Black Music Month Spotlight: 7 Aurelius

7 Aurelius (aka Channel 7) may not be a household name, but the artists he produced and wrote songs for in the early 2000s certainly were.

Born Marcus Vest, Aurelius learned how to play the drums and other instruments as a child at a Pentecostal church in Lexington, according to Vibe in 2003.

After a stint with Rap-A-Lot Records, he hooked up with record producer Irv Gotti and Murder Inc. Records. There he worked as a producer, singer, and songwriter for some of the biggest names in hip hop and R&B from 2000 to 2010, including Ja Rule, Ashanti, Mary J Blige, and Eve.

He shares a Grammy for Best Contemporary R&B Album for his work with Ashanti on her self-titled album in 2002.

Aurelius' name mostly disappeared from production credits after a fallout with Gotti. He started his own label, The Aurelius Group, but financial and family issues took him out of the public eye.

More recently, he's been working with Kanye West and wrote and produced the song "Violent Crimes." He also wrote "Brothers," the Kanye song that was never commercially released.

What 7 Aurelius previously told Hip-Hop N More about his career:

I do feel that I never really got on the map the way I was supposed to considering the success I have had. But my time will come. A lot of people don’t realize that I have 11 #1 records in 3 formats under my belt. That whole Murder Inc barrage of hits. The 3 years when you couldn’t turn on the radio without hearing Ja rule or J.Lo or Ashanti. All those hits were mine. I made hits with so many artists like 2 Pac’s ‘Thugz Mansion’, Lionel Richie, Lenny Kravitz, Janet, Mariah, Mary J .Blige, Missy, Alicia Keys, Eve, Tamia, Creed and a host of other great artists but the truth is I am rarely satisfied about things in life but I am always thankful.

Photo: Getty Images