MB: I think it’s Jay’s most personal record. And the way this whole record comes together is interesting, which is more spiritual than the actual in-the-room creative process.

First, the record is me playing a Duke Ellington piano part to Dr. Dre’s drums. It’s significantly influenced by Duke Ellington. I played Duke Ellington. I was the pianist for the African American Culture Department at the Smithsonian Museum, so I played Duke Ellington. We were not in the studio with Jay-Z when he made the beat. So, Dre sends in the beat, and Jay comes back with the beat.

Now, I grew up five minutes away from Jay-Z’s house around the same time period he was there. During those years, this guy who we knew well in my projects in Bushwick was on a bus and had an altercation with this guy from Marcy Projects, and he killed him on the bus. So, there was a little anger between our neighborhood and his neighborhood. I had to take the train in Marcy to go to school, walk from Bushwick to Marcy, and into their neighborhood. So, every time I was in their neighborhood, it was a sense of a bit of a threat because there was a rivalry between us and them.

I had never sat in a room with Jay-Z before. After the record was recorded and he had this deep emotional performance on it, I believe it was Jay Brown who told the story of him hearing that it was the piano player dude from Bushwick who had played the piano on this emotional record and that he teared up just even hearing that because of the connection. It was amazing that something so spiritual could happen that I would be the pianist to play that.

AA: You’ve worked a lot in Country music as well. What do you think of the current infiltration of Hip Hop sounds and sensibilities within Country music?

MB: It’s a natural progression because it modernizes Country music. Even the birth of Country music has some elements of rhythm and blues. It’s this very soulful, bluesy, black music – it comes from that and then suddenly there’s this Country thing and somehow that gets separated to a cultural thing where at some point it’s like well, white people play Country music and black people play R&B music which I think is a little ridiculous.

Over the years, Country music has taken on more urban and traditional R&B elements. When I listen to Morgan Wallen, I see he has many Hip Hop cadences. It was a natural progression to get to Shaboozey, basically making a Hip Hop cover into a Country song. And then Beyoncé followed by combining all those elements and winning Album of The Year. I’m glad that it’s happening now. I know some people haven’t embraced it, but a lot have. It shouldn’t be like black music has to stay over there and white music has to stay over there.

I’ve worked with who I think is the best white rapper who has ever lived. But then, Leanne Rimes is one of the most soulful Country singers who has ever lived. We’re in the studio right now, working on a Gospel album.

We should all start blending together into one human American art form.

AA: Over the years, what did you learn from Dr. Dre? And what do you think you taught him?

MB: That’s an interesting question. To me, Dre is the greatest producer who has ever lived. As far as building records, Quincy Jones had his own lane of greatness. But watching Dre make music is different. He’s also the best engineer I’ve ever seen.

When you find a producer like Quincy Jones or any other great producer like Timbaland or Pharrell, they are usually linked to an engineer. They work with an engineer who does the engineering and helps them master the technical part of their craft. Dre is his own engineer. He never had to hand his records off to anybody to finish making them sound good. The records would sound exactly like he wanted them to sound.

He’s the most complete producer I’ve ever seen. He’s also an arranger because he arranges all of the musicians. He’s also a perfectionist. The vocals he’s cut on people are the most perfect vocals.

What I learned from Dre is the discipline of the craft. At this point, Dre isn’t making records to drop them. He goes to the studio to make them because he loves making music. He loves the process of creating.

I think he learned from me that there were people as committed as him to making music. There is rarely someone committed to the number of hours it will take for the record to be great and someone who could match his musical ideas. That could augment his musical ideas.

AA: At this point, is Dre’s ‘Detox’ album even a thing anymore? Is it still an unheard, cohesive project? Or has most of everything leaked?

MB: I think we completed the ‘Detox’ album, probably three times when I was involved. We had ten or twelve songs a few times. A couple of times, Jay-Z came in and wrote a bunch of songs. He rapped the songs and wrote them for Dre. Dre cut a bunch of records, but at the end of the day, he never found a cohesive bunch of songs where he said, “This is it.” Even now, Dre periodically sends me six or seven songs he cut, which are great records. He just likes to create.

But as he told me and, I believe, told others, his ego doesn’t feel like everybody needs to hear everything he’s recorded. He will only let that happen when he feels like, okay, this represents where I am right now.

I don’t believe there ever will be a ‘Detox’ album. The closest thing to ‘Detox’ was probably the ‘Compton’ album for the movie.

Follow Mark Batson on Instagram.