Profile - Shondrae Crawford

Shondrae "Mr. Bangladesh" Crawford relocated from Des Moines, Iowa, to Atlanta in 1995 and in no time became one of the industry's most sought after hip-hop producers. Responsible for crafting tracks like Ludacris' "What's Your Fantasy" and 8 Ball & MJG's "You Don't Want Drama," he's working to inject his hard-to-categorize sound deeper into the nation's musical landscape in 2006.</
Although his style seems to change from project to project, Crawford describes his sample-free, keyboard-centric music as, "Bangladesh. It's just Bangladesh. It's foreign to the ears."</
Besides Ludacris and 8 Ball & MJG, Crawford has banged out hits for Ciara, Missy, Kelis, Snoop Dogg, Lil Scrappy, E-40, Young Gunz and Petey Pablo. He admits, however, that his favorite artist to work with is Missy. "I always liked Missy because she's always doing new, different stuff. I just like 'different' — as long as it's good different."</
According to Crawford, the music of Atlanta circa 1995 was innovative and fresh, but most of the hits that spring from the city these days are "dumb." "The music is not really innovative. Anybody can make them songs. But there are more dumb people in the world than smart people, so all that dumb music goes a long way.</
"Lacking any formal musical training, Crawford attributes his melodic aptitude to family history. "It's in the blood. I come from a long line of singers and musicians.</
"This year, Crawford plans to launch a record label and he's in the early stages of creating a clothing line. "I got a lot of flavor. Anytime you get looked at for your style [of dress], you got something going on."