These superproducers were perceived as such because they were attached to large movements that allowed them to be extremely visible in the mainstream. These producers were getting recognized because they were attached to a large persona that was marketable. Music videos played a crucial part because this is where many people first saw what that person who made the beat looked like. There was more of a community atmosphere because large groups of people were seeing the producers on screen simultaneously for the first time. Youtube interfered with this a whole lot. The superproducer had a very strong symbolic presence in music back then. Their craft even seemed more appreciated. The Neptunes story seems to be one of the strongest examples of what happened. I still remember when they dropped Clones. They were huge back then. I remember them doing a radio interview explaining the meaning behind Clones. They said something along the lines of there being so many people emulating their sound. I was with my mom and she just happened to stop at Target that day. I went immediately to the music section and grabbed a copy of Clones. That was an EVENT.

Now producers being backed by a major label to release an album or getting that exposure to even talk on the radio about their project is unlikely. I guess the music industry realized that the persona was way more marketable than the actual music.

It's kind of funny because The Neptunes sound was the mainstream sound back then. It was all over the radio. The same thing is happening now but in a different way. The mainstream sound right now, which seems to be trap, is being emulated by millions of trap clones. It's easy to get access to make a trap beat for the low.

Being a producer seemed to be more exclusive back then. I would have loved to have a MPC or whatever The Neptunes were using back then but I couldn't afford it. I didn't find out about Fruity Loops until I found out about 9th Wonder.

When you could download software to make beats that sounded like whoever was hot at the moment, it was a WRAP. Soulja Boy blowing up was just fuel to the fire that was already raging. A superproducer is less super when his craft is over-saturated. When some unknown new producer starts getting more recognition than a superproducer and for subpar work and no real portfolio, then it's all bad from there. It also just takes too long for those superproducers listed to release their stuff. In all that time in between, way too much is happening in music that just makes them less relevant.