Southpaw (producer)
Toure Harris, better known as Southpaw (and as “Ray Dogz” earlier in his career) is a hiphop music producer and engineer, best known for his work for his brother, rapper Akir and political rapper Immortal Technique. He is also Co-owner and head of production at One Enterprises, Ltd in partnership with AKIR.
Early life and career
Southpaw started out with classical and jazz piano at an early age, then moved on to both high school and college radio, meeting and helping hone the skills of rapper Akir along the way. After college, he was employed by Puff Daddy at his studio “Daddy’s House” and served there as an engineer for a couple of years before leaving frustrated by major label politics. Southpaw then built a studio on his own and began working on the now classic “Revolutionary, Volume 2” with Immortal Technique, followed by Akir’s “Legacy” and as of June 24th 2008, completed “The Third Word” mixtape album with Immortal Technique & DJ Green Lantern. He is currently working on a producer album of his own and Immortal Technique’s eagerly awaited “Middle Passage” project.
Revolutionary Vol. 1, 2 and Viper Records
Southpaw produced two tracks for Immortal Technique’s debut album Revolutionary Vol. 1 in 2001 and continued his work producing with eight out of eighteen tracks for the follow up Revolutionary Vol. 2 in 2003. He then became A&R of Immortal Techniuqe’s home label Viper Records.
In 2005, Southpaw produced seven out of twenty tracks on Akir’s debut album Legacy (also on Viper Records), and started working with Arizona-based rapper Grime. On June 24th 2008, Immortal Technique’s eagerly awaited follow-up project “The Third World” was released, featuring 6 tracks produced by Southpaw./
