Lamont Dorrell, known as Ayatollah, is a hip hop record producer. He has mainly produced music for New York–based rappers, including Mos Def, Talib Kweli, R.A. the Rugged Man, Tragedy Khadafi, Wordsworth, Vast Aire, Afu-Ra, Guru, M.O.P., Inspectah Deck, Cormega, and Ghostface Killah.

Career

Ayatollah first received mainstream recognition after producing Rawkus rapper Mos Def's 1999 single "Ms. Fat Booty", the first single off his Black on Both Sides album. He went on to produce Cormega's "Rap's a Hustle", from the 2001 album The Realness, and Styles P's "The Life", featuring Pharoahe Monch (2002), among others. Ayatollah has also released numerous solo albums, starting with his 2003 debut, So Many Reasons to Rhyme. In 2015, he formed the trio COLOSSUS with the hip hop production team Widowmaker. Their debut instrumental album, Ayatollah Presents: COLOSSUS, was released digitally in June of that year, and a limited vinyl pressing was issued in mid-August.

Selected discography

Albums

Production