“No I.D.” is a pretty modest moniker for someone who was instrumental in launching the careers of both Common and Kanye West. On top of that, he is widely known as the Godfather of Chicago hip-hop, and he’s currently the Vice President of Def Jam. For Dion Wilson, No I.D. isn’t necessarily a deliberately humble choice for a pseudonym — it’s just his birth name (Dion) in reverse.

Chicago-born Dion Wilson (sometimes known as Ernest Wilson, original producer name Immenslope) got his start producing beats for Chicago rapper Common in the early 90s. Common and No I.D. were friends in high school, and even formed a rap group together. When No I.D. dropped out of college, he started making his own beats. Instead of rapping on them himself, he decided to give the beats to Common. Those early songs were the recordings that got Common his first record deal.

When he was known as Immenslope (and when Common was known as Common Sense), the two worked together heavily on Common’s first three records before Dion began branching out and working with other artists. No I.D.’s work on Common’s 1994 album Resurrection particularly gave him notoriety in the Chicago hip-hop community. His involvement in the Chicago hip-hop scene led to a close bond with Kanye West, who No I.D. invited into some of his early studio sessions with Common.

To this day, Kanye still cites No I.D. as one of his mentors. After hearing an early version of Watch The Throne, No I.D. challenged Kanye to go back into the studio by himself and produce a beat on his own. Kanye obliged, and the track he came up with was “Otis,” one of the biggest hip-hop songs of last year.

No I.D. is a frequent collaborator with some of the pillars of modern hip-hop, including Common, Jermaine Dupri, Kanye West, Jay-Z, and Nas, and his influence on hip-hop production is truly legendary. Let’s check out some of the greatest productions from the Godfather of Chicago hip-hop for this week’s Friday Mixtape.