In my opinion, there are many views. I'm a huge soul/funk fan and deal with primarily 70s-90s music. Key producers at the time (and today as well) are the ones that:
1) develope their own sound from scratch and make people listen and appreciate it ie. getting both an artistic and commercial success. Jam and Lewis, Barry Eastmond, Chuckii Booker, George Duke, Jacques Fred Petrus and Arthur Baker are examples of this. Timbaland did it too when pioneering the syncopated "double beat" around 1999 (used extensively on Aaliyah's 2nd album)
2) Take different genres and combine then ultimately creating music with new ideas. Teddy Riley did that with New Jack Swing (fusing rap music and r&b) and in the 1988-1992 period everyone from Keith Sweat to Rolling Stones (yup, that is true!!) had a go. Tribe Called Quest did it as well, fusing jazz samples and hip-hop beats with great results to follow.
I've abandoned most hip hop since there are hardly any originality left. The rhythmic flow of the current rappers leave much to be desired (comparing Lil Wayne and Big Daddy Kane is an obvious example of the current slump of rap vocals) and every song features the same 808 samples and basic chord progressions - there's an annoying trend that rappers have to make those shout/sing-a-long choruses that are very annoying to these ears. I believe that creative hip hop was destroyed by the sample clearance that made it impossible to use pretty much anything. Obviously, the original artists deserve their payment but still, it killed off rap music in my book!
Instead, the construction kits came along and made everything the same. Surely, it most be possible to use a construction kit creatively?