Born Patrick Denard Douthit in Winston-Salem, NC on January 15, 1975, 9th Wonder is a Grammy Award-winning producer, DJ, college lecturer and social activist. Since his introduction to hip-hop in 1982, 9th has been immersed in the music and the culture of the art form, while gaining experience in music theory throughout middle and high school. 

9th attended North Carolina Central University, where he decided to pursue a career in music. In 1998, he, along with Phonte Colerman and Thomas Jones (Rapper Big Pooh), formed the hip-hop trio, Little Brother which released the critically acclaimed album, "The Listening." 9th then got his big break when he was tapped to produce a track on Jay-Z's "Black Album."

Next, he produced 3 songs for the Destiny's Child, before winning a Grammy with Mary J. Blige for her album "The BreakThrough"(Good Woman Down), Erykah Badu's "Honey" on the album New Amerykah, and most recently, Ludacris' "Do The Right Thang", a song featuring Common and Spike Lee.

9th was recently appointed the National Ambassador for Hip-Hop Relations and Culture by NAACP President Ben Jealous to lead a board of Ph.D’s, and hip-hop artists. Here he discusses his life, career and musical philosophy.

Kam Williams: Where does the name from 9th Wonder come from?
9th Wonder: I was a history major in school, so obviously I’m familiar with the 7 wonders of the ancient world. But, my name really comes from a song written by a group from the early Nineties named “Digable Planets.” They were a trio from Howard University and they had a song called “9th Wonder.” I liked the name of the song. The thing about being a hip-hop producer is that you have to find a name that can be shortened, or changed around, and still have a ring to it. I just wrote down a bunch of names and when I wrote down 9th Wonder, I went, “Wow, that works!” It looked good on paper and it sounded good.

KW: Gladys Knight said in her interview with me that hip-hop has been bad as far as the quality of the music and the stories that they tell. Why did her statement rub you the wrong way?

9th: Because I’m a member of the Hip-Hop Generation. Hip-hop is how I feed my children. Hip-hop is something that helped me understand the music of the generations before me. And those are the things that aren’t talked about when the words hip-hop come out of someone’s mouth. There are so many negative stereotypes that are attached to this music, but hip-hop has saved a lot of lives, and started to decrease gang violence in neighborhoods in NYC in the 70's with Afrika Bambaataa and the Zulu Nation. It really banks on the spirit of innovation, when it comes from a jazz improvisation perspective. But similar to jazz, as hip-hop became commercialized, it became something else. And in many aspects I agree with her as far as the hip-hop, if you want to call it that, which is now on the radio and the images we see on TV—it definitely over-dramatized and sensationalized the pure essence of the music. And, I just don’t think that the pure essence of any art form is on TV.

KW: But it seems to me that the most celebrated stars, at least starting somewhere in the 90’s, became people who advocated violence, and the abuse of women. And I wonder whether, in the wake of that, the music now means something different to the kids who grew up watching those stars on BET and MTV.

9th: Well, a lot of things happen by design, as far as the images that are put out there. And I don’t have control over what is played out there on the radio. It’s just like the whole thing about burying the word “nigger.” I think there are many TV shows that call us nigger all day without even using the word. I mean a lot of the usage of words that degrade women and promote the pimp image came from Seventies black exploitation films—that certainly wasn’t started by us. Except, I think the difference between then and now is that mass media is much bigger. And I think a lot of the criticism has to do with the older generation’s not really trying to understand what they see in younger generations.

KW: In terms of your own work—from solo LPs to remixes of older albums to collaborations—which is your favorite thing to do?

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