Seattle producer Jake One comes out of the shadows with his debut album

But this time, Seattle producer Jake Dutton, aka Jake One, is producing an album for himself. Called "White Van Music," the record boasts a lineup of rappers from both underground and mainstream arenas. There are indie favorites like MF Doom, Little Brother and Casual of the Hieroglyphics, as well as chart-toppers Young Buck and Busta Rhymes.

Hip-hop blogs have been buzzing about his album, with a critic from XXL Magazine hyping it as possibly one of the best of the year. "White Van Music" comes out Tuesday on the respected indie hip-hop label Rhymesayers Entertainment. And, for a producer who usually remains in the sidelines, this is Dutton's time to shine.

"I looked at the album like a big commercial for what I do," said Dutton, 32.

In fact, a lot of the artists, like Scarface, loved Dutton's production so much, they claimed songs for exclusive use on their own solo albums. Still, his album is packed to the brim with 22 singles. And unlike many albums that offer more fat than meat, this one is quite hearty.

Dutton's beats — think of beat-making as composing, and producing as conducting — are rooted in traditional hip-hop, he says, with a lot of soul and hard drums. He also mixes in live music, as opposed to relying simply on sampling.

"He's a super talented dude that is creating his own lane," said Jonathan Moore, a music manager who serves on KEXP's advisory board and hosts a Sunday night show on KUBE-FM (93.3). "It's a combination of the music and the person ... . The music speaks for itself. Also, Jake represents his music well — in a professional way, in an amicable way. He's relatable as a person, and that makes it easier for him to work with such a wide range of people and get the best out of the people he works with. He's nonjudgmental. He's in it for the music."

And Dutton freely creates, without catering his beats for anybody.

"I just sit down and make whatever comes to my head," said Dutton, who uses guitars, bass and various vintage keyboards to compose his songs. "Anytime I try to make a particular beat for anybody, they don't like it ... . People tailor-make stuff for people, but they're not exactly looking for what you think they are."

Before, Dutton had tried rapping on songs, but "never thought they were any good," he said.

"As much as I liked rap I just couldn't see myself getting on top of a stage and rapping," said Dutton, who has only one line in his own album. "I'm way too much of an introvert to be doing that. I'm definitely low-key. I don't like the spotlight that much, so producing is perfect for me."

Getting the beat out

In high school at Garfield and Mountlake Terrace, making beats was more of a hobby; he was more focused on baseball and basketball. It wasn't until he was a freshman at the University of Washington that he started taking the art more seriously.

"I had one foot in, one foot out," said the sociology major. "I was going to school, making beats, going to buy records."

Dutton met another music aficionado, Supreme, and started working for Supreme's Capitol Hill label, Conception Records. Dutton was only 19 when his first songs came out.

DJ Premier of Gang Starr — a hip-hop tastemaker who has produced for the likes of The Notorious B.I.G., Jay-Z and Nas — actually spun one of Dutton's songs ("World Premier") at a concert in town. On top of that, an R&B artist sampled Dutton's beats in one of her songs.

"To me, it couldn't get any bigger than that," said Dutton.

The situation fizzled out soon after, but at 20, Dutton admitted that he was too young and inexperienced to succeed. So he made a point to do more networking.

He hustled to a radio-industry convention in San Francisco, called the Gavin Seminar. There, he passed out 50 beat tapes and met his first manager. After that, his beats started getting more recognition. Several middlemen started shopping Dutton's beats for him, to get their own cut of the money. As essentially a songwriter, a beat-maker earns half of the profit generated by a song's release.

Working with G-Unit

During this time, Dutton met various people in the music industry, like Denaun Porter, an original member of Eminem's group D12. Porter came into town with the Anger Management Tour and introduced him to Sha Money, president of G-Unit, 50 Cent's record label. Before, Dutton's only interaction with G-Unit was through middlemen.

"It was almost like hitting the lottery," said Dutton. "I would hear — oh, they got a song, they wanted beats, oh, they're not using it, and I just kind of got frustrated."

Dutton gave Sha Money some music and a week later Sha called back, saying not only did he use Dutton's music on one of the G-Unit soundtracks, he wanted to be Dutton's manager. All Dutton needed to do was e-mail over beats and the label would make songs.

"It definitely put me in a different light in the mainstream, being part of that much successful stuff," said Dutton. "But it was kind of weird because this whole time, I haven't been trying to make music for them necessarily. It just kind of happened."

Dutton is more of a freelancer for G-Unit rather than a staffer, but he did receive a spinner watch from the G-Unit family for Christmas.

"I've met everybody but 50," said Dutton, who has produced many songs for the rapper. "At this point, I don't think it matters. It's like, for whatever reason, he gravitates toward the stuff I do and that's good enough. I don't want to ruin the perception he has about what I look like or what I do."

Now, sticking to his home base of Seattle, he's working on several albums, including some for the artists on his record's lineup. He's also producing for a certain bigwig in hip-hop. Dutton won't say who on the record, but it's someone coming out of a long retirement.

"Just to have my idols acknowledge me is enough," said Dutton.

Marian Liu: 206-464-3825

or mliu@seattletimes.com