i personally feel like kpop fans as a whole don't give producers enough credit. sure, self produced groups are cool and all, and it's impressive to be able to juggle idol duties and learning how to produce, but i feel like we don't appreciate the masterminds behind some of our favorite songs. i feel like a lot of kpop stans have this sort of mentality of "if a flashy cool idol didn't produce it then the producer doesn't matter."
but actually, it can be real cool to see the common producers some of your favorite songs share. and that is how i got to dem jointz. i've been getting into kanye's music recently, and if you don't know, dem jointz has been involved in the making of donda. his producer tag is "incoming!" which you can hear on songs like exo's ya ya ya and also kanye's believe what i say.
i think the fact that dem jointz worked with kanye helps him bring a lot of that boundary pushing that kanye is known for. or perhaps it's the other way around. but if you look at the kpop songs he has produced, you can see that he has a very distinct style and flavor to the music he makes.
knowing the context i now know, i feel like i also get sticker now. it's not about what's there (aka the weird flute and the funky piano), it's about what's not there. it's about the musical "negative space" he creates by intentionally leaving out elements and creating moments of silence in the track. i also think sticker is genius because it got the people talking. a lot of the music released recently has had people move on very fast from it and not discuss it much, even if they like it. sticker had EVERYONE talking about it, from fans to haters. it moved people, whether it was in a positive or a negative way. and i think that's the genius of sticker.
dem jointz also made two of my favorite 127 title tracks, cherry bomb and punch which i think created and solidified nct's sound respectively. even when he creates a cuter and softer song, like don't u wait no more or taste for red velvet, or something new for taeyeon, it still very much has that dem jointz feel. with exo, he was able to combine their smooth, more sophisticated sound with his style.
i think he's such a versatile producer with great ideas and a boundary pushing approach. i hope he never stops producing songs for kpop groups!
Disappointed but not surprise. Praying for an afternoon drop.
Updated link for the tracker.
Weird fact: The song is 79.5 BPM lmao
You know the drill, use Base64:
aHR0cHM6Ly9kcm9wYmF5Lm5ldC8yYTIzYjE2ZTcxMTIyY2I5L1NBSU50X0pITl8tX1NtYWNrX0RWRF8oRnQuX0thbnllX1dlc3QpX1tJTlNUUlVNRU5UQUxfUFJPRC5fQllfREVNX0pPSU5UWixfU0hBRFlCT1lfJl9ST05OWV9KXS5tcDM=
Almost every SM song recently that has been an absolute bop to me has been produced by Dwayne “dem jointz” Abernathy jr and KENZIE.
Kick It, Punch, Don’t Call Me, Obsession, 90’s Love are all by the same people. I think that’s insane, and they are so TALENTED.
Not to mention dem jointz has also produced for kanye west, Eminem, Rihanna, etc.
KENZIE has been producing for SM since like 2003. Recent bops by her have been I Can’t Stand The Rain, Psycho, Candy, Monster, and she even produced The Stealer by The Boyz!
I never see anyone crediting the producers and hyping them up, so I’m here to say THANK YOU!!!!! Keep going!!!
Also, I saw people saying that mark killed his verse in jopping and it was so much better than the demo...like okay, agree, but can we please acknowledge that the verse itself wouldn’t exist without the original artist writing and composing it...
EDIT: I didn’t know KENZIE is a WOMAN HOLY SHIT????!!!
Dababy’s flow uncensored goes dummy, it’s a shame the explicit version we have has subpar mixing. Is there an explicit Dem Jointz NNN? If this exists, any chance it’ll leak?
The mixing and production on the leaked uncensored remix verses from Dababy and 2chainz is much weaker than the official release. The Dem Jointz beat on the official remix has numerous production differences to the unreleased explicit take. Could someone transplant the uncensored vocals onto the released version’s instrumental and mix it in? Should be pretty simple considering that the verses are exactly the same.
Rly prefer the OG beat to the explicit one, would be infinitely thankful for an edit of this.
Apple Music link: https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/gathering/1454464283
