Deric Angelettie

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Deric Michael Angelettie (born July 31, 1968), also known by his stage names D-Dot, Papa Dot, and the Madd Rapper, is an American record producer.^[1] He served as executive producer and A&R for the album No Way Out (1997) by Puff Daddy & the Family, which won a Grammy Award. He has since done so for three other albums nominated for the award,^[2][3] and won the BMI Urban Award in 2001.^[4]

While attending Howard University in the late 1980s, Angelettie and Ron "Amen-Ra" Lawrence formed the hip hop duo Two Kings in A Cipher, and signed with RCA Records to release their debut album, From Pyramids to Projects (1991). He joined Bad Boy Records' production team The Hitmen by 1995, after which he was credited on releases for artists including the Notorious B.I.G., Jay-Z, and Mary J. Blige, among others. He served as the team's de facto "Captain" by the time he produced the label's 1997 singles "Hypnotize" by Notorious B.I.G. and "It's All About The Benjamins" by Diddy.

As a recording artist, he created an alter ego, The Madd Rapper, to guest perform on B.I.G.'s second album, Life After Death (1997). Angelettie signed with Columbia Records to release his debut studio album as the character, Tell Em Why U Madd (1999),^[5] which contained guest appearances from then-unknown rappers 50 Cent (on the song "How to Rob") and Kanye West—the latter of whom Angelettie managed.

Outside of music, Angelettie is the founder of Crazy Cat Catalogue and Crazy Cat Cinemas. He has appeared on and produced the titlular song for MTV's reality show Making The Band 1 & 2. He co-hosted the television series Hip-Hop Hold 'Em^[6] on UPN, and served as a consultant for the 2009 film Notorious, due to his personal connection with the film's subject. He was an associate producer for the 2018 film Steps-The Movie, which was executive produced by Shaquille O'Neal.