It’s been 17 years since No I.D. laced Common with the track for the classic I Used to Love H.E.R. Nearly 2 decades later, the Chicago legend that Kanye West cites as his mentor is still going strong. The latest installment of our Producer Series is dedicated to the music of No I.D. Click below to hear the mix.

Nearly 2 decades later, the Chicago legend that Kanye West cites as his mentor is still going strong.  The latest installment of our Producer Series is dedicated to the music of No I.D.  It’s always interesting to listen to a producer’s body of work over an extended period of time.  You often are able to determine the era in which a track was made by noting the sounds the producer was feeling at the time.  Whether it’s a drum sound, a certain keyboard or particular scratch patterns, there are usually distinct sonic phases that characterize beat makers’ journeys.  No I.D. has certain of these elements (jazzy samples in the early portion of his career and stark high chords in the latter), but it’s much harder to pinpoint specific sounds with each era.  When you listen to the catalog, however, what emerges is a consistent depth of soul that accompanies all of his tracks (both those he produced solo and his collabos).  There are a lot of complex and brooding chords (perhaps one of the reasons Jay-Z tends to blackout on No I.D.’s tracks).  It’s this uniform sonic quality that allows him to get the artists with whom he works to go deeper, whether it’s Kanye, Jay-Z, Drake, Big Sean, Cee-Lo, Kid Cudi, Common, Nas or others.  You’ll find tracks by each of those artists and more on the mix below–each of which was produced or co-produced by No I.D..  Just press play, sit back and No I.D. is on the track so let the story begin…