Just Blaze, born Justin Smith in Paterson, United States in 1978, is an American hip hop producer associated with east coast hip hop and hip hop. He is part of the Roc-A-Fella Family and works under several labels and imprints, including Fort Knocks Entertainment, F.O.B. Music Publishing, N.Q.C. Music Publishing, F.O.B. Entertainment, N.Q.C. Management and Roc the World.

Career

Just Blaze produces for a wide range of hip hop and R&B artists, including The Beastie Boys, Jay-Z, Usher, Kanye West, Busta Rhymes, Jadakiss, Memphis Bleek, Beanie Sigel, The Game, DMX, T.I., Fat Joe, Rhymefest, Ghostface Killah, MED, Fabolous and Joe Budden. His work includes tracks such as Jay-Z’s "December 4th" and "Public Service Announcement (Interlude)", as well as Kanye West’s "Touch the Sky" and Foxy Brown’s "Foxy Lady".

Production style

His production often involves changing the speed of samples and layering his own drum programming. This approach reflects an influence from RZA of Wu-Tang Clan, who is known for similar use of sped-up soul samples. He does not use this method on every track, and on some songs the sampled audio remains at its original speed.

Other work

Just Blaze also records music for video games, including Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2004 and NBA STREET VOL. 2, where he appears as a playable character. He founds Fort Knox Entertainment, with distribution through Atlantic Records, and his first artist on the label is Saigon. His brother is Daren Smith, also known as DJ Poun', and he works as a resident DJ at the Atlantic City 40/40 club.