Salaam Remi

Known for his dexterity and versatility behind the console, American producer and composer Salaam Remi Gibbs (born on May 14, 1972) contributed a great deal to shaping the landscape of 90s hip-hop and R&B with his reggae-tinged production style. The son of seasoned studio musician Van Gibbs, he made his debut playing keyboards on Kurtis Blow’s 1986 Kingdom Blow before mixing and producing records for Biz Markie, Zhigge, and Ziggy Marley. His breakthrough as a producer came in 1994 with Jamaican dancehall singer Ini Kamoze’s “Here Comes the Hotstepper,” a hip-hop-infused reggae number that went straight to the top of the Billboard Hot 100 and entered the Top 10 in several European countries. Gibbs earned his first Grammy nomination for his work on The Fugees’ multi-platinum LP The Score in 1996 and continued to collaborate with top-tier artists throughout the 2000s, handling production duties on Nas’ Stillmatic (2001), Ms. Dynamite’s A Little Deeper (2002), and Amy Winehouse’s Frank (2003). Towards the end of the decade, he dropped the orchestral Praguenosis! (2009), his studio debut, recorded during a trip to the Czech Republic. Featuring guest spots by Akon, Corinne Bailey Rae, Ne-Yo, follow-up album One: In the Chamber saw the light in 2013 and was nominated for Best Contemporary Album at the Grammys. Another Grammy nomination ensued in 2017 for his involvement in the documentary Amy as he released Do It For the Culture, a collaborative playlist that spawned a sequel in 2019. In line with his latest offerings, the politically-charged Black on Purpose arrived in 2020 and gathered a diverse array of artists from both R&B and hip-hop (CeeLo Green, Jennifer Hudson, Busta Rhymes, Nas, etc.) to celebrate black empowerment.