“I didn’t come into the game as the most gifted rapper, but I prevailed as the most consistent one,” Dandee tells HipHopDX Asia as he explains the collaborative process behind his latest full-length album, LOVE LIFE LOYALTY.
The Thai-German rapper gets candid about how he worked on the 12-track album, his first since 2014’s Birth,with the help of friends and collaborators. “I am not a beatmaker,” he confesses. “I always loved the process of collaboration… I am an artist who loves to make the best music possible, and I’m not afraid to seek out help, but in the end, I’ve envisioned every track on the album as it is.”
On LOVE LIFE LOYALTY, Dandee enlists various MCs and producers, as well as fellow hip hop heads from around the world, to build and contribute to the album, including Ziggavoy, Rasmee, Take-T, Radio3000, Shino, Young Lyxx, Bone$ the Spitta, Hanuman Flow, U-Bore of Srirajah Rockers, and TARVETHZ. For Dandee, this layered, dynamic energy will help him bring his “most creative album” into fruition.
“Throughout the pandemic, I had the time to reset, work on myself… 2021 inspired me to go back to the roots of hip hop as an artist: why did I even become a rapper in the first place and work on my dream album. I didn’t plan it, but it just happened,” he shares. Dandee said he received a Beatpack of more than 200 beats with a lot of old-school feel. “I was inspired. From one [track], it became five. Then from a five-track EP, I ended up delivering a 12-track album. I thought if I do a new project, why not do it right?”
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On his decision to make a majority English-language album, Dandee admits that he wanted to make sure Thai listeners could connect to it intimately but also wanted to reach out to a global audience. Like many countries, especially in Asia, it’s fundamentally about not wanting to alienate your audience at home. “I know it’s weird because I’m Thai, but since I grew up in Germany, I never learned the language properly, but Thai people really like to listen to their own language.”
Ultimately, LOVE LIFE LOYALTY was, for Dandee, his way to tell his story. “I’ve been working my ass off in this pandemic,” he noted in album closer “OLD KIDZ CLOSET,” which was named after his business. For him, the new project best represents who he is as an artist. To his fans, friends, and mentees, it was a reflection of his collaborative and generous spirit—beyond hip hop communities.
One was his friendship with the late Filipino musician Jamir Garcia, vocalist of nu-metal band Slapshock, whom he met in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, in 2007. “[We] met at my friend’s house. We all came to Malaysia to perform and tour with [hip hop-rap rock band] Pop Shuvit in 2007. [Garcia] walked down the stairs with no shirt on, all tatted up and just being Jamir: calm, cool, and polite. Through music and common friendship, we formed a supergroup together Project EAR,” he recounted. “We traveled the world together. We were each other’s biggest fans, closest friends, we were brothers, and we are forever family. The loss of Jamir deeply hurts me and tragedy doesn’t stop here.” Dandee also spoke to his working with the late Pinoy rapper D-Coy, whose sudden death in 2021 shocked fans and the community. “We also recently lost D-Coy, who just worked with us on the Jamir tribute song, ‘Fade To Black.’”
To give us further insight on his latest album, Dandee broke down each track from LOVE LIFE LOYALTY.
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The interview has been lightly edited for length and clarity.
“NEED A VACCINE”
“I’m coming out basically channeling my frustration with the current situation of the COVID-19 pandemic and the state of commercialized hip hop. I just want to take it back to rhyming/flowing over a banging beat and killing it. This is my ‘The beat is so mean / I’m just telling the truth / I put it on for my team.’”
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“IN THE MIDDLE” ft. Ziggavoy
“The idea of making this album started with this track. I had this beat of [producer] Holly sitting in my computer for a while now until one night me and one of my boys (Tino) wanted to freestyle over some more old-school (live instrument) sounding beat which ended up to be this one. We wanted to keep it about some real-life hip hop feeling.”
“When I later revisited the track, to actually make this a ‘freestyle track’ to an ‘album track,’ I felt like Ziggavoy was the perfect feature [artist] to complete it.”
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“CHOOSE CAREFULLY” ft. Rasmee
“I made this track after about five tracks into the album, and the pandemic had Thailand on lockdown in the first half of 2021. I took some time out from Bangkok and visited my father in the Cha-am province. I was hitting up my go-to producer DLL who made ‘Kod Rang,’ ‘Moradok,’ and ‘Fuck Wit It’ for me and told him to send me more old-school beats.”
“The trumpets made me fall in love with this beat right away, and it sounded to me like [something out of a] Quentin Tarantino movie. I recorded it right then and there. Afterwards, I kept on hearing Rasmee in my head and actually wanted to sample her voice since I didn’t know her personally at that time. I hit her up over social media and emailed her the track. She loved it.”
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“KITCHEN TALK” ft. Take-T
“This features my 420 Family member Take-T from Kobe, Japan—who also happens to be my first Japanese collaboration. It’s about reminiscing better times pre-COVID and the loss of [Japanese reggae artist] Terry the Aki 06 and living in the moment and taking on the future.”
“This ain’t barbershop talk. This is straight-up ‘Kitchen Talk.’ We are still cooking from Thailand to Japan! 420 Family forever.”
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“KEEP ON GOING” ft. Radio3000
“When I first heard this beat, I knew only Radio3000 could sing the hook for this. He took only one take to record—it was amazing. It came out exactly how I’d envisioned it. In it, I’m reaching out to the youth and telling the kids; it don’t matter how hard life is going to get, always keep on going.”
“MONEY ON MY MIND” ft. Shino
“This was created in 2020 when I released my single ‘Moradok’ with 16 Lambo and Shino. I have recorded a couple of tracks with Shino at that time and this is just the second release with him out of that session.”
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“IS A BLOODY MURDER” ft. Young Lyxx and Bone$ The Spitta
“This track was recorded in LA in 2019 and was supposed to be for the WIFI GANG sessions with Young Lyxx and Bone$ The Spitta. It was the first Holly beat I have ever worked on, and I look at it more as the party banger. The lyrics of the hook are mad real and gangsta, but the verses and the beat just have this bounce to it. It’s another Holly beat that just goes hard, but since it was in my vault and Holly produced half of the album already, it found its perfect place on the album.”
“LONELY FLOWER” ft. Hanuman Flow
“It’s the last song I have recorded for the album right after Halloween 2021 in Phuket. I connected with [Phuket-based rapper-jazz singer] Hanuman Flow, who was just the perfect fit for the track. The beat is one of my favorites from the album, just super abstract lo-fi hip hop that I like to listen to these days.”
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“BEATS ON REPEAT”
“Simply the realest sh*t I ever wrote. After Holly sent me the beatpack, I had the beats on repeat.”
“LOVE LIFE LOYALTY” ft. U-Bore of Srirajah Rockers
“The album title track and also a stroke of faith, featuring one of my wish collaborations, Srirajah Rockers. I’m a super fan of the whole group and U-Bore’s ability to write meaningful Thai lyrics and what they stand for in the reggae culture.”
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“I never thought I would be able to collaborate with them, but I found a way to connect with U-Bore and share the music. He felt my vibe and gave me a feature. It was produced by Illsoul, who made this fusion-type hip hop-reggae beat which again has a real abstract feel to it.”
“POOD JING” ft. Tarvethz
“This one features up-and-rising Thai hip hop and Def Jam Thailand artist Tarvethz. We have frequently been working with each other and he was an artist I used to manage. He sang this hook perfectly, underlining integrity in whatever we say or do is real! ‘Pood Jing’ in English means ‘real talk.’”
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“OLD KIDZ CLOSET”
“Ending the album with this! We coming live and direct! New album, new store, and new brand–OKC!”
