Iām a diamond-certified producer now. 𤯠Location is the 75th song ever to go diamond. big win for the team, huge thank you to everyone involved. 2022 looking bright.
Happy Birthday Q! Itās impossible to explain in a few words how much youāve offered the world. How much youāve inspired & changed the lives of millions, including myself. As a young Black man discovering his creative voice, your work, sage advice, support and belief has offered a thread in my life creatively that Iām still discovering more about. Itās incredibly rare that we get to have our heroes here for 90+ years (with so many years left to go!) so itās a true blessing. Happy 90th Birthday Q, thank you for everything!
Like so many others, 2025 was a huge of enormous change for me. A lot of loss, a ton of growth, meditation on choices Iāve made Iāve learned from, and the most self reflection Iāve ever had to do in my life. this seemed to be a universal experience. The personal silver lining⦠finding my love of writing music again and confidence getting back to it. keeping this short, Iām happy to be existing and being in the mindset of an artist again for 2026. I am hugely grateful to every friend, family member, colleague or person that showed so much compassion and generosity for me in the most transformative year of my life. You changed my life, sincerely. Iāve taken intentional notes from almost every experience these past 365 days and now weāre back to the program with this art. Iām ending the year doing and enjoying something I havenāt loved doing in over 4 years: recording vocals for my own music. it has been full circle getting back here and having a new collection of songs. Time to live up to the legacy Iāve dreamed of. See you in 2026šš½
āStrange Worldā EP by @stpanther is out now. This project has been a true journey, through many phases of creation, life and execution. Itās an incredible honor to have co-produced this with St. Panther, and recorded and mixed it at my spot, @haven.sound . We put so much care, love and thought into this body of work. Weāre just getting started, and hope you enjoy this first offering.
Dani, thank you so much for having me as your co-pilot. Huge thank you to all the good folks at @drinksumwtr , @nigilmack@aberenson@chrisswanson_secretly , @kungfukebbie@lurkalurkaa for being an advocate for Dani, this music and everything really special ahead. Youāve all been so excited since day 1. Ric, thank you for truly holding it down. @raekhalil , @bobba_bow_dean , @jasminfire@masteredbymike@gomizhou@shawndealey thank you all again. @alrightokjulius , @bigcatmotherfunk , @pierce.blue , thank you for lending your voices to āAmerican Dreamsā. I snuck in a few BGVās too. @pilotmfx has been holding it down with Dani on the visual side, theyāre working crazy hours. In 2025, every music release is a celebration, and it truly takes a village. We all work to share the art we love, and this was a very special collection of people who made this happen, so thank you all so much. Go listen to āStrange Worldā now!šš½
DāAngelo. Saying you are one of my all time musical heroes is an understatement. Discovering your music and the many eras of it were and will always be a revelation. The first few formative years of my career as a producer were sincerely a study on your musical approach to vocal and instrumental arrangements, engineering (s/o his co-pilot Russ Elevado), snd feel as a musician. Voodoo reset the entire landscape of Black music and no album has done it in that way since. Itās been 25 years. The foundations of my identity as an engineer stem from that album. DāAngelo sits right next to Stevie Wonder & Herbie Hancock for me as an influence on the keyboard. The āSpanish Joint Acoustic Demoā changed my whole approach to writing when I first heard it at like 17. The whole song is in that one keyboard arrangement, which is crazy. You are one of the architects of Black music from mid 90ās on, and that has nothing to do with R&B, āNeo Soulā, or any genre. Itās everything to do with free creative Black thought and fearless expression. And thatās one of the most liberating and courageous things to do as an artist of any kind, particularly as a Black artist. I know this mustāve been a heavy burden and carried so much weight. Canāt even write āRIPā, because your art will always live on. While you may have passed on in the physical sense, your art, your expression, vision and spirit continue to inspire us. As a young man from Maryland, knowing you can have that kind of impact coming from Virginia was enormous for me and I know so many others. Thank you for everything youāve given during your time here, and I and so many other musicians who admired you hope to keep the spirit of your intention.šļøš¤
āStrange Worldā by @stpanther is out now! St. Panther is one of our greats, and itās truly been an honor to be on this journey with them. In a few short years, our friendship & working relationship has blossomed in such incredible ways. Weāre just scratching the surface of whatās in store for them, and as not just a friend or collaborator but true fan, Iām so excited for whatās next. Iām so honored to be a co pilot on this record. What started off as a call to @raekhalil , chance week of sessions with @bobba_bow_dean (Erik Bodin of little dragon) in town, and timing of EP writing w/ SP became āStrange Worldā. Truly a meeting of a room full of open minds and hearts with a singular goal of helping bring Daniās vision to life and enjoying the process. Dani and I worked really diligently to refine and tailor it and it was fun to co-produce it with them. The sonics are so key to both of us, (SP knows Iām a bit of a nut with that) so it was an honor for me to record and mix the record at my spot, Haven Sound. Mastered by one of my favorite friends in this game, @masteredbymike we truly encapsulated a record we feel so authentically and hope you do too. More on the way, EP soon. Thank you for having me, Dani. Congrats on this new chapter!šš½