{"id":512962,"date":"2026-03-04T03:47:08","date_gmt":"2026-03-04T03:47:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/512962\/"},"modified":"2026-03-04T03:47:08","modified_gmt":"2026-03-04T03:47:08","slug":"bob-power-prolific-engineer-behind-hip-hop-classics-dies-at-73","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/512962\/","title":{"rendered":"Bob Power, Prolific Engineer Behind Hip-Hop Classics, Dies at 73"},"content":{"rendered":"

Bob Power, the engineer and producer behind seminal albums by the likes of A Tribe Called Quest<\/a>, Erykah Badu<\/a>, D\u2019Angelo<\/a>, and De La Soul<\/a>, has died. A funeral listing<\/a> noted that he died on Sunday, March 1, but did not confirm a cause of death. Power was 73.<\/p>\n

Born in 1952 in Chicago, Power earned a degree in music theory from St. Louis\u2019 Webster College and a Masters in jazz from San Francisco\u2019s Lone Mountain College. He remained in California from 1975 through 1982, scoring the Emmy-winning PBS show Over Easy and penning jingles for brands including Coca-Cola, Hardee\u2019s and the United States Postal Service. Powers then moved cross-country to New York, looking to further his career and take on any gigs he could; this led him to perform everywhere from a psychiatric hospital to a mafia wedding in Bensonhurst.<\/p>\n

In 1984, the owner of Calliope Studios invited Power to sit in as an engineer on a session for the pioneering Brooklyn rap outfit Stetsasonic. The band were so impressed with Power\u2019s work, they kept him around for the recording of their breakthrough 1986 album On Fire. Power had found his niche in hip-hop, and went on to work closely with the New York collective Native Tongues, which included A Tribe Called Quest<\/a>, Black Sheep<\/a>, De La Soul<\/a>, and Jungle Brothers<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Some of Power\u2019s most notable engineering credits include A Tribe Called Quest\u2019s The Low End Theory, De La Soul Is Dead, Baduizm<\/a>, and Brown Sugar<\/a>. Reflecting on The Low End Theory in 2019, Power said: \u201cIn a way, it was the Sgt. Pepper\u2019s<\/a> of hip-hop. It’s a record that changed the way that people thought about putting music together. I\u2019m not a big hip-hop historian; I just know the stuff that I worked on.\u201d Power also brought his magic touch to several Roots albums, including Do You Want More?!!!??!<\/a> and Things Fall Apart<\/a>. He earned two Grammy nominations during his lifetime\u2014Best Engineered Album, Non-Classical for Meshell Ndegeocello<\/a>\u2019s Peace Beyond Passion and an Album of the Year nod for his work on India.Arie<\/a>\u2019s Acoustic Soul.\u201d<\/p>\n

Power began teaching at the NYU\u2019s Clive Davis Institute of Recorded Music\u2014part of the Tisch School of the\u00a0Arts\u2014in 2006, retiring in 2025 with arts professor emeritus status. \u201cBob’s nearly 20-year presence at CDI helped shape\u00a0the principles\u00a0and\u00a0values of our wonderful Institute,\u201d CDI chair Nicholas Sansano told Pitchfork over email. \u201cHe embodied what we aspire to be as people and professionals. Beyond being a musical legend who influenced the sound and feel of an important era in our cultural history, he was one of the most generous and caring people I had the great honor of calling\u00a0a friend, a brother, and a teacher.\u201d<\/p>\n

Since news of Power\u2019s passing broke, artists including Badu<\/a>, DJ Premier<\/a>, Killer Mike<\/a>, Citizen Cope<\/a>, and Young Guru have shared tributes to him. \u201cYou could NOT encounter a more engaging, enthusiastic, laser focused craftsman of sound,\u201d Questlove wrote<\/a>. \u201cBob was our training wheels for how to present music.\u201d Maggie Rogers<\/a>, one of Power\u2019s former students at NYU, shared: \u201cBob always made me feel so seen in my weird creative brain and always kept me searching.\u201d<\/p>\n