Will Cumpston
Will Cumpston
At midnight on September 10th, Baby Keem released his latest studio album, The Melodic Blue. The album has accumulated a lot of hype in recent weeks because of Baby Keem’s feature on Kanye West‘s Donda, in addition to the album’s pre-release single “family ties,” featuring Kendrick Lamar‘s fiery return to the scene. The tracklist only features three artists: Kendrick Lamar, Travis Scott, and Don Toliver, so most of the sixteen-track project focuses on Baby Keem. Of course, the producers behind the scenes of The Melodic Blue deserve their credit, so we’ve picked a few to spotlight:
Jahaan Sweet
Production credits on tracks 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 11, & 14
Jahaan Sweet is a classically trained pianist and beatmaker who has received Grammy-nominations and multi-platinum certifications. According to an interview with Revolt, Sweet is a humble 28-year-old who wants his music to speak for itself. And it does just that. Without branding himself with beat tags or flashy pictures on his Instagram, Sweet has produced for major names like Eminem, Drake, A Boogie wit da Hoodie, The Carters, Kehlani, Lana Del Ray, and more. Sweet was introduced to the piano at a young age and went on to play blues in his middle school jazz band and church gigs. After gaining some experience in the music industry, he was mentored by Boi-1da and is one of the most significant forces in music production today.
Roselilah
Production credit on “family ties“
Roselilah is a Grammy Nominated and RIAA Platinum Certified producer from the Netherlands. On “family ties,” she is responsible for producing the song’s first beat, which slightly diverges from her usual style of darker productions. Recently, she’s been making waves in the producer scene as she has found herself behind works from Lil Durk, 21 Savage, Young Thug, Lil Gotit, and many more. According to an interview with The Parool, Roselilah grew up in Rotterdam, and since the age of thirteen, strove to light up a path for herself in the music industry. It all started with uploading beats to YouTube, eventually getting placements, and flying out to Atlanta to continue working on music. Her path to success has likely been challenging, taking into consideration the fact that she hails from oversees. Still, we think the trajectory of her career can only continue to go up from here.
DJ Dahi
Production credits on scapegoats, vent, & 16
Hailing from Inglewood, CA, DJ Dahi is behind iconic hits, such as “Money Trees” by Kendrick Lamar, and has since become Kendrick Lamar’s go-to producer. On top of that, he’s worked with plenty of major artists, like J.Cole, Drake, Big Sean, Travis Scott, Mac Miller, 21 Savage, and more. According to an interview with RedBull, Dahi grew up in a strict household where he could only listen to Christian rap without curse words, so he started focusing on making beats. Near the beginning of his journey as a music producer, Dahi wanted to send his beats to the biggest producers around, but realized that he had to start closer to home in the new west hip-hop scene. Over time, he accumulated several hits, such as Dom Kennedy’s “My Type of Party,” before starting to get placements with more significant artists. His continuous upwards trajectory has allowed him to grow into the hitmaker he is today, and with more Kendrick Lamar music forthcoming, we bet we’ll be seeing Dahi again soon.
Scott Bridgeway
Production credits on trademark usa, range brothers, lost souls, cocoa, scars, and vent
Not much can be found about Scott Bridgeway online. Googling him yields no results besides his Genius page. On his Instagram, he is labeled as a composer. He has only four pictures, three of which are artwork from Baby Keem’s releases. However, judging from his credits, Bridgeway is likely one of Baby Keem’s main producers. Producing six tracks on such a high level project is no easy feat, and shows that Bridgway has untapped talent that will likely grow into a more lucrative production career. Besides these six songs, he worked on Keem’s “sons & critics freestyle.”
Baby Keem
Production credits on tracks 1-11, 13, & 15
That’s right, Baby Keem makes beats too. It always makes an artist feel even more well-rounded when it’s known that they can not only rap or sing, but also understand the complexity at work behind the boards. Previously, he’s produced for artists like Jay Rock and on movie soundtracks for Black Panther: The Album and The Lion King: The Gift.