will.i.am Productions

With a name that's a nod to the legendary sax player John Coltrane (his middle name was William), will.i.am's had a lot to live up to when it comes to his production work. So far he hasn't had a problem, though, as his songs shape-shift like the jazzman's classic compositions, including the organ-grinding "Joints and Jam," the space-age soul of "Lay Me Down," the samba/breaks combo of "Mas Que Nada," and the deceptively simple synth work of Fergie's third consecutive chart-topper, "Glamorous." In case you think that's all will.i.am has up his sleeve, we've got a stack of Next Steps that have proven otherwise, commercially and critically.

It took will.i.am nearly a decade before he expanded his career from the frontline of Black Eyed Peas to a behind-the-boards position for such platinum-plated artists as the Pussycat Dolls (the swift strings and slight disco allusions of "Beep," one of his first non-BEP productions), Mary J. Blige (the Nina Simone-sampling "About You"), and his right-hand singer Fergie (the tear duct-tapping "Big Girls Don't Cry," the unforeseen Kraftwerk/James Brown/J.J. Fad combination of "Fergalicious"). If our Deep Cuts are any indication of what's to come, he won't stop producing smash hits anytime soon, either.

As great as some of his guest productions are (the stripped-back banger "Keep Bouncin'," a handful of career-rebooting selections for Macy Gray), will.i.am is a lot like Kanye West in that he's saved some of his best beats for his own solo records. That includes the wobbly funk of "Ev Rebahdee," the distorted synth storm of "The Donque Song," the rock guitar lead of "Tai Arrive," the French pop (Magazine 60)/smooth jazz (Bob James) fusion of "I Got It From My Mama," and the chunky drum breaks of "B Boyz."

To call the past three years a golden age of production gigs for will.i.am would be a gross understatement. While he got his start crafting whip-smart jams for the Black Eyed Peas in the mid '90s, outside offers didn't start flooding his inbox until 2006. That's what happens when you turn an underground hip-hop act into a ubiquitous pop force, which is what will.i.am did with such songs as the spy groove-riding "Pump It" (check the Pulp Fiction nod), the electro-shocked "My Humps," the party-sparking "Let's Get It Started," and BEP's breakthrough single, the Timberlake-topped "Where Is the Love?" While no one would have predicted it a decade ago, he can now be found fielding offers from someone as gangsta as the Game or as pop-driven as the Pussycat Dolls.