Over the past decade, DJ Dahi has established himself as one of Kendrick Lamar’s most trusted producers.
Five years after crafting the beat for one of the standout songs from Kendrick’s 2012 debut album good kid, m.A.A.d. city (“Money Trees”), Dahi and Lamar teamed up on the Compton rapper 2017 album DAMN, which featured five Dahi-produced tracks (“Yah,” “Loyalty,” “Lust,” “XXX,” and “God”).
Once again, DJ Dahi is credited with producing five songs off of Kendrick’s latest full-length offering Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers, including album highlights like “Rich Spirit” and “Count Me Out.”
In a new interview with Rolling Stone, Dahi opened up about the five-year creative process behind the album, revealing that Kendrick’s hard drive is filled with countless songs that didn’t make the LP’s final tracklist.
“I can tell you, for sure, he has probably like 30 songs from me,” Dahi shared. “I mean, he obviously has songs he’ll complete but also a lot of it is an idea, and it’s a really dope idea. Then we plug that idea in as a hook or a verse line. With this creative process it’s really just getting those ideas out and then being able to come back and be like, ‘Oh, I can use this or this part of this.’”
Dahi went on to tease the possibility of Kendrick having “thousands” of unreleased songs on his hard drive. “His process of recording is pretty nuts,” he explained. “So I wouldn’t be surprised if we looked at the hard drive and he has thousands of songs.”
Read DJ Dahi’s full interview with Rolling Stonehere.
