Ron "Amen-Ra" Lawrence | |
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| Background information | |
| Birth name | Val Anthony Ronald Lawrence |
| Born | November 14, 1965 Dominica |
| Origin | New York City, U.S. |
| Genres | Hip hop, R&B |
| Occupation(s) | Record producer, filmmaker |
| Website | thisisron |
Val Anthony Ronald Lawrence (born November 14, 1965), known professionally as Ron "Amen-Ra" Lawrence, is an American record producer. [1]
Lawrence was born on the island of Dominica. In 1970, his family immigrated to the United States, [2] settling in East Elmhurst, Queens, in New York City. [3] After high school, he attended Howard University.
In college he met Deric "D-Dot" Angelettie, [4] and formed the rap duo Two Kings in a Cipher, which released the album From Pyramids to Projects. [5] Later, the duo joined the Bad Boy Entertainment production team called "The Hitmen", with fellow Howard University alumnus Sean "Diddy" Combs. [6]
The Hitmen produced numerous rap [7] [8] and R&B [9] hits of prominent radio play. He is best known for the singles "Hypnotize" [10] by The Notorious B.I.G., "Been Around The World" by Sean "Diddy" Combs, [11] "Where I'm From" [12] by Jay-Z, [13] "Money, Power, Respect" by The Lox, [14] the Grammy-nominated "Love Like This" [15] as well as "All Night Long" [15] by Faith Evans, [16] "Phenomenon" by LL Cool J, "You Should Be Mine" [17] by Brian McKnight, "Can't Let Her Go" [18] by Boyz II Men, "Cold Rock a Party" remix [19] by MC Lyte, and "The Theme (It's Party Time)" [20] by Tracey Lee. He produced the song "Wonderful" for Aretha Franklin [21] for her album So Damn Happy. [22] On June 23, 1998, Lawrence received a Governors Award from the National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences on. [23] In 1999, Ron produced "In For Life" by Terror Squad from their self-titled debut album and featured verses from Big Pun, Triple Seis, Prospect, and Cuban Link.
Lawrence created the hip-hop source score of Spike Lee's film Bamboozled , [24] [25] and appearing in it as a musical engineer. He produced the theme song " A Woman Like Me", by Beyoncé, for the Pink Panther soundtrack. Lawrence himself later studied film at the New York Film Academy and created the short film Founding Fathers, [26] a documentary on hip hop's birth and evolution.
In 2014, Lawrence started a film production company Spotlyte Media. [24] In 2015, he produced and edited the short film Above the Sun. [24] [27] In 2016, he wrote, directed and produced the short film, Angel of Light [28] and the documentary Commutation for Guy Fisher. [29] In 2017, he produced, directed and edited the documentary Rap Dimension, [24] [2] and Rolling Stone published Jay-Z's 50 greatest songs with Lawrence's production [30] coming at number one.
In 2018, he produced and edited the webisode series "Diary of a Music Producer". [31] In 2019, Lawrence published his autobiography [32] titled Where I'm From, a book about his life story growing up in East Elmhurst, his experience at Howard University and creating hits for various musicians. He also appeared in the Netflix series, Hip-Hop Evolution , season 3 [33] episode 2 which is titled Life After Death, [34] covers a segment on Sean "Diddy" Combs and The Hitmen.
With Two Kings in a Cipher
| Year | Artist | Song | Album |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1994 | A.D.O.R. | Life Flow | The Concrete |
| Ed O.G. | Going Out My Mind (No More Love Mix) | Non-album single | |
| 1995 | Suga | What's Up Star | The Show (soundtrack) |
| 1996 | MC Lyte | Cold Rock a Party (Remix) | Bad As I Wanna Be |
| 1997 | Brian McKnight | You Should Be Mine (Don't Waste Your Time) | |
| Notorious B.I.G. | Hypnotize | Life After Death | |
| Tracey Lee | The Theme (Keep Your Hands High); Big Will; Clue (Who Shot J.R.?) | Many Faces | |
| Puff Daddy | Big Ole Butt | In the Beginning... There Was Rap | |
| Boyz II Men | Can't Let Her Go | Evolution | |
| Puff Daddy (+ Family) | Been Around the World; Don't Stop What; I Love You Baby (feat. Black Rob) | No Way Out | |
| LSG | You Got Me | LSG | |
| LL Cool J | Phenomenon; Hot Hot Hot | Phenomenon | |
| Mase | Do You Wanna Get Money?; Will They Die 4 U?; Wanna Hurt Ma$e? | Harlem World | |
| Jay-Z | I Know What Girls Like; Where I'm From | In My Lifetime, Vol. 1 | |
| 1998 | The Lox | Money, Power, Respect; So Right | Money, Power, Respect |
| MC Lyte | Woo Woo (Freak Out) | Woo (soundtrack) | |
| Oogie Boogie | Seven & 7 | ||
| All City | The Hot Joint | Metropolitan | |
| Tyrese | You Get Yours | Tyrese | |
| Faith Evans | Love Like This; All Night Long; Life Will Pass You By | Keep the Faith | |
| Lord Tariq & Peter Gunz | My Time to Go | Make It Reign | |
| R. Kelly | Spendin' Money | R. | |
| System of a Down, Boys | Will They Die 4 U? | Chef Aid: Soundtrack | |
| 1999 | The Madd Rapper | They Just Don't Know | Tell 'Em Why U Madd |
| Terror Squad | In for Life | Terror Squad: the Album | |
| Rakim | Uplift; Real Shit | The Master | |
| Mase | Stay Out of My Way | Double Up | |
| 2000 | Mau Maus | Blak Iz Blak | Bamboozled (soundtrack) |
| Carl Thomas | Cold Cold World | Carl Thomas | |
| 2001 | Mary J. Blige | Love | No More Drama |
| G Dep | Everyday | Child of the Ghetto | |
| Jimmy Cozier | No More Playing Games | Jimmy Cozier | |
| Luther Vandross | How Do I Tell Her | Luther Vandross | |
| 2002 | LL Cool J | Throw Ya L's Up; 10 Million Stars | 10 |
| Blu Cantrell & Lady May | Round Up | Bittersweet | |
| 2003 | Aretha Franklin | Wonderful | So Damn Happy |
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