PULSE Music Group has signed a creative joint venture with Mike Dean, as announced today by Josh Abraham and Scott Cutler, co-CEO’s of PULSE Music Group and Ashley Calhoun, Senior Vice President/Head of Creative, PULSE Music Group. The legendary hip hop producer, who has been in-demand for the past four decades, has recorded and mixed songs for Kanye West, Jay-Z, 2Pac, Beyoncé, Nas, Travis Scott, 2 Chainz, Migos, Kid Cudi, Justin Bieber, Big Sean, Snoop Dogg, John Legend, A$AP Rocky, Madonna, The Weeknd, Young Thug, Christina Aguilera, Kendrick Lamar, and many others.

The first signing to Mike Dean’s JV with PULSE Music Group is Houston prodigy Apex Martin (credits include Kanye West, Ty Dolla $ign, Future, PNB Rock, and more). Apex is also the producer of Smokepurrp’s Deadstar 2. He was previously named to Complex’s “15 Producers to Watch” list.
Josh Abraham initially connected with Apex and introduced him to Ashley Calhoun and Shannon Choi (PULSE A&R) and the deal took shape from there.

“Mike Dean is a legend who has helped shape the sound of hip hop. Partnering with Mike and having the PULSE crew working alongside him in a creative joint venture is a dream team,” said Ashley Calhoun. “We admire Apex and he’s already proven himself with the work that he’s done with Kanye West, Ty Dolla $ign, Future, and Smokepurpp. We see this as the tipping point — we’re going to be doing a lot of big things together and the PULSE team is excited to stand with Apex and help shape this next chapter of his career.”

“I’ve always been a big fan of Mike’s and couldn’t be happier that we finally have an opportunity to work together. I’ve been following Apex’s career for a couple of years and when Gary mentioned to me the idea of working together it made perfect sense that this was meant to be,” said Josh Abraham.

Amongst his many other accolades, Mike Dean is widely known for pioneering the Dirty South sound in the 1990’s, primarily with artists from Rap-A-Lot Records and working alongside Scarface, UGK, Do or Die, Tha Dogg Pound, Nate Dogg, Tech N9ne, Outlawz, and 2Pac, to name a few. In the 2000’s, Dean became known for his work with Kanye West, initially contributing to mixing The College Dropout (nominated for Album of the Year and Best Rap Album categories at the 47th Annual GRAMMY® Awards in 2005) and Late Registration (Winner of Best Rap Album at the 48th Annual GRAMMY® Awards in 2006). Dean’s career skyrocketed from there and he went on to contribute as a producer on Kanye West’s Graduation, My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, Yeezus, The Life of Pablo and Ye (earning both production and writing credits on the majority of the tracklist for the last two). Dean co-produced on West’s collaboration with Jay-Z Watch the Throne. From there, Dean went on to mix, produce and master hip hop music for artists like Travis Scott, Beyoncé, Jay-Z, Frank Ocean, Ty Dolla $ign, 2 Chainz, Kid Cudi, Migos, Pusha T, Christina Aguilera, Nas, Madonna, Smokepurpp, Gorillaz, and more. A multi-instrumentalist, Dean is also known to bring his skills on guitar, bass, cello, piano and keyboard to productions and has served as a guitarist and keyboard for both Kanye West and Travis Scott on studio albums and on tour in live performances. Dean launched his own label, M.W.A. in 2017.