10 tracks proving Kaytranada is up there with hip hop's very best

A handful of SoundCloud remixes is what it took for Kaytranada's name to go viral in the music world.

The Canadian producer clocked up millions of plays with his flips of Janet Jackson's 'If', Teedra Moses' 'Be Your Girl' and Jill Scott's 'Golden', all loaded with the bumps and whomps that's come to characterise his sound.

Many might think making remixes of classic r'n'b jams was all he was doing in the early years of his career, but take a look at his back catalogue and you'll find production credits for rappers and material on Bromance Records and the swiftly snapped up 'At All'/'Hilarity Duff' 10" on HW&W.

A deal with XL Recordings was penned in 2014 and his debut album '99.9%' arrived last year. A 15-track collection of swagger-dripping r'n'b, hip hop, soul and funk, it featured guests such as Anderson .Paak, Craig David and Karriem Riggins and grabbed the accolade for Mixmag's Album of the Year.

He's comfortably one of the best producers in the game right now and a go-to for some of the hottest artists in the world. The tunes below will tell you why.

Dave Turner is Mixmag's Digital News Editor, follow him on Twitter

Like Kaytranada, Vox Sambou originates from Haiti and now resides in Montreal. The two hooked up in 2013 on 'Tout Mon', taken from Vox's 'Dyasporafriken' album, also pulling in vocalist Malika Tirolien. What you get is bumpy, click-ridden beats from Kay, Vox's seamless French flow and Malika delivering the chorus with class.

It says a lot when one of hip hop's most treasured duos get you onboard for a new album. Mobb Deep's 'The Infamous Mobb Deep' was the New Yorkers' first album in eight years, so Kaytranada was part-responsible for ensuring their long-awaited return was met with applause. It was as it happens, peppered with a vintage hip hop touch, with Kay providing a laidback, glimmering base for Havoc and Prodigy's tales about the block.

If you hadn't already guessed, Kaytranada isn't the producer's real name. Louis Kevin Celestin is, so when he teams up with his rapper brother - Louis-Phillippe - they rejig their surname and go by The Celestics. 2014 saw them release the 'Supreme Laziness' album, featuring 'Arriba'. Louis-Phillippe contributes with relentless, husky lyrics, underlaid by winding flutes, gliding pads and the deep bass booms that Kaytranada's made his own.

Instant key twinkles mislead you into thinking this one will be a delicate affair, but gnarly bass groans soon dominate and pave the way for Mensa to spout off lyrics about feeling like Michael Jordan. It's typically wavy from Kaytranada and Mensa repaid the favour by providing the lyrics on last year's 'Drive Me Crazy'.

We've come to expect hard-hitting, gritty raps from Freddie Gibbs over the years, but as the title would suggest, 'Insecurities' has him revealing a sense of vulnerability. To match the mood, Kaytranada gives him some dusty boom-bap drums and orchestral vibes as a foundation. Gibbs was obviously very happy, calling him in - alongside BADBADNOTGOOD - to produce recent tune 'Alexys'.

Kaytranada's skittering drum work and sleazy synths were made for r'n'b slow jams, especially with someone as slick as The Internet's Syd on vocal duty. It's a pour-your-heart-out hit geared specifically for the bedroom and one of the best r'n'b tracks in recent years. More of this, please.

One of two tracks Kaytranada produced for Mick Jenkins' 'Wave[s]' album at the start of last year, 'P's & Q's' is carried by jazzy, psychedelic riffs that sit beneath Jenkins' swift lyricism. Favouring subtle percussion over overbearing bass, the instrumental's perfect for a hazy day in the sun.

There's not many flyer than Anderson .Paak. Not just a rapper, he's got the minerals for sweet r'n'b and soul and 2016's 'Malibu' is full of woozy, summer-ready cuts (even though it was released in January). Kaytranada gifts him with a wriggling, drum-thumping instrumental to work with on 'Lite Weight' and sets him up for one of the catchiest tracks on the album.

.Paak and Kaytranada meet again, this time for the latter's track from his debut album '99.9%'. The rapper explains how he's "glowed up", a mood the production matches with drawn-out, shimmering pads. Hit the halfway mark and the track switches mood and turns into a subtle funk-laden jam out.

"Thanks to Kaytranada, my bass is harder," the Canadian Cadence Weapon raps on 'My Crew (Woooo)'. It's true, the track is weighty, but it's the little acid injections that stand out in this one. The definition of a musical smoke out.