A producer capable of using the Akai Music Production Center (aka the MPC, a drum machine and sampler) on the fly, AraabMuzik was inspired by heavyweight rap producers Dr. Dre, Swizz Beatz, and Just Blaze, but is known to incorporate samples from high-gloss trance singles into his output. The Providence, Rhode Island native, born Abraham Orellana, creates hard-hitting beats swathed in dramatic strings, spiked with repetitive piano and synthesizer vamps, and switches between stripped-down and layered arrangements to equal effect. During the latter half of the 2000s, he broke in...