The Alchemist

Alan Daniel Maman (born October 25, 1977), professionally known as The Alchemist, is an American hip hop producer, DJ, and rapper.

He has produced music since the 1990s.

He began his music career in 1991 in the hip hop duo the Whooliganz under the moniker Mudfoot, along with now-actor Scott Caan.

In 1991, a 14-year-old Maman and Scott Caan decided to become a duo named the Whooliganz.

While rhyming at a party in Los Angeles, they attracted the attention of B-Real of Cypress Hill.

He invited the teens to join his crew, Soul Assassins, which also included the groups House of Pain and Funkdoobiest.

In 1993, the Whooliganz released their first single, "Put Your Handz Up".

The song received little radio airplay and their record label, Tommy Boy Records, decided to shelve their album.

Rejected, Scott focused his creative energy on acting while Al became interested in process of making hip hop beats.

DJ Muggs took Al under his wing and taught him how to use a sampler and mixing board.

After helping to produce a few tracks for Cypress Hill, Al became the main producer for his childhood friend Evidence and his group Dilated Peoples.

When Dilated Peoples debuted in 1998, it helped promote Maman as a key part of its sound.

The Alchemist also produced several tracks on Defari's debut album Focused Daily, another Dilated Peoples and tha Alkaholiks affiliate.

In 1999, Muggs introduced Al to his good friends the popular hip hop group Mobb Deep.

Al produced two songs for its Murda Muzik album.

Impressed by his production skills and street smarts, Mobb Deep continued using his beats on all of the group's subsequent albums.

As the Alchemist's profile increased, he went on to produce for many of hip hop's most successful and prominent artists, such as Nas, Fat Joe, Jadakiss, Ghostface Killah, and Snoop Dogg.

He has also remixed songs for bands and artists in other genres such as Linkin Park and Morcheeba.

In 1999, the Alchemist was set to produce three tracks for American rapper Ras Kass' then-upcoming album Van Gogh, which was scheduled for a late 2000 release at the time.

One of the said tracks was "Home Sweet Home", which was to be the lead single for Ras Kass' album.

After the Alchemist received the first half of the payment for the beat, he said Ras Kass' record label Priority was ignoring him.

They later met up in August, at the Source Awards in Pasadena, California, where the Alchemist informed Kass that he'd been showcasing the beat to other artists.

Jadakiss would then go on to record "We Gonna Make It" over the same beat, on his 2001 release, Kiss tha Game Goodbye.

When Ras Kass took notice, he attempted to stop the release by releasing his version of the song on mixtapes, to no avail.

This prompted Ras to diss the Alchemist in freestyles and on a track from Van Gogh.

Eventually, the beef ended so he could concentrate on his legal problems but still cited a loss of respect for the producer.

In an interview with www.hiphopgame.com, Ras admitted that he was being stubborn and refused to listen to what the Alchemist was trying to tell him.

In 2004, six years after his rapping career folded, the Alchemist put out his debut album, 1st Infantry. The album yielded the single "Hold You Down", featuring Prodigy, Illa Ghee and Nina Sky, which hit number ninety-five on the Billboard Hot 100 in 2005.

Since DJ Green Lantern departed from Shady Records in 2005 because of a dispute related to the feud of 50 Cent and Jadakiss, the Alchemist is Eminem's official DJ.

On July 13, 2005, the tour bus carrying Eminem's entourage, including rapper Stat Quo as well as the Alchemist, swerved off the road and turned over.

The Alchemist was treated for broken ribs and a collapsed lung.

The two have since squashed the beef and the Alchemist produced the song "Past, Future and Present" and did the intro for the song that appeared on the 2006 mixtape Revenge of the Spit.

In 2006, Eminem released a collaboration album with Shady Records called Eminem Presents: The Re-Up.

The Alchemist produced some of the tracks on the mixtape, as well as compiling the album in a mixtape fashion.

In 2007, the Alchemist and Prodigy came together for a studio album titled Return of the Mac, that was released on March 27, 2007.

Together with collaborators Oh No (with whom he forms the group Gangrene), Woody Jackson and Tangerine Dream he composed the official score to the 2013 video game Grand Theft Auto V and hosts the radio station "The Lab" in it.

The Alchemist hails from Beverly Hills, California.

As a teenager, he began to identify strongly with the rebellious lyrics and urban sounds of hip hop, and he began writing his own lyrics.

He joined up with other like-minded artists who wrote lyrics and rebelled against their suburban surroundings.

These included Evidence and Scott Caan, son of James Caan.