who is the GOAT producer?

this is something that is constantly debated on message boards, with my friends, and probably everywhere. to me, the beat is everything in a song. i have my favorites, we all do. but i'm curious what "the people" think. i'm sure there are a handfull that we all will mention, so i'll post 10 nominees, and let's see if we can agree on a winner. i'm only doing this, because i am bored. as fuck. and i think it's a great conversation starter. so, while a post of this magnitude probably deserves more time and planning, i'm just upping the shit for fun.

the criteria would be
- influence on the culture
- catalog strength
- creativity/ingenuity

...and the nominees are..
*cues up ridiculous VMA style montage*

- dilla
- rza
- pete rock
- dj premiere
- dr. dre
- kanye west
- just blaze
- alchemist
- madlib
- q-tip
(apologies to Large Professor, 9th wonder, the bomb squad, marley marl, timbaland, the neptunes,dan the automator, buckwild, and whoever else you want to add to the "honorable mention" list)

so those are my nominees. what do you think? i'll go ahead and say that dilla is my favorite producer. "donuts" is a fucking religion to me and mine. my son cut his teeth to that shit. dilla has beats that were just sitting on his hard drive that ended up surfacing after his untimely passing that would make other producers want to retire. and as far as influence? pshhh.. this dude is your favorite producer's favorite producer. not to mention that Jd pretty much helped father the neo-soul era in r&b. he came into an era dominated by bubble gum shit and helped erykah and d'angelo change the r&b game. he pretty much made it so that someone like boyz II men had to retire for awhile. so yes, dilla is my favorite, but we are talking the GOAT (see what i did there?)but i will say that he doesn't have quite the catolog that my pick for the champ does. if i had to pick the best ever, i have to go with the RZA. game changer? check. 36 chambers made everyone re-evaluate their style. not to mention, this is what made me fall in love with hip-hop. i thought i was the 10th member of the wu. i remember hanging out on the railroad tracks in my timberland hoodie, smoking blunts and chewing on a twig, all thanks to the abbot.enough about that. rza dropped the first "sped up soul sample" joint i can recall (for heaven's sake.. track 3, disk 1 on wu-tang forever.. *pushes glasses up on nose, nerd style*)and catalog? cut it out. one could argue that over the course of a few years, he left his mark on double digit classics. think about it... 36, ironman, liquid swords, tical, OBFCL, bob digi, wu forever, return to the 36, supreme clientele, gravediggaz.. i could go on. i tihnk based on the criteria i am basing this whole shit off of, you can't front on the rza. changed the game. did it in a way that had never been done (or at least furthered the art form) and that resulted in a fucking empire and a catalog that was "nuthin to fuck with"..

so, what are your thoughts? who's your pick? do you hate my list? (if so, start your own blog,make your own list, and stfu) make your case. make me a cd and change my mind if you disagree. and knowrisk, you can't vote for yourself.

note- if this doesn't generate a good conversation, i'll be pretty bummed, and will prob just shelve the post altogether. peace.