Mike Dean is an American hip hop producer and guitarist. He is known for pioneering the Dirty South sound in the 1990s, particularly in work for artists from Rap-A-Lot Records. Dean has most notably worked alongside Scarface of the Geto Boys, 2Pac, Do or Die, Tha Dogg Pound, Yukmouth of the Luniz, Outlawz, C-Bo, Nate Dogg, Tech N9ne, UGK, Z-Ro, Devin the Dude, among others. He has also mixed, produced and mastered many hits on multi-platinum albums.
In recent years he has also become known for his work alongside Kanye West. He contributed to the mixing of West's albums The College Dropout and Late Registration, and the production of his Graduation, My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, and Yeezus albums. He also co-produced with Kanye on My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy and the Kanye/Jay-Z collaboration album Watch the Throne. He made particularly heavy contributions to My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, where he was credited on 9 of the album's 13 tracks, and on Watch the Throne, where he contributed to 7 of 12 tracks. Dean was also an additional producer on "Mercy" and "Higher" on GOOD Music's 2012 album Cruel Summer.
In recent years, Mike Dean has served as guitarist and keyboardist for Kanye West at his live performances, notably the Watch the Throne Tour and the Yeezus Tour.
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