K-Def (full name Kevin Hansford) (born June 17, 1970) is an American, New Jersey–based, hip hop producer/DJ who has been actively involved in the music industry since the early 1990s. He has recently produced music for artists such as Ghostface Killah and Puff Daddy. K-Def earned critical praise early in his career for his work with Marley Marl on the album Here Come the Lords by the hip hop group Lords of the Underground.[1] Among the songs from that album that benefited from K-Def's production work include the hits "Funky Child" and "Chief Rocka".

Biography

edit

K-Def was also a member of the duo Real Live, which released one album The Turnaround: A Long Awaited Drama on Big Beat/Atlantic Records in 1996. "Real Live Shit (Remix)" featured Cappadonna, Ghostface Killah, Killa Sin and Lord Tariq. In April 2018, Rhino Entertainment issued a digital download of the album.

K-Def is mostly known for his blues-soul sampling style. While the majority of his early-mid 1990s productions were produced using the Akai MPC sampler/sequencer, around 1997 he started incorporating computers into his work flow and now exclusively uses a software based setup.

In 2004 K-Def produced "Its Over" on the Ghostface Killah release The Pretty Toney Album. He then contributed tracks to another Ghostface project, Theodore Unit, and Ol' Dirty Bastard's The Osirus Mixtape. He was a contributor to Diddy's 2006 release Press Play, and, in 2007, he produced a track on UGK's album Underground Kingz.

In 2006, K-Def released an instrumental album called Willie Boo Boo The Fool. The album was originally only available on CD and vinyl, but it was digitally re-released in 2008.

In 2008, K-Def released a collaborative EP with the rapper Dacapo under the name the Program, which was titled The Article.[2]

Discography

edit

Albums

edit
  • The Turnaround: A Long Awaited Drama (1996), (with Larry-O as Real Live)
  • Willie Boo Boo The Fool (2006)
  • The Article EP (2008), (with DaCapo as The Program)
  • Beats From The 90's Vol. 1 (2008)
  • Beats From The 90's Vol. 2 (2009)
  • Gangster Instrumentals (2010)
  • Night Shift (2011)
  • One Man Band (2013)
  • The Exhibit (2013)
  • The Meeting EP (2013)

Production

edit

References

edit
  1. ^ "K-Def Songs, Albums, Reviews, Bio & More". AllMusic.
  2. ^ Love, Dan (April 5, 2008). "Blog Archive » The Program - New K-Def EP". FROM DA BRICKS. Archived from the original on 2008-04-09. Retrieved 2008-06-10.
edit