Mike Dean is a veteran hip-hop producer and multi-instrumentalist from Texas.<\/p>\n
Dean is known to play guitar, bass, cello, piano and keyboard on productions and has served as a guitarist and keyboard for both Kanye West and Travis Scott on studio albums and on tour in live performances.<\/p>\n
His started his music career as a musician playing keyboards in the studio and on stage for Mexican-American artist, Selena.<\/p>\n
He eventually began making beats, mixing, mastering, engineering and producing, pioneering the Dirty South sound in the 1990s.<\/p>\n
During that, Dean worked with artists from Rap-A-Lot Records artists such as Scarface, Do or Die, Tha Dogg Pound, Nate Dogg and Outlawz.<\/p>\n
He also worked with the likes of 2Pac.<\/p>\n
In the 2000\u2019s, Dean started working with Kanye West.<\/p>\n
He contributed to mixing West’s album The College Dropout<\/em> (nominated for Album of the Year and Best Rap Album categories at the 2005 Grammy Awards) and Late Registration, <\/em>which won Best Rap Album at the 2006 Grammy Awards.<\/p>\n Dean subsequently contributed as a producer on Kanye West\u2019s Graduation<\/em>,\u00a0My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy<\/em>,\u00a0Yeezus<\/em>,\u00a0The Life of Pablo\u00a0<\/em>and\u00a0Ye<\/em>\u00a0(earning both production and writing credits on the majority of the tracklist for the last two).<\/p>\n He\u00a0 also co-produced on West\u2019s collaboration with Jay-Z Watch<\/em> the Throne<\/em>.<\/p>\n From there, he went on to mix, produce and master hip hop music for artists like Travis Scott, Beyonc\u00e9, Jay-Z, Frank Ocean, Ty Dolla $ign, 2 Chainz, Kid Cudi, Migos, Pusha T, Christina Aguilera, Nas, Madonna, Smokepurpp, Gorillaz, and more.<\/p>\n Dean launched his own label, M.W.A. in 2017.<\/p>\n He is listed as having more production and writing credits on Travis Scott’s 2018 album Astroworld<\/em> than anyone other than Scott himself.<\/p>\n In an interview with MBW in April 2020, Dean said that being asked to name his proudest record he’s ever worked on is “a really hard question” to answer.<\/p>\n Said Dean “Like, back in the nineties, Smile<\/em>, by Scarface and 2Pac [1997, No. 12 in the US]; in the 2000s, probably\u00a0Stronger<\/em> by Kanye [2007, No.1 in the US and UK, from the album,\u00a0Graduation<\/em> (also No.1 in the US and UK) and the first Kanye record on which Dean was credited as a producer, having previously contributed to the mixing on\u00a0The College Dropout<\/em>\u00a0and\u00a0Late Registration<\/em>]; and in the 2010s it would have to be something with Travis Scott \u2013\u00a0Stop Trying To Be God<\/em>, I think [from 2018\u2019s Astroworld, another US No.1].”<\/p>\n