Just Blaze Reflects on ‘Exhibit C’

It's always interesting to talk to a producer about a dominant track. Did they know it would be huge hit when they made it? What did they set out to do? Did they have any idea that nearly every rapper, professional or not, would jump on the beat to prove their worth? Recent examples of this breed of monster tracks include Snoop Dogg's 'I Wanna Rock' and Drake's 'Over,' but none has elicited a bigger response than the Just Blaze-produced 'Exhibit C' by Jay Electronica.

"It just showed how great the original record is," Just Blaze told The BoomBox about the onslaught of rappers tackling the beat. "It even opened my eyes because sometimes when you're too close to something it's hard to form an objective opinion. You know, you don't know how great is. It makes you come off a certain way. Me, in general, I'm my own worst critic. As great as the record is, there's always things that I would change or do differently."

Rappers have competed and showed their strength on hot beats since hip-hop's birth, but, like any sequel, it usually just makes you want to reach for the original. For Just Blaze, no one has come close to what Jay Electronica did on the real track. This just makes what they did together even more special.

"You start hearing all these freestyles and attempts to vamp on the record are floating around, you really realize how special what you created that night was," he continued. "It's something that not everybody can pull off. Up until this point, nobody's been really able to pull it off. It's definitely a good feeling to know that we created something that's not easily matchable."