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The 45 King, the influential New York City hip-hop producer who worked with Queen Latifah, Eminem and Jay-Z, died on Thursday. He was 62.<\/p>\n
Born Mark Howard James, he took the moniker The 45 King because of his fondness for sampling old, obscure records. His death was announced<\/a> on social media Thursday afternoon by a fellow hip-hop producer, DJ Premier.<\/p>\n Information on the cause or place of death were not immediately available. An inquiry sent to James\u2019s manager was not immediately returned.<\/p>\n \u201cHis sound was unlike any other from his heavy drums and his horns were so distinct on every production,\u201d DJ Premier wrote, referring to James as DJ Mark The 45 King.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n James, born on Oct. 16, 1961 in the Bronx, was a pioneer in the 1980s New York hip-hop scene and worked with early rap stars like the Funky 4, according to his website<\/a>. He was known for his jazzy beats, showcased on his first hit track, the highly sampled \u201cThe 900 Number,\u201d<\/a> released in 1987. He slowed down a saxophone solo, \u201cdropped the results over an irresistibly funky break\u201d and the result exploded, according to AllMusic<\/a>, adding that the horn line was \u201cforever ingrained in the collective hip-hop psyche.\u201d<\/p>\n James worked closely with Queen Latifah, a fellow member of the music crew known as the Flavor Unit. James produced the hit song \u201cWrath of My Madness\u201d on her debut album \u201cAll Hail the Queen\u201d in 1989 and also contributed other tracks.<\/p>\n \u201cThank you for teaching me taking me under your wing, teaching me about this thing called hip-hop, and so much more,\u201d Queen Latifah wrote in a Facebook post<\/a> on Thursday.<\/p>\n James also produced Eminem\u2019s \u201cStan,\u201d released on the 2000 album \u201cThe Marshall Mathers LP.\u201d The rap tells the story of a perturbed superfan named \u201cStan\u201d and is set to a throbbing beat sampling Dido\u2019s 1998 track \u201cThank you.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI took a first verse and made into an eight-bar hook for Eminem,\u201d James said in a 2021 interview<\/a> clip posted to social media by Eminem on Thursday.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n \u201cLegends are never over,\u201d Eminem wrote<\/a> on X, formerly Twitter.<\/p>\n James\u2019s other hits included Jay-Z\u2019s \u201cHard Knock Life (Ghetto Anthem),\u201d which sampled the musical \u201cAnnie\u201d and a remix of Madonna\u2019s \u201cKeep It Together.\u201d<\/p>\n James credited much of his success and production style to the time he spent in the 1980s working for DJ Breakout, a Bronx hip-hop luminary.<\/p>\n \u201cI like to say I got lucky,\u201d James said in the 2021 interview<\/a> with the YouTube channel Unique Access Ent. \u201cI was in the right place at the right time.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n