After supplying gangster-fied tracks for such heavy West Coast hitters as Snoop Dogg and Kurupt, producer Fredwreck is prepping for the release of his own record, tentatively titled The Atoms. The album will arrive in stores courtesy of Snoop's Dogghouse Records in either October or November.

Like a mad scientist, the Los Angeles-based producer wants to experiment with a variety of subjects to make this album as distinctive as possible. His wishlist of artists he'd like to work with includes Everlast, Orgy and Perry Farrell. "I want to have all different elements on there," he said. "I want to have rock and roll sh-- on there, something with Limp Bizkit." The majority of the album, however, will feature such usual suspects as Snoop, Tha Eastsidaz, Kurupt, Daz, Cypress Hill, Xzibit, Defari and Dr. Dre. "I want to branch out and go to the East Coast and try to f--- with some of the cats out there," he said. "But I don't know who yet." One thing is for sure, though. Fredwreck, who is known for funk-drenched, g'd up beats, will be introducing a new sound with his album. "I like electronic sh-- a lot, and I'm into all of the old synthesizers," he said. "I'm going to try to bring some of that into the sound of the album. It's going to be a lot of live playing." The Flint, Michigan, native learned to love music because of his father, who played guitar at parties held at his family's house. A young Fredwreck noticed how much everyone was enjoying themselves at the fiestas and decided that he would try his own hand at music.

He started DJing at high school parties and began buying records, tons of them. But Fredwreck, 28, remembers a time when hip-hop wasn't as prominent. "When you go to the record store now, there are probably 500 rap albums, CDs to buy," he said. "Back when I started, there were probably like five." When his family relocated to the San Francisco Bay area, Fredwreck honed his DJ skills, eventually landing a DJ gig on local hip-hop station KMEL as part of the Wake-Up Show. Most of the station's talent eventually relocated to 92.3 the Beat (now 100.3 the Beat) in Los Angeles, a move Fredwreck made in 1991.

Almost instantly, Fredwreck noticed a difference between the California markets. "Up there [in the Bay] you could do beats and remixes and play them on the air, but not too many people are going to hear them," he said. "If I do a remix of Ice Cube's sh-- over here, he's going to hear it and be like, 'Who did that sh--?' If [an artist] comes up to the station, I can slide them a beat tape." Growing up listening to N.W.A, Eazy-E, Ice Cube, King Tee, Ice-T, Roger & Zapp and Parliament would soon pay off, as Fredwreck started bonding with many Los Angeles-based hip-hop acts who shared his musical tastes.

With an impressive recording resume, Fredwreck says his work on Kurupt's 1999 album, Tha Streetz Iz a Mutha, is his favorite.

"It was a vibe of everybody being in the studio at the same time," he said. "I didn't get to live through the Death Row era of production, having Dr. Dre and Daz there. That work was like my little window into it. It was the best environment to work. I was in there making the beat and Kurupt and Snoop were in there writing. That was really cool."