Large Professor

William Paul Mitchell (born March 21, 1972), better known by the stage name of Large Professor (also Extra P. and Large Pro), is an American rapper and record producer. Based in New York City, he is a founding member of the underground hip-hop group Main Source, and is credited with having discovered and mentored fellow New York City-based rapper Nas. About.com ranked Large Professor at No. 13 on its Top 25 Hip-Hop Producers list.

Early life and education William Paul Mitchell was born in Harlem, Manhattan, New York City, and raised in Flushing, Queens, New York City, where he attended IS 237 and John Bowne High School.

Career Large Professor started making his earliest beats with two turntables, a Casio SK-1 sampler, and pause-tape cassettes before his mentor Paul C taught him how to use an E-mu SP-1200. During his pause tape phase he noted that some of his techniques were different than those of other producers. "I was trying to catch it from a different part of the record. I would catch it from the hi-hat when dudes were just catching it from the one kick. I would catch it from the third hi-hat and be flipping it."

In 1989, he joined the group Main Source, which also included Toronto natives K-Cut and Sir Scratch. In 1990 Large produced three tracks for Eric B. & Rakim's Let the Rhythm Hit 'Em, including "In the Ghetto". During this time he handled a significant amount of production on several projects for other artists. In 1993 he produced Akinyele's entire Vagina Diner album, which experienced some modest commercial success at the time of its release. Though the album did well at first, The Source later wrote an article criticizing the song "I Luh Huh", in which Akinyele considers pushing his pregnant girlfriend down the stairs as a form of abortion. The ensuing backlash for the controversial lyrics hurt the album's performance. Akinyele wrote a response in the next issue defending the song and pointing out that the violent ideas in the songs are just thoughts, and he ends the song by saying "Just cause I talk this shit don't get me wrong, Yo, I still luh hur."

In 1994, Large Professor produced three of the ten songs on Nas's Illmatic ("Halftime", "One Time 4 Your Mind", and "It Ain't Hard to Tell"), making him tied with DJ Premier for the most songs produced on the album. According to an interview with Busta Rhymes, the "Halftime" beat was originally intended for him. Though he liked the beat, he didn't end up using it and later regretted it after hearing "Halftime". He was so instrumental in the making of Illmatic that Nas wanted to give him an executive producer credit, but he refused. and later released as a bootleg version in 2002. An official release of the album finally came out in 2009, thirteen years after its original intended release date. Nas chose the beat but decided to save it for a later project.

Discography

Albums with Main Source

1991: Breaking Atoms

Solo albums 1996: The LP 2002: 1st Class 2008: Main Source 2012: Professor @ Large 2015: Re:Living

Collaboration albums 1993: Vagina Diner 2014: Mega Philosophy

Instrumental albums 2006: Beatz Volume 1 2007: Beatz Volume 2 2022: Beatz Volume 3

Guest appearances 1990: "Money in the Bank" --``--:: "Gots Ta Get This" 1992: "Apparently Nothin'" (Large Pro Mix) 1993: "Keep It Rollin'" 1994: "Stress (Remix)" 1995: "To Each His Own" ; 1996: "Extra Abtract Skillz" --``--:: "Actual Facts" --``--:: "The Rap World" 1998: "Truly Yours '98" --``--:: "Exotic's Raw" 1999: "Dope on Plastic" (Large Professor Remix) --``--:: "Hardcore"; "Rhyme Mania" --``--:: "CT to Queens (Uncut Action) --``--:: "Yo Yo" 2000: "The Last Shall Be First" 2002: "XL" --``--:: "Hip Hop on Wax" --``--:: "Originate" --``--:: "The Come Up" --``--:: "Love Is Love" 2004: "Sugar Ray and Hearns" --``--:: "Out da Box" 2005: "Another Friendly Game of Baseball...Xtra Innings" 2006: "United" 2007: "The Radar" --``--:: "Did What We Had to Do (Showoff Mix) --``--:: "The Purist" --``--:: "Overseas with Officials" --``--:: "Front Lines" 2008: "Conquer Mentally" --``--:: "Chill" --``--:: "The Hardest" ( 2009: "Fans" --``--:: "Same Old Drama" --``--:: "New Classic" --``--:: "Sweet 16s" --``--:: "Like This" 2011: "Beats by the Pound" --``--:: "The Quickening" --``--:: "Through Good & Bad" 2012: "Forever" --``--:: "When You Sleep" --``--:: "Loco-Motive" --``--:: "Catch the Thrown" --``--:: "Back & 4th Scrambler" 2013: "Built Pyramids" --``--:: "Astonishing" 2014: "Naturally Born" 2015: "World Premier" 2016: "Glorify N Praise" --``--:: "Everybody Everywhere" --``--:: "Here We Go" --``--:: "We Are One" 2017: "Come a Long Way + Remix" 2019 "TNT" (REMIX) 2019: "We All About" --``--:: "Hard As Steel" --``--:: "Everybody in the Place" 2021: "Legendary" 2022: "Entourage"; "Attack" --``--:: "Talk About It" 2024: "Number One Set & Sound"