Di Genius

Stephen McGregor, known professionally as Di Genius, is a Jamaican record producer, singer, and songwriter. Di Genius comes from a musical family—his father is legendary veteran reggae artist Freddie McGregor and his siblings, Daniel "Chino" McGregor and Yeshemabeth "Shema" McGregor, are also singers. While Di Genius was primarily known for producing riddims out of his "Big Ship" recording studio, he has gone on to produce and write songs for international artists such as Sean Paul, Drake, Nelly Furtado, Lianne La Havas, Shakira, John Legend among others. The New York Times named him a "Reggae Veteran At The Age of 18."

In 2017, Billboard.com listed Di Genius as one of the producers who brought dancehall back to the mainstream, noting his work on Drake's hit song "Controlla" off the multi-platinum selling album Views.

His work is also featured on multiple Grammy-nominated albums.

Biography Stephen McGregor is the son of legendary reggae singer Freddie McGregor. The year before, his father had passed up a record deal from Arista Records, choosing instead to create his own record label, which he named Big Ship after his 1982 hit single from the album of the same name. When he renovated the family home in 1995, Freddie McGregor had a small but high-tech recording studio built to produce music for the label, and Stephen took a shine to the studio at an early age. His father recalls of the period: "If we saw the door was open, we’d know Stephen was in there. He was just so short you couldn’t see him over the mixing desk." However, the young McGregor soon gravitated more towards the production end of songwriting, and by the age of seven he had taught himself to play bass, guitar, keyboards, and violin by mimicking the songs he heard on the radio. McGregor began his production career at the age of twelve, contributing to local production studios such as Outlaw. His first hit riddim came in 2004, while still attending Ardenne High School. The single was a huge success in Jamaica and even made a mark internationally, placing on the Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart in the United States.

In 2017, Billboard.com listed Di Genius as one of the producers who brought dancehall back to the mainstream, noting his work on Drake's hit song "Controlla" off the multi-platinum selling album Views.

In December 2019, Warner Chappell Music announced that they signed a new writing deal with Di Genius.

Production Style

Di Genius has said in interviews that he admires songwriters such as Stevie Wonder for his arrangements and instrumentation. He also stated that he draws inspiration from producers such as Timbaland and The Neptunes for their instantly recognizable production styles.